Vision

Pursuing the command of Christ to "go and make disciples of all nations," the churches in Area A of the Texas District, LCMS will not be satisfied to be a ministry survivor and move toward being missional non-survivors in the body of Christ at every level of ministry.

Definition:

A Ministry Survivor is an individual or congregation that exists for its own sake.

A Missional Non-Survivor is an individual or congregation that recognizes they are called in Christ to embrace His mission to "seek and to save the lost."   The individual or congregation is organized on the basis of a missional outlook toward the community and the world.

Presuppositions

Underlying Presupposition

While we are called to be stewards of and to enjoy God's creation and all His provisions, there is only one proactive reason for us to be and remain in the church militant, namely, "to seek and to save those who are lost." 

Presupposition #1: Individuals and Congregations exist and move along a missional continuum between survivor and non-survivor.

Characterizations

(self-assessment)

These characterizations of the missional-continuum markers are more descriptive than prescriptive.  They are my observations of congregations and individuals who, on the one hand, want to "survive" and on the other hand, risk "non-survival."  Non-survival congregations give themselves away and risk it all, even their own physical existence, for the cause of Christ.

When the Great Commission is the central organizing principle for a congregation, the body of Christ is being defined.   Jesus said, "you must lose your life to gain it.  If you try to gain your life you will lose it."  That is counter-intuitive.  But that is what the Holy Spirit calls us to understand; we can die to self, and indeed we must die to self in order to be alive in Christ.

The irony is that we don't realize the adventure of life if we are simply trying to survive.   Again, Jesus said, "I have come to bring life, and that abundantly."  The joy and the adventure of the life of faith in Christ is more fully realized in the extent to which one moves toward being a missional non-survivor.  Consider the following: 

1  Survivor

• Protective of the things they have

• Defeated by problems and accepting of barriers to proclamation

• Interested in preserving rather than developing the fellowship

• Consumed by financial issues in the church

• inflexible organization (live by the law)

• Ministry Risks are inconceivable

• Remember and lament for the "good old days"

2  Little Mission Emphasis

• Concerned about lost souls in words alone

• In-depth Study of the Word not a priority

• Budget reflects congregational concern for survival

• Risk is feared and avoided

• The question of missions is raised but not acted upon

3  Occasional Mission Emphasis

• Will hold the occasional Mission Festival to support outside missions

• Will have occasional door offerings for special needs (local & remote)

• Will encourage others, i.e.; youth, lwml, to support missions

• Financial issues dominate the conversation

• Happy to have others become involved in mission activity as long as it does not threaten the existence of the local congregation or personal context

4  Regular Mission Program

• Offers opportunities to become seasonally involved in local mission activities

• Congregation is involved in community activities and ministries

• Prays regularly for missionaries and missions locally and around the world

• Is frustrated with the congregation's decision making process

• The congregation may seek to raise lay leadership into vocational ministry

• Budget reflects congregational awareness and commitment to support missions

• Only a few members tithe their income to the congregation's ministries

• Survival still lingers in the thinking of members and leaders

5  non-survivor:  Mission is the Organizing Principle of the Congregation and the Individual  (A congregation cannot be what members are not.)

• Members will tell others the reason they exist is to "seek and to save" the lost

• Bible Studies, Worship and Fellowship activities of the congregation intentionally serve to equip members for mission and to give opportunity to be missional

• Recognize, develop, and encourage the use of one's spiritual giftedness for functioning in the body of Christ in order to support the mission of seeking and saving the lost

• The congregation seeks to raise up and support lay leadership in spiritual development and vocational ministry

• Organization is created to support and to send people in missions around the world.

• Budget reflects the congregation's high commitment to missions

• All leaders and most members tithe

• Remember the past with a view to the future

• Survival is not an issue (risk is understood, managed, and embraced)

Presupposition #2: Individuals and Congregations become spiritually fit as they move from being a survivor to a non-survivor in the context of strong doctrinal and practical ministry.

Presupposition #3:  As Individuals of congregations become missional in thinking and in action, they will bring a missional spirit to the congregation.

Presupposition #4: There will be significant resistance to move toward missionality.   This is not simply that people resist change.  People don't like to risk losing what they value and hold as giving meaning.   People are afraid to make mistakes.  In what is to be a Lutheran culture of grace, the existence of the fear of making mistakes reveals the true nature of the casual acquaintance the church actually has with the doctrine of grace alone. 

Presupposition #5:  This is not a human movement but rather a Supernatural movement through which God will turn hearts toward the mission of His heart.  (A balance of Profound and patient trust in the means of grace is called for as well as intentional and deliberate movement.)

The next step is Mission Movement. Click Here.