How Does Mission Impact the Church?

I was raised outside of any church influence. After hearing and receiving the Gospel I spent the majority of my adult life in different churches. I was always under an assumption. The assumption was that if everyone is doing church this way then it must be the right way ?

About 3 years ago my eyes were opened by the the Holy Spirit as Richard Greene taught about walking in the Spirit, making disciples, pastoring the community, and spiritual warfare. Within 2 years I found myself outside the system. A year ago I turned in my ordination papers and started walking in what I was learning. It was a huge step for me. I still remember the emails from some of the pastors of that denomination prophesying my demise. I saw up close an often hidden side of denominational control.

I had been trained, Masters of Theology, Church Planting Bootcamp, the best seminars American Christianity could offer, and years of Bible studies. I was led to endeavor to build the church. All of my efforts, no matter how subtly it was emphasised, was to build the church. The goal was not to build the Kingdom, though that language was used. The goal was always to build the Kingdom by building "our" church. This was consistent in every church I attended.

Now I was hearing a new call. Walk in the Spirit, make disciples, engage in spiritual warfare, and pastor the community. What a change that would make in my personal faith. While the language was accepted by the established church hierarchy, the actions were not. Without focusing on building "our" church we were labeled as a cult because we did not have a building. Every cult I have ever heard of has a compound or some building. By putting an emphasis on walking in the guidance of the Holy Spirit we were either labelled as charismatic or unorthodox. When we emphasized making disciples and only gathering the disciples into our worship we were shunned by existing churches and accused of hating people for not preaching the Gospel to unbelievers in our worship gatherings. When we taught and walked in spiritual warfare the spirit realm manifested in our presence and many were unable to handle the reality of the spiritual battle. When we began to pastor the community - everything changed.

When we connected all that we learned about these basics of the faith with the mission of pastoring our community amazing things started to happen. We began to find the remnant. There are many that have disconnected from the church and are living quietly among us. We connected with unbelievers in a new way. Because we are doing what Jesus' commands, caring for the poor, widows, orphans, and oppressed, those that deny God are connected with our mission. It is a fingerprint of God. Everyone is made to care about these things. God cares about these things. We are made in God's image. We now have people that have no regard for "church" asking us if they can help us minister to the community. We have people that are not connected with any church offering us resources.

As I look to the New Year I see a small group of highly trained and gifted disciples. They know how to Walk in the Spirit, make disciples, engage in spiritual warfare, and they are beginning to pastor the community. Now that we have the basics in place God is connecting us to our mission. Go! Not to build a church, that is God's job. (Matthew 16:18) Our mission is to transform the world. We must do it the way God designed. We must bring the transformational power of Christ to the world and not beg the world to come to "our" church.

If you want to know how mission impacts the church you must first stop trying to do God's job - building the church. Next you must look at your community and see how the Holy Spirit would have you minister. These simple changes in focus will transform your spiritual life and then the world.