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August 22, 2025

Pillar 4 discussion --- The Mission

Words from Mother Teresa 

“’God so loved the world that he gave his only son.’ God still loves the world, and today he continues to give Jesus to the world through you and me. Each of us, in his own way, must become the Father’s love and compassion to the world.” (The Blessings of Love, p.10)

“Zeal for souls is the effect and proof of true love for God. If we really love God, we cannot be but consumed with the desire of saving souls, the greatest and dearest interest of Jesus.” 35

“The work we do is nothing more than a means of transforming our love for Christ into something concrete.” 39

“Each time anyone comes into contact with us, they must become different and better people because of having met us. We must radiate God’s love.” 42

“Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence.” 69

In the next several blogs we will talk about Pillar 4, Living Missionally. 

The Jesus Manifesto

Apparently, Jesus felt the one characteristic of his ministry that must be announced first was his mission. If Jesus was anything, he was missional. So, in his first ever sermon he took Isaiah 61 as his text and personalized it. There at the beginning Jesus declared his Spirit anointed manifesto.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19 NRSV)

Briefly we can see in this Nazarene manifesto or the Galilean manifesto these central themes:

Good News to the Poor

Liberty to the Captives

Healing for the Blind

Freedom for Oppressed

Jubilee Proclaimed (the year of restoration)

To use a phrase from Captain Kirk and Star Trek this manifesto was the ‘Prime Directive’ of Jesus. He seemed to live his ministry life guided by these words. Yes, Jesus came to die on the cross for the salvation of all mankind, but he also lived his life to launch the work of the Kingdom of God, and His church, and to make disciples to carry this forward. This manifesto seems to have been the marching orders of the early church for almost 300 years. Wow! Some historians say there were approximately 20,000 followers of Jesus in year 100AD. By year 300AD there were 20 million. Living missionally, following Jesus, and practicing the ‘manifesto of Jesus’ was powerful. 

We do not need to worry about why the ‘manifesto’ was not followed well through most of the remaining history of the church. Our challenge as disciples of Jesus is to return to living missionally with this ‘manifesto’ as our guide. With even minimal participation history shows the church can experience renewal. The church can rise to complete the ‘missio dei’ of Father God. 

On Mission

I like what Hirsch and Ford say, “It is not so much that the church has a mission but that the mission has a church.”  Remember, it is the ‘missio dei’ and God is the first missionary. Therefore, a missional church is a community of God’s people that defines itself by, and organizes itself around, the purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. The true and authentic organizing principle is the mission of God revealed in Jesus. When the church is on mission, it is the true church. To miss this is to block God’s purposes in and through His people. (Right Here Right Now, p. 36 and p. 88)

Jump over to our blog page to read the conclusion of this blog about Pillar 4, The Mission.

All through the centuries it has been easy for the church to get distracted from ‘the mission.’ You may remember what Jesus said to Martha the sister of Lazarus and Mary. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42 NASV) 

Many feel this is a good description of the church today. We are distracted by so many things and this has caused us to overlook the ‘Prime Directive,’ the ‘manifesto’ of Jesus for his church. In your phone note pad make a list of the things that your church feels compelled to do. I believe you will find that list grows large and right there among all the other things ‘may’ be the call to ‘the mission.’ The distractions have choked out the main thing and it has merely become one of the many things that a church does in the year.

I was once visiting a large church and it was something like ‘Vision Sunday.’ The Pastor spoke for nearly half of the sermon about the ‘great things’ the church had done in the past year. He was excited and animated as he shared enthusiastically about all of these activities. Naturally I was looking through Pillar 4, ‘The Mission’ eyes and I noted that only a few of these activities came close to touching ‘mission.’ Actually there was not one where ‘The Mission’ was primary. It was an illustration of just what Jesus said to Martha now applied to this church. 

Again, I like what Hirsch and Ford say, “It is not so much that the church has a mission but that the mission has a church.”

The Mission Has A Church  

August 26, 2025

Pillar 4 discussion --- The Mission

“The first Reformation was about creeds and the church was divided. The next Reformation will be about deeds and the church will be united.”  Rick Warren

(Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel, p.75)

The quote mentioned in the last post is making the declaration that ‘the God of mission has a church.’ This can be translated to mean, mission is the one main job of the church, over and far above all else. 

Pause a moment and consider the four commonly taught purposes of the church: worship, fellowship, discipleship, and evangelism. 

Most of the time the church through all ages has considered each one of these individually, ie., a time to worship, a time to fellowship, a time to teach disciples, and a time to reach out. Alan Hirsch and David Ferguson in their writings on ‘being missional’ speak about making mission the catalytic element for all the other functions of the church. Think about this and see how it could restore the church to her mission, while releasing even greater depth in the other three elements. (On the Verge, 99-101)

DISCIPLESHIP would be based on equipping followers of Christ to reach others, even actively reaching out to others as our life purpose. This could motivate lifelong development in believers as they love and serve others. 

KOINONIA/COMMUNITY would not be about us getting together in our little huddles, but about us getting together to impact others, serve and love others as the Spirit leads and empowers us. Many have felt the powerful comradery, even ‘koinonia,’ of a mission team. Mission was the catalyst to community bonding. 

WORSHIP would be about rejoicing like the 70 disciples who returned from an outreach season. They rejoiced (worshipped) and said even the demons are subject unto us. (Luke 9, 10) Worship would be more about how great God has been as we go with him out into the world and see his love and power and mercy at work with us and through us. Even seeing our loving service to others as worship would help broaden the narrow view of worship popular today.

Certainly, there is merit in making ‘mission’ the core ethic of all we do as church. Think about it.

Finally, we must receive a caution from C. S. Lewis, Christian apologist, and others. He observed, “There exists in every church something that sooner or later works against the very purpose for which it came into existence. So we must strive very hard by the grace of God to keep the church focused on the mission that Christ originally gave to it.” (The Forgotten Ways, 49) The church must not become the object of its own affection. Jesus and the Gospel are fixed, and all else can be and must be adapted to the mission. (p.55) 

Mission questions must drive the church’s answers and not the other way around. When church questions drive function, mission gets lost. Also, when we take mission out of the equation then innovation is greatly lost, something the church desperately needs today. We must renew our commitment to engage the world as God engages it. (The Forgotten Ways, 159) 

August 29, 2025                         

Incarnational Living                  Mission: Pillar 4

The gospel must be proclaimed fresh in new ways to each generation, since every generation has its own unique questions. The gospel must be constantly forwarded to a new address, because the recipients are repeatedly changing their place of address. —- Helmut Thielicke ( Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p.136) 

It should not bother us that the Christian faith was perceived and experienced in new and different ways. The Christian faith is intrinsically incarnational, therefore unless the church chooses to remain a foreign entity, it will always fully enter into the context in which it happens to find itself. —- David Bosch (Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p.136) 

“Jesus is not just the preacher of the kingdom he is the bearer of the kingdom and it’s fulfillment.” (Diario Rodriguez, The Liberating Mission of Jesus, pp. 46, 36) 

Here is a profound statement the church would do well to consider with meditation and prayer as to what the Spirit might say to the church. To follow the model of Jesus the church cannot be satisfied to simply preach the Kingdom, it also must be the bearer of the Kingdom and its fulfillment in hope to humanity.

Jesus was sent by God with a strategy. That strategy was incarnation. God literally became man as the Father sent the Son into the world. Religion has made much of the salvific implications of this incarnation which culminated in the cross. At the same time over the centuries the concept of the incarnation as a God chosen strategy has slipped away from most ministry considerations. Nevertheless this strategy must be taken seriously with the words of Christ, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20:21 NRSV)

Since the third century the church has paid very little attention to incarnational strategy as she quickly turned to serving those attracted to her basilicas. Many times through the centuries she leaned on attraction through power. At other times she held the influence of attraction via the national religion status. Certainly, the attraction principle was an influence as numerous great cathedrals were built all across Europe. The illustrations could go on to this day as the church has most recently attempted to attract the masses with better preaching, better music, better buildings, notable people as congregants, better programming, slick marketing, et al. 

Incarnation, the strategy God chose for Jesus and the model Jesus has given his church continues to languish in the archives of Christian history gathering dust. Actually that is not quite true. Global Missions rediscovered the incarnation strategy over a century ago and has used it successfully to reach ‘unreached peoples’. Also today with many searching for new methods to turn the tide for Christianity in the west the incarnation approach is gaining more attention. I must repeat for emphasis that the greatest impact of the church on culture was found using God’s incarnational strategy during the first 300 years of the church. Amazing!

Remarkably, the incarnation strategy aligns most closely with the model of Jesus. Enough said, right? It also aligns most closely with the core precept of Christian faith, Love. It aligns most closely with the ‘manifesto’ of Christ. It aligns most closely with the spiritual DNA of the church, ‘koinonia/community/relationship. Consider the Trinity as the prototype. It aligns most closely with biblical descriptions of the church, body of Christ, family of God, and fellowship of believers. It aligns most closely with the complete Gospel reality. These thoughts do move us to consider why this strategy has been applied so sparingly through the centuries?

We will discuss this approach to ministry more next post and talk about how to live incarnationally.

September 2, 2025

Living Incarnationally Part B                               Mission: Pillar 4

The Early Church

Let’s step quickly back into church history to see ‘incarnational living’ in the years of the third and fourth century. By this time, the early church was in full swing becoming the most influential, yet subtle movement in the Roman Empire. At times the church drove emperors crazy with their un-Roman principles. They always seemed out of step with Roman culture; they often were considered strange or weird! Still they were noted for their strong principled lives and especially their loving service to others. They were like salt sprinkled in the Roman world. You couldn’t see it easily, yet the taste was unmistakable and spreading! Little groups multiplied all over the Empire meeting in homes and caves and obscure locations. They were subtle, yet significant.

Yes, incarnation was the strategy of heaven. It was profound affinity, radical identification, and confrontational revelation. Consider these six dimensions:

• Presence in relationship—Jesus hangs out with people
• Proximity—Jesus got directly involved
• Provenience—Working with the Spirit and Grace preparing the hearts
• Powerlessness—Jesus choosing servanthood 
• Passion—Jesus always motivated by love
• Proclamation—Jesus delivering the gospel personally in life and words 

(Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p.146)

These six concepts should be significant factors in any incarnation strategy. All living things exist in a vast web of relationships. Incarnational mission fits seamlessly into the web of life, friendships, and community to transmit the love of Christ. (p.144) 

Consider some of these keys for incarnational penetration:

A Jesus lifestyle (curiosity provoking and baffling in beauty) will so tantalize the wider community that they will seek after such. This is certainly scriptural as seen in 1 Peter 2. Of course Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 KJV).  To impact a post-Christian culture today, the church should seriously consider shedding its wealth fascination, siding with the poor, speaking up for those wronged, and living as a kind, loving community. These do sound a bit like Jesus, don’t they? (Frost and Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come, 76) 

Prayer is an incarnational act when we passionately pray for children to be born into the heavenly kingdom from the community we have come to join. Rachel prayed, “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1 KJV). (Also see Jeremiah 31 and Matthew 2:18.)  Passion in prayer will certainly be fruitful in bringing new kingdom children to life. (p.77) 

Socializing is critical to incarnational ministry. With Christians living a distinctly attractive life, it is logical this life must rub shoulders with not-yet-Christian people in the community. Jesus was found at Matthew’s party, Zacchaeus’ house, the wedding at Cana, the Samaritan well, and more. 

Furthering the thought of socializing, hospitality to the not-yet-Christian is invaluable. This helps overcome the us against them mentality as we invite the lost of the community into our homes, our lives, and our families. (p.79) We walk with them.

Jesus Talk (p.80) will mean learning new language beyond ‘Christianeze,’ or church talk, as we share the presence and reality of Jesus in our lives personally and passionately, yet at times subtly and with conviction. The testimony is our personal story to speak simply and intimately about Jesus to others.

Greatest of all, from John 3:16 and elsewhere, we know that the incarnational ministry of Jesus was motivated by and saturated in love for people.

What Is The Goal?   

September 4, 2025

What is the Goal?

Richard Niebuhr said, “The great Christian revolutions came not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when someone takes radically something that was already there.” (Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p.1)

“The church, when true to its real calling, when it is about what God is about, is by far the most potent force for transformational change the world has ever seen.” (p.4)

Eric Hoffer said, “In times of drastic change it is the learner who inherits the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” (p.1)

“The shift to postmodern has been difficult for the church. We find ourselves lost in a perplexing global jungle where our well-used maps don’t seem to work anymore. We are trying to navigate London with a map of New York City.” (pp. 2, xxvii)

As time has passed and culture has changed it is possible the clarity of our goals as the church have become unclear, and possibly have shifted as well. The Four Pillars concept is an attempt to discuss a return to a few goals for the church that would be hard to deny, yet seem hard to find in contemporary Christianity. 

Emulating Christ

Love God by Loving Others

Live in and offer Koinonia/Community

Live on Mission, Loving and Serving Others

Let’s continue to probe. If these are not prominent in Christianity today and in individual Christians, what are the goals that the church has substituted for these. What does a church celebrate? What do individual Christians celebrate? What is perceived as success within Christian ranks?

You may be interested enough to write down your own ideas for the highest goals of local church ministry today. Let us know what you see here at the ‘Anakainosisforthechurch.com’ blog. In a small and unofficial poll among Christian friends these goals for churches today seemed prominent:

Church attendance numbers

Stirring Worship

Good preaching

Strong leadership

Good building

As a disclaimer these friends did not feel ‘reaching the lost’ ranked in the top five since little was mentioned about it and that data was declining. Feelings were similar about making disciples since most people merely attended services without further involvement.

The Four Pillars concept is based on a strong biblical foundation, Jesus called every follower to be a ministering disciple. A glance at the greatest Christian movements in history will reveal that each taps into this principle. Alan Hirsch likes the phrase, “Conversion is Commission!” (Hirsch, Untamed, p.141) Can you imagine how impacting a church could be if every one of the people that sit on the pew on Sunday morning was out loving, serving, touching, inviting, and praying for one or two or three people every week? 

History paints this exact picture for the early church in the second, third, and fourth centuries. There were no high profile preachers travelling around and preaching to thousands in great stadiums. There were no big churches. People met in caves and homes. The power of that world shaking ministry was in every believer working to love and minister to the totally unchristian Roman world all around them. 

The Four Pillars are simply four guides to point those who want to be followers of Christ on the way. We have been called. We have been chosen. We have been empowered. We have been sent. We have Jesus with us, his Spirit in us, his grace at work for us, his Word alive through us, his mission before us, his Kingdom vision to guide us. What are we waiting for? As Nike says, “Just Do It!”

One Word For Jesus!   

September 15, 2025

One Word Describing Jesus

Every Christian could give you five great words to describe Jesus without even thinking. Pause right here for a moment and three of four words describing Jesus will come to your mind quickly. In this post I want to give you one word that will not show up on 90% of the lists of words people will use to describe Jesus. Here it is.

OTHERS

I think you will agree that everything we know about Jesus through the Gospels tells us that he lived and gave his life for others. His aim in life was others. This aim was as wide as all humanity that would ever live for all time or it was as narrow and individual as Peter, to name one. Jesus lived for others.

Here is the kicker. 

When we are asked to live like Jesus we are, in one simplistic way, being asked to join his example and live for others. Possibly you have never thought of the call of Christianity in these terms. I know that this concept has eluded me for about six decades of attempting to walk with Jesus. 

I don’t think anyone can deny this declaration is true of Jesus, “He lived for others.” So, our human rationalizing turns to ask, “But is Jesus really asking me to live for others like he did?” Some might say that is far too radical. It definitely goes against human nature as we know it today. It certainly disturbs our ego centered psyche. And even most Christians would say, “This is not what I signed up for.”

Of course they would be correct in one way since the Christianity many were sold had more to do with what Jesus had done for them than it had to do with what they could in turn do for others. But just imagine with me what a renewal would come to the church if a significant number of believers began to live out this call to emulate Jesus and live for others. 

The longer I think about this word/idea --- OTHERS, the more I see that it is actually the heart and soul of all the Four Pillars we talk about. Yes, it applies to emulating Jesus. It also applies to loving God BY loving OTHERS. It also applies to inviting OTHERS into Koinonia/Community with us as the family of God. And of course it applies to Living Missionally, reaching out and walking with OTHERS.

Those who have followed this blog may have seen a few posts where I share about walking beside friends (OTHERS) when their lives were broken. I am just returning to my computer after getting a call for help from Ellis, my homeless friend, some of you may remember from another post. He got burned and spent four days in a burn unit near Atlanta, GA. Today we took him gauze, hydrogen peroxide, burn care, food and more to provide some relief. As he left the car, he held the handshake saying pray a prayer for me friend. And we bowed to pray.

Following Jesus and giving our loving service to OTHERS is one of the most enriching things a person can do. Lena and I certainly have been thoroughly enriched. As a matter of fact Richard Beck wrote the book, “The Shape of Joy: The Transformative Power of Moving Beyond Yourself.” He says, “The first step toward joy is to step away from yourself.” (p.xv) He writes that humanity and culture today is ‘curved inward.’ “Getting lost within ourselves makes us unhappy.” (p.61) I love his words, “The power and potential of transcendence (his word for God stuff) is the possibility of being pulled out of yourself into a richer, deeper, fuller reality. (p.111) Wow! This actually can happen as we follow Jesus to loving and serving OTHERS!

If you love the life stories I share here every now and then, please go to Facebook --- ‘Astonishing by Mary Nelson’. There you will find dozens of stories of people that are all unremarkable, yet they have made remarkable impact by serving OTHERS in simple and diverse ways. Jesus has made it so that anyone can do this. Anyone can help OTHERS. And if we just open our eyes and look around there are many OTHERS near us that need a helping loving friend. This concept was created by God and modeled by Jesus, and as we walk it out it can literally change the world! And on the way, it will change your world. I guarantee it!

OTHERS! continued...   

September 17, 2025

OTHERS continued…

In the last blog post I said that this concept could literally change the world!

What concept? (For those that need catching up.) I said:

Jesus has made it so that anyone can do this. Anyone can help OTHERS. And if we just open our eyes and look around there are many OTHERS near us that need a helping loving friend.

Let’s start an OTHERS awakening! Wow!

Let’s take the love that Jesus has given us and follow Him in pouring it out on OTHERS.

Think of the early church movement. History shows it was really three centuries of an OTHERS awakening that saturated through the Roman Empire. Amazing!

Think of the great Celtic Revival. After the barbarians had defeated Rome, Saint Patrick and  those Christ followers took an OTHERS awakening to the barbarians and won them for Christ. Without this we would not have western civilization.

Think of the Wesleyan Revival. Wesley mobilized small groups (called bands) to go out into the slums of England (to the OTHERS). It was massive Christian love, care, and serving penetrating and ultimately transforming the nation.

Think of the world sweeping Pentecostal/Charismatic Revival. Harvard professor, Harvey Cox in his book, “Fire from Heaven” declares it was an OTHERS awakening. He describes how poor rural people migrated to the developing mega cities of the 70’s and 80’s. When it looked like they would be gobbled up by the burgeoning industrial machine, small store front churches empowered by the Spirit invited them to find care, love, belonging, identity, purpose, and destiny.

OK I get carried away just thinking about an OTHERS awakening!

Last post Richard Beck said “culture has turned in on itself.” Jesus has the remedy. He designed His church to turn out to the world with his love, compassion, care, mercy, grace, help, and more, the fullness of his Gospel. Just look above to see how that has worked when the followers of Christ caught the vision.

We will conclude with words from Beck:

Happiness, peace, wholeness, and resiliency are found in connecting your story to something bigger than yourself. Study after study has shown this.

In experiences of wonder and awe, transcendence creates a small self, turning away from internal chatter to connect with a larger reality. Transcendent emotions, joy and gratitude create an upward, emotional spiral, enabling you to look beyond material circumstances, to experience life as graced and blessed. This is the shape of joy. The transformative power of living beyond yourself. (The Shape of Joy, p.143)

Love is the final step in stepping away from ourselves. Recall that awe creates the experience of a small self (large ego blinding from true reality). This small self promotes compassion and love. Love is the most beautiful thing in the world. Love is the fabric of a meaningful life. (p. 147)

Meaning in life flows out of transcendent concerns, looking beyond my own interests to care about the needs of the larger world. (p. 148)

Pope John Paul II called this the law of the gift. You find yourself to the degree that you give yourself away. You receive your life to the degree that you share it with others as a gift.

As Jesus said, the one who loses his life will find it. (p. 148)

OTHERS! conclusion...   

September 23, 2025

OTHERS conclusion

What could be as bad for you as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day?----Loneliness!

Loneliness is a killer. This is especially true since loneliness has reached epidemic proportions today. (“The Shape of Joy,” Richard Beck, p.120)

That seems to be only the tip of the iceberg. Some will remember the David Brooks data from an earlier blog:

Depression rates are surging. 

From 1999-2019 suicide increased 33%.

From 2009-2019 teens reporting persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness was up 26% to 37%.

From 1990-2020 those surveyed with no close friends quadrupled.

54% said no one knows them well.

36% of Americans felt lonely frequently or almost all the time, 61% of young adults.

From 1990-2018 Americans that placed themselves in the lowest happiness category was 50% (David Brooks, How To Know A Person, pp. 83-84.)

Why share this discouraging information? Because the greatest Christian renewals have come in the worst of times. Remember, “The church, when true to its real calling, when it is about what God is about, is by far the most potent force for transformational change the world has ever seen.” (Hirsch, “Forgotten Ways,” p.4) Today is the day for the church to rise up from its ‘inward focus’ and experience an OTHERS Awakening! 

Living out the Four Pillars life is all about living for others. Think about each pillar:

Emulating Jesus who left the heavens to come and live with us and for us as a man.

Loving God by loving OTHERS can become our love gift to God each day.

Living in Koinonia/Community includes offering this community life to the isolated and lonely.

Living ‘On Mission’ by definition means having eyes for OTHERS.

So how can we do this and lead other Jesus followers to do the same? Pastor Michael Frost uses the BELLS acronym to motivate his people to live for OTHERS.

B ---Bless three people everyday. 

Have the attitude that a smile can warm someone’s heart, a friendly word can lift a stranger’s burden, a kind act can encourage a heavy heart. This daily goal will help followers of Jesus be alert to the people around them, searching for ways to shine the light in.

E ---Entertain three people to a meal each week. One should be a ‘yet to become Christian’ another a Christian to encourage, and the third as ‘your choice.’ Building relations is core to the Four Pillars life and this guide will facilitate this. Eating together is a New Testament Christianity method to love, serve, build friendship, and demonstrate the love of Jesus.

L ---Listen for at least an hour each week for what the Spirit is saying to you. He will speak inspiration, guidance, and empowering into you on how you can serve and love the people he is bringing through your lives. He will give you the prayers to pray over their needs and challenges, speaking blessing over them and healing from all destruction.

L ---Love the people God has called you to walk beside. We know as we love others we are loving God. Like Jesus said, “If you have done this to the least of these you have done it unto me.” (Mat. 25) It is so enriching to love others with our service, our time, our friendship, our care, and more. The most powerful influence we can activate as we reach out to others is love.

S ---Serve people with the love of Jesus and as an ambassador of Christ. As our eyes open wider and more clearly to OTHERS all around us we will see how our world is full of lonely people, hurting, desperate, burdened in life. This is sad yet it is the opportunity of followers of Jesus to step in and bring his love, care, service, friendship, life, and more. 

I realize that perhaps entertaining three people each week might seem like a lot at the beginning, so start with one and grow from there. Pastor Michael Frost has seen these guidelines help encourage his people to live ‘On Mission’ with eyes for OTHERS all around their worlds. Of course there can be other strategies to live the Four Pillars life, so follow the Spirit and don’t worry if you need to ‘fail forward.’

Lena and I live a similar but more individualized strategy like this. When we sense the Spirit calling us toward an individual we make the decision to walk with them, building relationships (friendships) as we watch for opportunities to serve their needs and bring life and hope into their lives. Right now we are walking beside three distinct households. One is Ellis, my homeless friend described in an earlier blog. One is Betty, a single parent mother that has come free from alcoholism to return to nurture and guide her son. One is Sherry, who was a single parent mother with a drug addicted son, a daughter in depression, and a homeless sister. These have become dear friends to us as we walk together toward Jesus day by day. 

Listen and you will hear the Spirit calling you to love, serve, and walk with someone near you.

Freddy and the Prostitute  

September 25, 2025

Freddy Invites the Prostitute Home

“Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence.” (Mother Teresa, “The Blessings of Love,” p.69)

Since our blogs have been talking about focusing our lives toward OTHERS in practical ways, the time is right to share about Freddy.

Freddy was almost the poster child of the charitable serving organization I served. He is a homeless man with mental issues, and a speech impediment. When I first got to know him the staff was giving him a birthday party at the Daybreak Inn, low income weekly rent. They had arranged for Freddy to live in this relatively nice extended stay motel. Freddy could talk your arm and leg off. In addition he loved to write songs and poems. He would extemporaneously write one on a visit for our services sometimes. He talked loud and was hard to calm down, but he was loveable most of the time.

It was a shame that Freddy got thrown out of the Daybreak Inn. His TV cable channels were not working and he ripped the cable box out. Oops! That put him back on the streets and homeless again. He had been homeless ever since he ran away from a foster care group home at age 18. He was in his early  50’s now in Cleveland. Our social workers found a slum apartment for Freddy and so I went with him to move his things. He had rented a storage unit for them and he was living out of that unit most of the time. I think the management winked at that kindly. We moved into the slum apartment and it would have been a hard decision for me to live there or back in the storage unit. The apartment was pitiful in filth. 

At some point on a chilly rainy night Freddy allowed a prostitute to stay the night in that apartment. After she had been there several nights she let her pimp come in too. They took up residence with him and even though Freddy wanted them out there was nothing he could do. Actually the police affirmed that was true. So once again our people worked and found another apartment for Freddy and I helped him move his things to the new place. To the naked eye it would be hard to see that this one was better than the other apartment, but in some way I felt it was.

At the present time Freddy is living in his fifth apartment since I have known him. Freddy continues to be a favorite at the charitable organization with all the volunteers and staff.

Yes, I hear your questions coming a mile away. “What good has been done through all this effort? Did Freddy ever get in church? Isn’t Freddy in the same boat as he was when you met him? This doesn’t sound like successful mission (or our view of evangelism).”

Let’s talk about Freddy and the Four Pillars life a little.

Our first pillar is to emulate Jesus. Would he have given the time of day here? Of course we know that Jesus saw every individual as a treasured creation of his father, God. He saw the value of one life, any life, as immeasurable. His love for Freddy would be the same as his love for the successful company CEO. His compassion would possibly be greater for Freddy. He would be moved to serve.

Our second pillar is to love God BY loving OTHERS. In repetition I mention Mat 25 where Jesus said “if you have done this to the least of these, you have done it to me,” Freddy is our chance to demonstrate the love of God not only to him personally, but to show the watching world this is what God’s love looks like. 

Our third pillar is to offer koinonia/community as the Family of God to everyone, especially those isolated in culture. Freddy would hug me as if I was a brother as he felt this ‘family’ connection and acceptance.

Our fourth pillar is ‘Living On Mission.’ Though Freddy never made it to my church, or any church that I know of, he did feel the touch of the love of Christ. I often told him I wanted to be his friend because Jesus loved me and loved him too. We do not know how a person processes the encounters with grace that God sends along to everyone, but I believe this tender hearted song writing soul has a special place for Jesus in his heart. 

We know churches can get pretty pragmatic. Most pastors know the pressure to count ‘nickels and noses’ weekly. One of the renewal aims of the Four Pillars is to restore an emphasis on the relational --- befriending, loving, caring, sharing, serving, and walking with the OTHER. Effort spent with Freddy may never add to the ‘nickels and noses’ philosophy, but am confident such ministry has the attention of Heaven. 

Is God bringing a Freddy into your life? I hope so. It is awesome!

Conversion is Commission

“Every member a worker and a work for every member.” --- A. J. Tomlinson

“The clergy laity dichotomy is one of the principal obstacles to the church effectively being God’s agent of the kingdom.” --- Howard Snyder (Hirsch, Forgotten Ways, p.187)

What does that even mean? 

Well, that is the negative side of talking about what has been called the ‘priesthood of all believers,’ meaning every believer is a priest, a minister called to serve in their world. Hirsch uses the phrase, “Conversion is Commission” which captures this idea easily. (p. 33) Hirsch agrees with Snyder saying this precept is the second most critical element of creating a people movement for the Kingdom of God. (p.32)

Hirsch says this, “What marks Christianity as distinct is that it is truly a people movement: every believer – and not just some presumed religious elite – is an agent of the Kingdom and is called to bring God’s influence into all the realms of human existence.” (p.36) Really that defines the idea of the ‘priesthood of all believers.’

It would be interesting to go back to the fourth century and the ‘Constantine shift’ to see how the amazingly successful and highly influential church operating like salt in the culture (unseen but unmistakable) was diminished if not completed halted so quickly. ‘Spoiler Alert!’ This ‘every believer a minister’ idea was abandoned! When Constantine embraced early Christianity the church quickly had basilicas, ornately robed priests fit for an Emperor, numerous levels of authority, direct connection to the government, and massive numbers of attenders entering that knew little or nothing about the effective Christian movement of the last three centuries. I think it would be safe to say historically, “The church never recovered.” 

Yes, there have been moments and seasons where the entire Body of Christ has been awakened and mobilized in powerful and effective ways. The Pentecostal Movement for the 100 years of the 20th century is one illustration. In a class I asked Master level ministry students, “Why has the church since the 4th century until the 21st century not made a total commitment to regain this critical element of the Kingdom of God and its mission?” At the ‘Constatine Shift’ effectively the church of Jesus Christ went from nearly 100% employment in the mission to approximately 10% employment and it has been somewhat this way ever since. It does not take rocket science to see that 90% unemployment is not good.

Today a believer is patted on the back for attending, giving, and doing some volunteering (often not in the field but in the machinery of the local church). Almost universally people of the church think ministry is the job of the minister and that is what we pay him for. This mind set has permeated the church for centuries. This is not a new development. At times in history the authorized ministers promoted this concept enjoying their elite status. Currently I hear more ministers lamenting that this view of ministry and the church is so deeply held, nearly immobilizing the body. 

If this is true what can be done?

Great seasons of revival like in China have turned the tide and great vision from leaders like John Wesley have also raised up movements. Surely, we need a people movement today!

Incarnation is the strategy for the people of God when they realize their calling and mobilize. (See our blogs on Sept 2 and Aug 29 at Anakainosisforthechurch.com) 

Think about these four incarnation action steps for all believers: 

Move out beyond the church walls to mission engagement

Move in burrowing down into the culture and community

Move alongside engaging in genuine friendships and relational groupings

Move from the dehumanizing, sinful, or destructive toxins people suffer. (p.35)

Move out to move in

Incarnation ministry takes its cue from the fact that God took on human form and moved into our neighborhood, assumed the full reality of our humanity, identified with us, and spoke to us from within a common experience. (John 1:14) Following his example, and in his cause, we take the same type of approach individually. (p.38)

Moving deep and alongside means that we choose to connect with and identify with individuals and people, even belonging to one or a few of their urban tribes. We go where they go, hang out where they hang out, do what they do. (p.39) We follow Jesus to Samaria and on to Matthew’s hated tax table. We bring healing through loving engagement, sacrificial service, and Gospel freedom.

Jesus is calling not from the church, he is calling to the church from the community of hurting and broken. Research indicates that the majority of Christians have no significant relationships with people beyond their church community. (p.39) Most Christians don’t really know what goes on in the lives of non-Christian people. Jesus is out there with the hurting calling his body to join him.

A mission movement cannot be limited to evangelism. It encompasses everything in human experience – from culture, race, economics, church, entertainment, family, and everything in between. A mission movement must apply the gospel to all spheres of life, it cannot be limited to simply coming to church or participating in building based programs. (p.34) This calls for an incarnational movement following Jesus out into their worlds.

Back to the Mission

October 27, 2025

Back to the Mission

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” (Mission Impossible)

To live ‘on mission’ Christians must realize they are not only called to be missionaries, but have already been sent to the people they are called to reach. (p.63) God has literally planted us in our mission field right here and right now. This also implies that today God is leading our lives sovereignly to encounters where our Four Pillars walk will be engaged to influence others. 

Here is an ‘On Mission’ example.

Colin Norton placed a simple ad that read:

Free Christmas dinner with friends. Are you hitting hard times or lonely and want to have a nice Christmas dinner? Please come and celebrate with my loving family. Email for my address. Amazingly 30 people responded. (p.69)

With a missionary mindset, Christian living moves from living safe and secure lives to a life of solid purpose, and engagement in the adventure of advancing the kingdom agenda of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (p.68) Like Jesus, Colin was looking outward beyond the walls of his church and even beyond the parameters of his normal life. He was moving ‘on mission.’ This is a shift from ‘Jesus Fan’ to full-time player on ‘Team Jesus.’ It happens as ministry moves out of the church box and into the landscape of everyday life.

This applies to any local church body as well. There’s a great difference in a church, organizing itself around church services, sermons, and great worship events over and against a church that takes up its mandate as a missionary for its community. (p. 65) The key question for any church to consider is, “What is our ‘Organizing Principle?’ A mission church is a community of God‘s people that defines itself by, and organizes itself around, its real purpose of being an agent of God‘s mission to their community. (p.66)

In the context of North America, and also western culture, most churches are organized around internal goals. The Sunday service is primary, then ministries to the children and youth, then teaching programs, and on down the line through all the common ‘service/programs’ one would expect. A church hopes some of these will ‘attract’ outsiders to join in of course, but the real ‘organizing principle’ is focused inward.

The calling, and sending action of Mission not only forms our identity as the people of God, but is tied directly to our purpose for life. Joy and contentment are direct by products of being and doing who and what we are called by God to both be and do. Hirsch says without this mission impetus, we are like birds with clipped wings who are meant to fly, but cannot lift off the ground. Sending us on mission is one of the greatest gifts God could give us. Something almost mystical takes place when we reach out to others to help and heal them. John 17 talks about this joy of Jesus being completed in his followers. Verse 13, “That  my joy might remain in you and that your joy may be full.” (p.71)

Perhaps the greatest factor that hinders the western church from missional engagement is that most Christians do not identify themselves as fully empowered agents of the kingdom of God. Their identity has been shaped by other influences. (p.71) 

If time travel existed, and we were transported to the first three centuries of the church, most of us would not recognize it as church because it had none of the outward forms and little of the traditional characteristics of what we normally call church. We inhabit a much more institutional idea of the church than that of our early forefathers. (p.73)

What we would find in those early centuries is a movement of people completely committed to following the model of Jesus (pillar 1). The greatest expression of that was their self-sacrificing love for others, serving selflessly wherever needs were found (pillar 2). They did not do this alone but as a family connected by strong bonds of loving unity (koinonia) based in their Master, spreading His Gospel, and building His Kingdom (pillar 3). Ultimately these qualities allowed them to become the great mission influence that permeated the Roman Empire (pillar 4). 

May we all join the prayer, “Oh Father in Heaven touch your people once again to be such a movement.”

Alert!! Potentially Sensitive Material

October 30, 2025

Check out this interesting quote from Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford.

If relationship is the key medium in the transfer of the gospel, then this simply means we are going to have to have meaningful connections with the people in our circle. Our very lives are our messages, and we cannot take ourselves out of the equation of mission. One of the profound implications of our being ambassadors of Jesus is that people get the idea that Jesus actually likes to hang out with them precisely because we do as his representatives. Through our friendship and attentiveness, they really do get a message that God loves them. (Hirsch/Ford, Right Here, Right Now, p.83)

These words from Alan Hirsch and Lance Ford are full of important ideas for the church today. Let’s unpack some of them here.

Do you think relationship is the key medium in the transfer of the Gospel?

I would have to say that in my lifetime that has not been the case. Let me talk about two examples from my life experiences. Perhaps you will be able to identify. Most of my life I have seen churches of all varieties ‘win the lost’ in a similar manner to a Billy Graham crusade. A church service is held. The Word of God is preached. A call is given for people to receive Christ. And some people respond, accepting Christ. We would need to dig deeper into the details of each conversion, but from my observation most of these conversions would not include relationship as the key medium.

Later I travelled around the nation for three years teaching churches how to do personal evangelism (sounds more relational). The majority of these scenarios would not include relationship as the key medium.

Now, jump back to the first 300 years of the church, the early church. Historians like Rodney Stark paint a picture of a nearly secret movement of people that influenced millions of others in the Roman Empire through their lives of high integrity, love for others, sacrificial service to people in need, and a powerful unity among themselves. From individual lives the Gospel was demonstrated first before it was described. And this movement grew to impact the entire Empire. Yes, relationship was the key medium in the transfer of the Gospel. 

Perhaps the contemporary church should consider how to restore this idea today.

Next, do you agree that our very lives are the message?

Again, I think about my life experiences here. If someone were to ask me how the Gospel message is commonly delivered I would consider several modes. First in frequency would be the sermon. It has been a general understanding that sermons convey the Gospel best. Beyond the church service we package the Gospel sermon in TV programs and radio programs for many more to hear, as well as video and audio recordings and now web streaming. Also as I mentioned above in my life there was a surge of carrying the Gospel to people through personal evangelism. Still, none of these strategies were built on the premise that one’s life was the message.

Once more going back to the example of the early church, history seems clear that the individual lives of those believers carried the message of Jesus more than any other means. Their passionate love, care, and service powerfully carried the core concepts of the Gospel into the pagan culture. 

Alan Hirsch is fond of saying the Gospel is like a virus, it needs a host, a carrier to get spread around. The power of the Gospel is activated when we add our flesh and blood to it as Jesus did. Too often we quarantine the Gospel in our systems. Compartmentalizing Christian life into church services and church activities is an incapacitating straight jacket that pervades Christianity. (p.108) I will add this, the data in recent years repeatedly shows that there is little difference in the lives of Christians and non-Christians. (p.114) Where is the life message of the Gospel there?

Perhaps the contemporary church should evaluate how we make disciples today.

Next, let me ask two questions from the quote above.

Do you think Jesus liked to hang out with people that were outside the religious circles?

If we are disciples following the steps of Jesus what people outside the religious circles do you hang out with?

Wow! It is possible these questions may stir up some sensitivities. I mean no harm. I just want us to think about how the church could renew itself to be more like Jesus. So let’s talk about it.

The data shows that in 3-5 years a new convert will have no friends outside church culture. In effect something about our approach to Christian life breaks the natural organic connections that they have with their host community. We are extracting them. (p.251) Enough said.

One final time I go back to the model of the early church. Their drive to emulate Jesus ‘drove’ them out among the people of the pagan culture. Even though culture was antagonistic to them they resisted the temptation to seal up in their Christian cocoons and isolate from the world. Paul used a phrase that is powerful to consider, “The love of Christ constrains us.” 2 Cor. 5:14 KJV The Message says, “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything.” 

Paul’s vision of Christian living was that his love for Christ and the love of Jesus for him compelled him, drove him, or moved him, to emulate Jesus in extravagant service and sacrifice for the lost pagan Romans.

Today we looked at three probing questions. Think about them some more and chat with a few Christian friends about them.

Do you think relationship is the key medium in the transfer of the Gospel?

Do you agree that our very lives are the message?

Do you think Jesus liked to hang out with people that were outside the religious circles?

When Prayer Puts On Shoes 

November 9, 2025

By Brian Johnson

StarfishYou.Substack.com

We’re walking on a journey together that we call the Disciple-maker Pathway. So many people have walked it before us. It’s the train that Jesus blazed for us.

In Article 1, we said the book of Acts isn’t ancient history; rather, it’s the Church’s operating system. Ordinary disciples listened to the Spirit, went where He said “over here,” and a household in Philippi became the beachhead for the gospel in Europe.

In Article 2, we said every movement worth remembering starts in the same soil: extraordinary prayer and fasting. Before the Church moved, she waited. Before Paul went, he listened. Before Lydia opened her home, God opened her heart. This is also the phase we never leave. It’s the phase that informs who we are and how we go forward in every other phase of the journey.

Now we come to the next bend in the pathway. This is the phase where prayer informs who we are and what we do “on mission.”

Phase Two is Incarnational Mission.

This is where the love of God that met us in the secret place now shows up on actual streets and around our tables as we get to know the names, stories, rhythms, hopes, and hurts of the people to whom Jesus has sent us. This is the phase where we learn the Kingdom is often seen before it is heard.

Before the Word Was Heard, It Was Seen

John tells us, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

As our friend Alan Hirsch would say, “Our Christology should inform our missiology.”

The Word didn’t commute. He moved in. He learned a language. He shared meals. He walked at the speed of relationship. He learned a trade. He had a career. He let proximity do its work.

Incarnational Mission is us doing the same thing in our context. We move toward people instead of waiting for them to move toward us. It’s the Spirit saying, “You’ve listened. Now go there. Stay there. Be there.”

Phase One without Phase Two becomes disembodied spirituality. Phase Two without Phase One becomes human activism.

The pathway keeps those fused: abide, then embody.

Who Am I Becoming? Incarnational Mission always starts here.

Before we talk about prayer walks, B.L.E.S.S., or context maps, we have to talk about the kind of person who does those things. Phase Two is not, “Great, five more tasks.” It’s, “This is actually who I am becoming in Jesus.”

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” That wasn’t a bonus assignment for super-disciple-makers — it was Jesus handing us His own sent identity. Sent is now part of our name.

So the Phase Two question isn’t first, “What do I do?” It’s, “Who am I becoming?”

Am I becoming the kind of person who naturally moves toward people instead of away from them — even when I’m tired, even when it’s awkward?

Am I becoming the kind of neighbor others trust — someone steady, safe, and present, not sporadic and transactional?

Am I becoming someone through whom blessing flows, not just someone who has been blessed — a conduit, not a container?

Phase One (Extraordinary Prayer and Fasting) is where this starts. As we linger with Jesus there — in listening, in silence, in dependence — we begin to reflect Him. Prayer forms the inner life.

Phase Two (Incarnational Mission) is where all of that gets tested in the wild. Once we actually move into the neighborhood, office, school, or network, we find out: Do I look like Him here? Will I do what He did with the people He’s put in front of me?Incarnation is spiritual formation in public.

So we can press the questions a little further:

Am I becoming someone who is interruptible? Jesus let ministry happen on the way to Jairus’ house, through crowds, at wells. Mission rarely arrives on our calendar; it arrives as an interruption.

Am I becoming generous with my home, resources, and food? Incarnational people open their tables. Hospitality is mission on a plate.

Am I becoming patient with these people, in this place, at this pace? The Kingdom grows like yeast, not like a firework. Presence requires patience.

Am I becoming emotionally present enough to actually listen? Not just waiting to talk, but letting someone’s story rearrange how I love them.

Am I becoming non-anxious in my context? A person of peace in a hurried, angry, lonely world is magnetic.

Am I becoming someone who expects God is already at work before I arrive? That’s the 

Phase One mindset carried forward — “Lord, where are You already moving here, and how do I join You?”

That’s the heart of Phase Two: incarnation is character-forward. We don’t just bring tools into our neighborhood; we bring a transformed self. And the more we become like Jesus, the more natural it is to do what Jesus did — pray, listen, eat, serve, and share — right where we live.

Identity → posture → practices. Not the other way 

Culture Shift and Leading Change

November 21, 2025

John Maynard Keynes said, “The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify into every corner of our minds.” (Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, p.XXI)

Let us remember that one of the calls of the Reformation was semper reformando, always reforming. (p.58)

Alan Hirsch says, 

We need to remind ourselves that if we fall in love with our system, whatever that is, we lose the capacity to change it … The binary choice still remains: we choose either to live into the more dynamic missional paradigm or to continue to operate from within the more static monument paradigm that we have inherited. (p.XXVI) 

All of us would agree that rapid change has been taking place globally for the last fifty years. The conditions we face in the church are radically different than those the church faced in the 1950’s, or 1980’s, or even in 2000. The maps we have from those times are now inadequate. It is almost like trying to navigate in New York City with a map of London. The church seems to try to navigate with the idea that if we just do things more intensely, or more excellently, or with more technological savvy. In reality, the shift has been so fundamental that it will take a return to the foundations of Jesus and New Testament mission style ministry. That is why we recommend Four Pillar living in this blog.

Think about the church Christ established. It grew from A.D. 100 with about 20,000 Christians to A.D. 310 with 20 million Christians. How do you think they did this? 

They were members of an illegal religion.

They didn’t have church buildings.

They didn’t have Scripture as we know it.

They didn’t have a formal institution or professional leadership.

They didn’t have seeker sensitive services, youth groups, worship bands, seminaries, commentaries, and so on.

They made it hard to join the church. (p.5)

The church in China over the last 100 years has seen some similar circumstances and similar growth. Like the early church, they were mostly an illegal movement, they had few Bibles (again illegal), no professional clergy (many imprisoned), no official leadership structures, no central organization, no mass meetings, no buildings, seminaries, and so on. Yet in that time they have seen the greatest surge of Gospel-spreading impact in the world, if not the history of Christianity. 

Another movement with long-lasting impact, such as the early church, would be the Methodist revival under the leadership of John Wesley. Similar to China, there was a missional DNA that continued to propel this work forward bringing significant national transformation to England. Then the ministry was carried to the New World in the 1770’s, and some concede that it was the major force in evangelizing what came to be known as the Christian Nation. By the mid-1800’s, there were four times more Methodists in America than all other religions combined.

From these historical illustrations we can see one thing prominently. Each of them maintained a missional urgency that defined their ministries and continued to be the reason for their existence, their very lifeblood. A review of other major movements of the Kingdom of God, such as the Celtic movement with Saint Patrick and others, would reveal this same core force at work. It could be said that when the church of Jesus Christ is at her best, she is a mission-driven movement and this motivation overrides all other purposes. 

If at any time in Christian history this missional “prime directive” has been displaced by other motivations, it has been seen that the church loses focus, loses power, loses traction, and loses relevance. Therefore, as we speak of change, it is critical that the church in this age acknowledge the data, that Christianity has lost such a primary commitment to mission, the gospel, loving and serving others, and evangelization. It is vital that leadership move to restore missional urgency to the central place of prominence in all that we do.

Missional living is about living out the gospel in such a way that, through our lives, people experience the direct influence of Jesus. The level of relational commitment determines the impact. Jesus invested relationally in his disciples and, by extension, in the 70.  He understood that as he exemplified this missional value to them, they would then live it out and transmit it to others.  As we pastors and ministry leaders live missionally—intentionally investing in others through committed relationships, those we serve will also begin to live out the gospel through intentional missional relationships. This challenge is the heart of this ‘Four Pillars’ blog. 

Go to the blog website for every past blog post, Anakainosisforthechurch.com 

Mission Centered Communities

November 24, 2025

“The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.” Emil Brunner

(William Greathouse, “Love Made Perfect,” p.119)

When fire ceases to burn, it ceases to be. So when the Church does not burn with a passion to make Christ known to the world, it ceases to be the Church – and becomes either a sect like the Pharisees or a social club! The Church is the only institution on earth that exists primarily for non-members! (p.34) It exists chiefly, Jesus reminds us, “so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them, even as thou hast loved me.” (John 17:23)

Let’s discuss lighting the fire of mission in the small group ministry.

It has been noted many times through the years that churches often become bodies of people that become more interested in servicing their own needs and desires than servicing the community around them, or even the lost and needy nearby. One of the challenges of creating a missional climate will be to bring the church around to the vision, “Us for the Community.” (Frost and Hirsch, “Rejesus,” p.31) Remember the words of William Temple, “The church is the only society in the world created for the benefit of non-members.” (Frost and Hirsch, “The Faith of Leap,” p.171)

Alan Hirsch says, “The Christian community must overcome their instinct to huddle and cuddle, and they must form themselves around a common mission…” (Hirsch, “Forgotten Ways,” p.91) 

Believers are called to shake off their desire for a warm blanket (or cappuccino) and plunge into the world to experience the challenges of mission together. It is here they will encounter God and bond with one another in a powerful new way. Togetherness happens with amazing impact among a group of people inspired by the vision of a better world who actually attempt to do something about it. Remember your mission trip experience, or your summer church camp bonding, or some intense project you worked on? Mission together should be a common ingredient of small group ministry. It was for the early church.

The genius of John Wesley was no doubt the inspiration of the Spirit to base everything in his Methodist ministry on the four words, “Love God, Love Others” (Matthew 22:36–40). Throughout history the church has done well giving focus to “Love God,” but the “Love Others” part has often been overlooked. Yet if we consider the words of Jesus in Matthew 25, we find that he says that when we love others, we are indeed loving Him. Therefore, it is a true statement that the motto of the church could rightfully be, “Us for the Community.” 

It is important to note that mission at its best and when it most basically reflects New Testament practice is not an individual endeavor. It is an entire cell of Christ followers committed to influencing the not-yet-Christians around them. The solitary witness is at a loss to provide a family of nurture and loving relations that will bring the seed of the Gospel to full fruition in the life of a new believer. 

As a matter of fact, the bands and classes that Wesley formed all around his nation often saw seekers come, attend, participate, and belong as much as two years prior to them experiencing conversion. It was the acceptance, loving relations, and family nurture that prepared the hearts for conversion and then for growth in discipleship. This is a key that has been overlooked in many evangelism efforts through the centuries.

There has been strong movement toward small groups in recent decades. It is possibly due to the mega church phenomenon; leaders sense the real need to connect people in the massive crowd to a relational group. That is indeed a serious need, but small groups have not been easy to maintain, and their success has been elusive in most applications. Here again we have an overlooked key from Wesley. There was a strong missional purpose built into his bands and classes. Relating together was a third objective, a byproduct of the first two goals, personal spiritual development and mission.

In reality the house churches of the first three centuries were small groups built on a mission foundation. They existed to grow together, to love, serve, and influence others for Jesus, and to bring those others into this family community. Without the mission foundation they would have been more like Hirsch described above, “huddling and cuddling.” And who would have blamed them? The Empire was against them! At times they were even persecuted! But rather than the “huddle/cuddle” mode they infiltrated the culture with their love, their service, and their Good News!

How many local churches today could use one, two, or five small groups with a mission foundation infiltrating the community with love, sacrificial service, and Good News? 

Mission Centered Discipleship 

November 27, 2025

Mission Centered Discipleship

Discipleship has been discussed in earlier blogs but consider it now in the context of mission. Somehow Christianity came to think of discipleship as an objective that was different and distinct from mission. The mindset grew that we would do discipleship, and this would prepare followers for mission to come. Well, in the last 100 years that has not worked out very well. Let’s talk about it.

Discipleship and mission are both motivated by lordship. Our identity is linked to Jesus and our destiny is linked to Jesus. He sets the primary template for the movement that bears his name. If the movement fails to resemble, act, and sound like the founder, something must be deeply wrong. Discipleship is becoming like Jesus. If it has slipped to acquiring information, memorizing scriptures, or learning doctrines then some adjusting is in order. We need to focus back to the root of it all and recalibrate everything around the person and work of Jesus. This will mean taking the Gospels seriously as the primary texts that define us. It will mean acting like Jesus in the world, the friend of the outcasts. (Hirsch, “The Forgotten Ways,” p.102)

How did Jesus make disciples? He said, “Come and follow me.” And the disciples left what they were doing and began to follow Jesus, doing what He was doing. It transformed their lives, gave them an entirely new vision of spiritual life and faith, and brought them to embrace and engage this kingdom call. Jesus simply took them out on mission with Him and then reflected with them about the mission activities afterward!

The major tool in making these fishermen into disciples was going on mission with Jesus. That’s right, going and doing ministry and then reflecting with the Master about what they had done, how and why. So where were the classrooms? Where were the PowerPoint presentations and lectures, and note taking, and memorization, and Scripture reading, and study, and on and on? Where were all the things we see as central to discipleship today?

Jesus made “doing” mission the major tool of discipleship for all of His disciples. We seem to have disconnected mission and discipleship long ago, even though the idea is not a new revelation to anyone. 

Mission should be at the center of discipleship. As mentioned above, mission should be at the center of community building (small group ministry). Mission should be at the center of our church services. Mission should be at the center of every ministry that the church performs. Mission should be the organizing principle for every function of the church. 

Jesus made mission the central tool of discipleship. Imagine the impact if every follower of Jesus sitting in your church were exposed to mission ministry (reaching lost people) as they were discipled? And what if they were expected to continue in some expression of mission, as most disciples are expected to continue being disciples? Do you think this would have a transforming impact on a church?

If churches separate discipleship equipping from mission, they will not experience this strength of mission ministry. Naturally, strength of mission is the life blood of any church. A church may be like the monks of old who made discipleship about being a cloistered holy community. That may produce united community. It may produce a kind of holiness, but it will not produce mission. A church may center discipleship on worship like the Tabernacle of the Old Testament, where offerings of sacrifice for worship were carried out daily. Again, all the saints gathering together for worship will not fulfill the Great Commission. 

Alan Hirsch gives us another perspective stating, “Mission acts like a catalyst for all the other three classic functions of the church: Worship, Community, and Discipleship.” (Hirsch and Frost, “The Faith of Leap,” p.167) Think about that. A church on mission will be like the disciples rejoicing when seeing that even the powers of the dark were subject to them and their gospel message (Worship). A church on mission will discover community, togetherness, and close relational bonding (koinonia) as they take on the challenges of serving and reaching their world (Community). A church on mission will make disciples the way Jesus did by first exposing them to mission and then helping them find spiritual and scriptural answers and support (Discipleship). 

T.S. Eliot, American poet and literary critic, said concerning discipleship, “The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief.” (Hirsch, “The Forgotten Ways,” p.109) Mission establishes discipleship on the foundation of living and doing, rather than on information acquired and knowing. (See James 1:22–24.) Jesus succeeded in embedding his life and the gospel in his disciples. At the most uncomplicated level, missional movements are disciple-making systems. This is at once the starting point, the abiding strategic practice, and the key to all lasting impact.

People Not Programs 

December 1, 2025

People, Not Programs or Projects

Over the centuries, the Christian church has slipped into the pattern of sponsoring efforts to reach out to people living without Christ. Often these programs and projects begin with great compassion for people in desperate need. But as the ministry continues, there is a drift from passion for people to the drive for certain results. Consider a few historic examples.

Mass evangelism is an easy target for this challenge. The goal of reaching lost people needing salvation subtly shifted to counting decisions and converts with less attention to ongoing lives, needs, and development. This writer was intensely involved in personal evangelism decades ago and must confess the same was true. The goal to celebrate too quickly became how many people heard the witness and prayed with us to received Christ. 

Think about revival days of the past century, and we soon recognize the same result. Numbers were reported and celebrated when many of the people receiving ministry may have drifted away unnoticed. Even church attendance so easily became the goal superseding continued ministry to people, addressing their needs, and providing nurture through loving relationships. 

Let’s go back to Jesus one more time. Some might say, didn’t Jesus speak to multitudes quite often? That is certainly true and easily verified in the Gospels. The interesting thing seems to be that hindsight helps us to interpret those mass ministries more like seed sowing activities than actual mission or evangelistic thrusts. Later, thousands would respond to the message of the small new church, and no doubt many of those had been at one of those mass meetings with Jesus. 

In the ministry Jesus was building, He did not count masses as his followers, his disciples. No, Jesus fully gave himself to the twelve for his time in ministry. He also gave himself to the 70 that he taught and sent out to minister. Clearly, the 120 in the upper room felt they were under personal orders from Jesus to wait before they launched this kingdom building endeavor. Jesus also seemed to have a relational bond with the 500 that witnessed his ascension. These numbers are far short of the 5000, 3000, or multitudes described at times in the Gospels.

One application we should carry away from this brief Gospel review is that Jesus gave himself in a relational connection to all those that he would count as his own. In other words, Jesus personally loved and poured into all of those he would call his church by the time of his ascension. If we will follow the footsteps of Jesus, we must never allow mission activity of any kind to become less relational than Jesus did. Yes, there is space for seed sowing events, but Jesus was not about programs, people were his heart.

Still, at the most fundamental level, mission is about carrying the love of God through the love of Christ by the love-spreading work of the Holy Spirit to each man, woman, boy, or girl on earth. Each new follower of Christ deserves loving saints to join them on the journey of new life they have entered. Each deserves to be ushered into the loving koinonia nurture of the Family of God. If we would imitate Jesus, then no one responding to the gospel should feel abandoned to find his or her way alone. 

The highest motivation for participating in the ‘missio dei’ is NOT because this is God’s mission to reach fallen humanity. This motivation has often been used to mobilize mission effort and it will usually start strong with noble intentions, before degenerating to mere participation in a good cause, at best, or slip to obeying a commandment at worst. 

Add to this, the highest motivation for mission is NOT the desire to emulate Christ and walk in his steps. This desire is pure and worthy of commendation. To walk in sync with the vision of our Master is marvelous and helps move the efforts toward the relational, walking with Jesus and walking with the hurting. This is at the heart of who Jesus is and who he calls us to be.

In my view the highest motivation for participating in the mission of God is LOVE. Jesus reported, “God so loved the world…” As love drives mission Christ followers are uniting with Father God’s passion. The love motivation easily soaks through and permeates all the other good and noble motives for mission. Love is the winning motivation. Love persists beyond every other lofty motive. Paul writes under divine inspiration, “Love never fails.” (1 Cor. 13)

Many times in my journey I realize I was participating in a program for the mission. Now I see that Jesus is calling us to people, not programs that so easily become distracted. Remember John Wesley’s motto? “Love God, Love People.”

Think Evangelism in a NEW WAY

January 12, 2026


Consider a slice of the Book, Permanent Revolution, by Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim to lead us in this theme. (p. 36-39)

In his book, Conversion in the New Testament, Richard Peace provides the useful clue to broadening our understanding when he says that “How we conceive of conversion determines how we do evangelism.” (p. 286) According to Peace the American church has typically understood the nature of conversion through the lens of Paul’s instantaneous conversion on the road to Damascus. 

Consequently, evangelistic ministry for the most part has sought to reproduce that instantaneous, sudden experience of conversion by orchestrating events where people can encounter Jesus for the first time. In many ways this informs the ‘seeker-sensitive’ model of church that looks to draw people into a controlled environment so someone (usually a charismatic speaker) can deliver a dynamic message. (p. 36)

Peace expands our understanding of evangelistic ministry by uncovering an additional paradigm of conversion in the New Testament, one that often goes unnoticed. He points to the Gospel of Mark where the twelve apostles undergo a gradual, incremental process of conversion whereby they arrive at the true identity of Jesus only after a lengthy process of discovery. John Finney sums up these two paradigms of conversion by using the phrases “Road to Damascus” and Road to Emmaus.” (p.37)

The Road to Emmaus involves process: walking with people through life, eating meals together, building relationship, sharing joys and sorrows, while demonstrating and discussing the love and care of Jesus. We have often seen the Road to Damascus required a special event or possibly a special person gifted to confront people bringing them to decision. Both are legitimate in evangelism but the Road to Emmaus describes a path almost all Christians could feel comfortable travelling with someone. This paradigm lends itself to Four Pillar living; emulating Jesus, loving others, offering relationship, and living on mission. (p.37)

Incarnational living uses the metaphors of journey, pilgrimage, and quest to describe evangelism. Any Christian can see themselves as a friend that finds great satisfaction in strategically helping someone else move closer to Jesus, no matter what phase of the journey they may be in. It is energizing investing time, energy, emotions, and sometimes even financial resources in people over an extended period of time. Through relating and serving in love the gospel is demonstrated and this paves the way for the gospel to be described and discussed naturally and relationally. (p.37)

This presence evangelism is whole life. It is about participating in relationship and situations of life with the intent of provoking interest in Jesus, spirituality, and the gospel. It is incarnational, being with people in tangible ways so that they can get an idea of what it would be like to ‘hang out’ with Jesus. (p.38)

This mode can be seen as investing in people, walking with a person through the entire process of their conversion, from the beginning of their friendship all the way through conversion and beyond. Some people benefit from being exposed gradually in ways that allow them to process and internalize its meaning and significance for their lives. Investors enter relationships with people ready to walk through all of life’s ups and downs. Because they are willing to devote lots of their own time, energy, and emotion in others, they typically go deep with a few rather than spreading themselves out with many. This approach demonstrates gospel faithfulness and sacrificial love. (p.39)

This Road to Emmaus paradigm for evangelism helps open the possibility of the Great Commission to all believers. Data has often shown that 95% of Christians never lead someone to Christ. Perhaps as believers understand how they can walk with others and invest relationally and incrementally, they will see evangelism as a more realistic and possible ministry for themselves. Perhaps they will see how Four Pillar living naturally translates into ‘On Mission’ living such as this. The life stories regularly shared in this blog are meant to be illustrations of how this can work in anyone’s life.

 

Reaching Out and the Horse Whisperer

March 3, 2026

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch use the horse whisperer, Monty Roberts, to illustrate a way for the church to reach out in culture today. (The Shaping of Things to Come. (pp. 126-128)

Monte Roberts found a new way to tame wild mustangs from the mountains of Montana. He found their instinct and desire to be connected to other horses in a herd was so strong that if they were isolated alone, they would even make friends with their enemy to have socialization or companionship. Monty would get in the corral with the wild Mustang, never making eye contact and never allowing them to come close. Within one hour the mustang would come up to Monty peacefully and allow him to saddle and ride him.

Monty‘s story reminds us of outreach and the church. Even though he had discovered an effective way of listening to horses, the old Montana horsemen won’t budge. They have been breaking horses their way for generations. Why should they change now? In the same way the church might say, “We’ve been winning sinners like them for generations. Leave them to us. But the old method of confronting seekers who don’t fit the conventional, stereotypical church testimony has become less and less effective. So many in culture today are avoiding the church like the plague. It’s time for us to develop a spirituality of engagement with not-yet-Christians that will involve true listening and genuine presence.

In our culture today the first steps to become Christian is not for people to see how truly bad they are. Today not-yet-Christians sense this is disingenuous. True friendship is God‘s calling in and of itself. If people find friendship with Jesus through our friendship with them, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Instead of having a confrontive spirituality of engagement with others, we believe the church needs to recover a spirituality of engagement that whispers into the souls of not-yet-Christians. As Monty Roberts appeals to his wild mustang’s deepest longing, we can develop an ear for listening to such longings in our friends, and engage them with respect, grace, love, and compassion.

How can we whisper into the deepest longings of not-yet-Christians today? As we have already mentioned, listening is an essential element. As is the need to recognize that people are much more likely to come to faith gradually than through some cataclysmic Damascus road experience. In 1992 an exhaustive study of over 500 British who had come to faith in the previous 12 months found that 69% described their conversion as gradual. It was not terribly different, 63%, in the strongly evangelical churches where dramatic conversions are anticipated. Overall, only 20% of converts describe their experiences as dramatic or radical. The report suggested:

“The gradual process is the way in which the majority of people discovered God and the average time taken was about four years. Models of evangelism which can help people along this pathway are needed.” (John Finney, Finding Faith Today, Page 25.)

As one illustration, loneliness is a widespread emotion in culture today. Incarnational living brings Jesus followers alongside the lonely to walk with them, build friendship relations with them, invite them into a wider Jesus family network, love them and encourage them. Genuine relating gives the not-yet-Christian a solace for their loneliness and also gives them a growing glimpse of the possibilities of life with Jesus. Our loving care from Jesus whispers to the lonely heart.

Tips on Whispering to Others

March 6, 2026

How can we whisper people toward Jesus? 

What are the features of a life that is under girded by a spirituality of engagement? Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch give us some pointers. (The Shaping of Things to Come. (pp. 128-136)

We heard the Horse Whisperer, Monty Roberts, tell how he observed the extreme hunger for connection (ie., the herd) the wild mustangs have. This became his key to whispering. So as we walk with others the question will always be in the back of our minds, “What does this person long for deep in her soul?” Understanding this will give us our key for whispering her toward Jesus. The Gospels show us repeatedly how Jesus observed people and listened to the Father to see those deep longings and move to touch them first. As we use these pointers below we will continue to look for this key to redemption.

1 Excite Curiosity through Storytelling

Amazing to his religious context, Jesus’ stories contained no references to the law of Moses. In his parables, he didn’t seek to explain the words of a previous prophet or teacher. There was no reference to a Yahweh. What kind of biblical teaching was this? Stories about a father who welcomes his wayward son back, a woman who turns her home upside down looking for a lost coin, references to shrewd business managers, foolish farmers, and wise investors. The parables were very surprising forms of religious communication indeed.

We might consider three kinds of stories:

First tell God stories.

Tell your friends about a sunset, items in the newspaper that remind you of God, so-called coincidences, a film you have seen when God was revealed…

Second tell Bible stories.

These can be used at the right time and place, within the context of a strong friendship an ancient biblical story can evoke a great deal of curiosity.

Third tell personal stories.

Even our struggles and weaknesses can be used. Karl Barth said, “When we speak of our virtues, we are competitors, but when we confess our sins, we become brothers.” Telling how God has been present and faithful is authentic experience.

2 Provoke a Sense of Wonder and Awe.

JK Chesterton said, “The world will never starve for wonders, but only for the want of wonder.” Certainly, this can be done in God’s creation, but also in beauty and goodness all around us. Leonard, Sweet has developed an acrostic to describe where the worship experience is going in the future. He says postmodern culture yearns for corporate worship that is epic: experiential, participatory, image driven, and communal. Telling your personal encounters with Awe is part of this.

3 Be Extraordinarily Loving.

(This is the core of emulating Christ, of Christian Faith, and of sharing the Gospel!)

The unrelenting kindness and grace of one person toward another is infused with the potential for transformation. When we live holy, gracious lives before our friends, neighbors, and associates, we commend an alternative reality to the one they live with every day. We don’t come in a holier than thou attitude. Rather, we believe if we live like Christ, we whisper into the souls of not-yet-Christians. Be like Christ through extraordinary loving.

Please return to see our next blog post for two more tips.

Explore How God is Working

Focus on Jesus

Let’s ‘Whisper people to Jesus.’

Tips on Whispering to Others - B

March 9, 2026

In our last post we touched the tips:

Tell God Stories

Provoke a Sense of Wonder and Awe

Be Extraordinarily Loving

(Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come. (pp. 128-136)

We will close out the idea of extraordinary Loving with this quote from the early church.

Diognetus wrote of the fledgling Christian community in the following way:

They dwell in their country, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country and every country of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all others; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table common, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are sent to death and restored to life. They are poor yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of and yet are justified; they are reviled and blessed; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evildoers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are a sailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks; those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

4 Explore How God is Working.

The authors talk about the idea of sharing testimony in a more general and casual way. Personal experience and life journey are more important to our current culture than at other times. There is a respect for a person’s life episodes even if some may differ on issues. Now is the time to sanitize our Christian testimony so that it is palatable to our friends that are not familiar with church language. Beyond that this culture is interested in the mystical and awe inspiring. Let’s share it!

5 Focus on Jesus.

(This is the total theme of another book Hirsch and Frost have written titled, Re-Jesus.) 

If we check the Gospels, nowhere do we find Jesus speculating on the nature of being and abstracting essential truth. He makes no philosophical formulas or introduces no abstract ideas of God. His religion was relational and not philosophical. He was action oriented and always pointed to concrete situations. He found God in the world, not apart from it. 

In terms of discipleship, he called for followers, not just believers. It wasn’t good enough to confess that he was very God. His teaching style was definitely non-academic: he discipled his followers into a lifestyle, called ‘the way’, rather than sending them to an academy to learn about God, divorced from the context of life and mission.

His love of life was infectious. His form of holiness was not the alienating form so often associated with religious types. We have often pondered what kind of holiness was present in Jesus, that ordinary people, broken, simple, marginalized people, love to hang around him. They didn’t feel condemned by him. Sadly, these same types don’t ordinarily like to hang around church people today. What’s the difference? Jesus was even accused by religious types of being a bit of a drunkard and a glutton, and of fraternizing with all the wrong kinds of people. He was certainly not afraid of pleasure but oriented it toward God. He should be the church’s hero, the one we all aspired to become like.

Briefly Recapping ---

To whisper friends toward Jesus these points will help to guide us”

Tell God Stories

Provoke a Sense of Wonder and Awe

Be Extraordinarily Loving

Explore How God is Working

Focus on Jesus

All the while asking Jesus to reveal the deep longing they have that will become the whisper key to Jesus!

Go to the blog website for every past blog post, Anakainosisforthechurch.com