GLOW TRAINING MANUAL

​The Heart of the Mission
Mission is not directly about church growth. Mission is directly about communicating God’s love for the world in word and deed. In Jesus’ ministry, sometimes people followed and sometimes people walked away. At all times, Jesus loved people towards the Kingdom and Family of God. This is the heart of mission for the church.

​Jesus’ mission is a robust vision for our individual lives, the community called the “Church,” and all of God’s Creation. In other words, as we receive the blessing of God, we are filled to overflowing with a grace that transforms our lives and outward to transform the Church, our neighborhoods, all nations, and the creation itself. This was God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, “I will bless you…so that you will be a blessing.” 

​And we take our instructions from the Risen Christ himself, in Matthew 28:19, “As you go, make disciples of all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” So that method is one of

1. Going (not expecting people to come to us)
2. Baptizing (a full immersion in the life of the Divine community)
3. Teaching (the Good News we find in Jesus begins to impact our lives right here and now!)

​As we see in the ministry of Jesus and throughout the Scriptures, God’s Mission (the Missio Dei) and thus the Church’s mission is multi-dimensional and holistic. It involves:

• Evangelism: verbally sharing the Story of Jesus and inviting others to receive God’s grace, join the Story, and follow Jesus
• Service: actively meeting the physical needs of someone else
• Justice: advocating for the voiceless and oppressed, often addressing systemic issues at some level of society
• Community Building: bringing people together, especially people who are experiencing isolation or would not normally connect
• Support: offering monetary and in-kind donations to support the work of other ministries, organizations, and missionaries. These ministries may be doing any combination of evangelism, service, justice, and community-building work.
• Note: Not every mission ministry/event needs to include all five of these dimensions, nor does there need to be a separate ministry/event for each of these dimensions.

​With these dimensions in mind, we must lastly consider two other dimensions to our mission: ourselves (the gifts, passions, voice, and networks of the Christian/Church) and the neighborhood (their needs, questions, suffering, and love languages). Fruitful mission will combine an authentic expression of our faith with a genuine understanding of our neighbors.

​What to Read
Ministries of Mercy, by Tim Keller, pp. 46-54 [See Church Library]

For evangelism, read the short book, Sharing Your Faith with Friends and Family by Michael Green [See Church Library]
​
Bob Lupton on Toxic Charity [http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/mission/features/29220-when-charity-turns-toxic]

​What to Listen to
Listen to the sermons, “Glowing with Christ’s Love” (10/21/12) and “Net-Menders or People-Fishers” (9/9/12)
​
Listen to Bob Lupton on Toxic Charity [http://poddirectory.com/episode/9799613/1052014-toxic-charity]

What to Ponder

• Ed Stetzer: “The church is sent on mission by Jesus. It's not that the church has a mission, but rather that the mission has a church. We join Jesus on His mission.”
• NT Wright: “God is the one who satisfies the passion for justice, the longing for spirituality, the hunger for relationship, the yearning for beauty. And God, the true God, is the God we see in Jesus of Nazareth, Israel's Messiah, the world's true Lord.” 

What do the following texts tell us about Jesus’ mission:

• Luke 4:16-21
• Luke 5:17-32
• Luke 7:36-50
• Luke 9:10-17
• Luke 10:1-24
• Luke 10:25-37
• Luke 15
• Luke 24

Diagram from Eddie Gibbs in ChurchNext. [See Church Library] Descriptions from Pastor Jon Komperda.

• Receive and Reproduce (Traditional): communities are growing, and people are looking for their denominational church when they move in town. So all the church needs to do to survive and grow numerically is receive the people who come and reproduce biologically (especially, since kids move away less).
• Come and See (Modern): the church attracts outsiders with good music, good programs, etc. People stick around because their needs are getting met.
• Go and Seek (Post-Modern): the church is a place where people are equipped and trained to go out into their neighborhoods, workplaces, families, and whatever fragments of our society God has prepared us and called us to enter into as ambassadors of grace, hope, love, and wisdom.
• How are each of these models of church and society important for us to understand?

The Diaconal and Missional Church

• What are the benefits to the diaconal church model?
• What are the benefits to the missional church model?
• Which of these models seems to fit the needs of our less-churched culture better?
• What do we need to take from these models as we shape our approach to mission?