David R. Lewis :: Blog

I have been asked this question by more than a few people. I have to admit, I get a bit lost in the semantics my self sometimes. Lately, though, I have been thinking more like a missionary than a pastor (in the traditional sense that is). There are plenty of shepherd/pastors, living within close proximity to where I live. They are serving the Lord, tending their flocks, etc. However, they are all doing primarily the same thing, which is managing what they have instead of searching for the ones they don't have; the ones who might never step foot inside of their church buildings. Don't get me wrong, I love these pastors, most of whom are bi-vocational. They are dedicated men of God who would do anything for the members of their congregations. For most of my ministry I have thought like them, and still do to a large extent. However, I am learning, with the help of men like Ed Stetzer and Alan Hirsch, to think like a missionary.

I want to be in the places where unchurched people gather. I want to bring Christ into those places. Living in post-modern, mostly unchurched America means shifting my thoughts so that they line up with Jesus' thoughts. Did Jesus have a strategy for reaching the lost? If simply going to where lost people are  (which is anywhere and  everywhere) then I guess He had a strategy. For me it simply means living, loving and serving the way Christ did and will do through me.

There's a new church, recently planted near my own field of harvest. They are meeting in a night club, renting some cool, trendy riverside office space. They have an art gallery and an incredible worship service with candles, mood lights, incense, fog machines, a rock band, etc. They are drawing quite a crowd and are about to add a second Sunday morning service to accomodate the crowd they are drawing. They have four pastors, none of whom live in the city they are admittedly attempting to reach. They drive in on Sunday mornings, do there 2 hour gig and then drive out, along with most of their twenty/thirty something congregation, the rest are either college students or do actually live in this city. They do spend time in their offices during the week planning and strategizing how they will grow their church.

Let me say here that I love these guys and what they are doing. However, what they are doing, in my opinion, is not missional/incarnational but attractional. They are merely doing the same thing the church has always done, except with a modern, contemporary twist. Again, that is not necessarily bad, but they're not being as missional as they think and say they are.

My picture of missional and incarnational is living in and engaging the culture, by being who I am in the place God has called me to. This means putting my kids in (God forbid) public school. Enrolling my kids in community activities such as little league baseball, scouting, 4H, etc. and then participating with them on a volunteer basis and meeting other families who live in the same community, send their kids to public school, and sign them up for these same community activities. This isn't an agenda or a program or any attempt to be something I'm not, so that I can hone in on them with the gospel. It is a process, by which I am living in this world, but not of this world; living amongst my neighbors in such a way that they are drawn to what I have, which is peace and joy. It's about developing relationships and friendships and loving my neighbor as myself, so that as Christ lives in me, transforming my life, He also lives and works through me, drawing lost people to Himself and transforming their lives.

For me, that's what it's all about--knowing Christ and making Him known.