Participation

Being missional is a growing conversation in the church.  People are beginning to wonder, “What is missional?”  And if it is important, “What does that mean for my life.”  At Thrive, we’ve been asking these questions for a long time.  We would offer that Missio Dei is central to the Christian life and to following Jesus.  It calls us to a more profound way of living as human beings.

But where to begin?

Participation involves many things.  But at the foundation of what it means to engage a missional life is love and trust.  These are the two pillars of what we practice.  We call them the meta-works or practices that lay the foundation for the Christian life.  Missio Dei is about restoring relationships, restoring trust.  And fundamental to these relationships is our relationship with the Father.  Jesus was always drawing people back to the Father, to trust again.  And from this single relationship, we could gain His Spirit, which was the power to live.  We could participate in what He was already doing to restore the world.  And with this restoration and renewed living, we could be Jesus in the flesh.  We could love.

Love and Trust.

But to get there we had to participate.  So one of the fundamental questions we’re always asking in Thrive is, “How am I or can I participate with God in what He’s already doing?” This could be in your own life or in the life of someone around you.  It could be engaging your own restoration or being Jesus to someone in the moment.  The point is to participate.

How would you answer this question in your life?