Value of Cages

A friend recently placed the following YouTube video on our ministry's Facebook page. As I have worked with congregations, they continue to get hung up on the concept of "missional church". Therefore I thought the following  two minute video was pretty good at giving an overview.

Interesting to me was the response from an acquaintance who had been "evangelized" by some Christians thinking themselves "missional."  Not all Christians are ready to be out of their cages, it seems.  The key is to leave the churchiness behind and actually enter into the culture of others.  Some seem to carry the church-centered agenda out into the public. The result is that "missional" approach doesn't look any different than old school forms of assertive recitations of "spiritual laws" and needing to get "saved".

The problem isn't in this two-minute video. It actually does a good job explaining the basic definition of missional as opposed to church-centered ministry. The major paradigmatic shift takes more than just a couple minutes to transfer into real practices.

Until then, some churches might work well as cages to keep some Christians inside and off the streets. Perhaps until the church figures out how to effectively interact with culture, some of those less ready to go out into the public might stay inside. Seriously, though, the shift from church-centered thinking to serious engagement with communities and cultures takes time, a willingness to experiment and fail, and an enduring desire keep learning.

Until then...it may be safer for some of us to remain indoors, behind our cages. And it might be safer for those we seek to welcome into the Kingdom of God.