A thought about being "missional"

In the book The Shaping Of Things To Come the co-authors' intent is to help readers understand what a missional church is all about...what it looks like, smells like, acts like. I've only gotten a few chapters into the book (man, that's super small type!) but have found a few things that I've really been mulling over.

The thing I'd like to bring up today is the idea of a believer starting a business that is in some way needed by the society in which he or she lives in order to create opportunities to take the Gospel out into the community. This, to me, is a super cool idea and something that more people really need to think about.

First things first. Let's get a real grip on the true meaning behind words like calling, missionary, and church. We, at least as Southern Baptist, like to use that word calling when we talk about people "going into ministry". The traditional meaning would be something like that a person has in some way heard the voice of God which is telling them to make a move toward a career in full- or part-time ministry (in the church, on a mission field, etc). The word missionary often carries with it the thought of going to far-out places like Africa, China, or if you dare, Poland. And the word church (we've talked LOTS about this here) most often brings to mind nice buildings, slick services, staff members, building debt (doh!), etc.

Let me be the next guy (did you think I was going to say first guy?) to say that I think we've missed the boat on these meanings. To just run these down quickly...I think we're all called by God to follow Him by serving with our whole selves every day of our lives. I think that as we serve Him in our communities, being the Gospel to those around us we are being missionaries -- no matter where we are! And the church as defined by Scripture itself is the body of believers. It's you and me. No 1st Baptist Jerusalem in the New Testament. Just fired up, passionate believers living and serving in the unity and fire of the Holy Spirit (ooh, you got me going!).

Ok, movin' on. Understanding our call for the church to be the Gospel to the community where it is (remember "it" is us), it's an awesome idea to think about starting a business in your community that meets a current need. It gives you a chance to make money while constantly seeking ways to minister to the people you are serving. It gives perfect opportunities to form relationships. And the business gives (1) a reason for you being there in the first place and (2) a reason why people will make a connection with you. Without a purpose people will rarely take the time, or have the desire, to connect with you.

I'm just thinking big about how this could look. I'm a mac guy, have been for a long time. What if I had a specialized macintosh repair business and built up a nice-sized client list, made house calls, etc. [I'm not talking about forming a mega-company here by the way.] Think of all the possibilities to get into interesting conversations with people. Granted they won't all lead to ministry opportunities. But if I'm intentional in the purpose I have in life then opportunities will arise. Small groups could eventually be formed as well, from the people you have connected with. Thus the Kingdom continues to grow.

This is much like the things we do on the "mission field" here. :-) We seek ways to get around people, form relationships, "be" the Gospel. Being Americans is oftentimes our platform. But in the states the business could be your platform...starting a soccer team could be your platform, etc. Just a good idea I wanted to bring up and chew on a bit more. Things like this excite me and I end up typing and typing on the blog about them. I'm freak-out passionate about innovative ways to see the Kingdom advance! We need to get serious about that happening. Maybe we can do that when we start understanding that we, the church, are all called to be missionaries to the people God has placed us around!!