Community 
The Missional Life | Externally Focused - 4.25.2010
I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God
who is sending a love letter to the world.
– Mother Teresa
Introduction
As was stated in the foreword to this study, the Bible indicates that the church exists as a means to fulfill the mission of God. The church is not the mission, but rather a participant in the mission. The mission of God is the redemption of the world, and the church is one of the primary instruments God uses to fulfill this mission.
Of course the church is made up of people—hopefully, people who have experienced something of the redemptive work of God in their own lives. God’s dream is that each one of these people would in turn carry on this redemption in the lives of others. You see this in the life of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus chose them to continue on the redemptive work that he himself did in their lives. “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you,” Jesus said.
Missional living is when we live out the redemptive mission of God in our everyday lives. Missional living happens when we live beyond ourselves; when we live for the betterment of the world and become externally focused.
Readings from: The Externally Focused Church, pp. 21-22.
Do you remember Jesus’ first miracle? He didn’t raise someone from the dead. He didn’t feed the multitudes or heal someone of a debilitating illness. He turned the water in six stone jars into wine at a wedding—simply because the host had run out of wine. Jesus “revealed his glory” by seeking the welfare of the host and guests of the wedding in Cana. His presence was a blessing to the wedding. Everyone was glad that Jesus showed up, but his act also led to spiritual transformation, as “his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11.)
A young man walks toward a woman whose age is belied by the joy and sparkle in her eyes. The man extends his hand and asks the seated woman, “May I have this dance?” And so begins the Mariners’ Senior Prom—an evening of dancing, food, and fun sponsored by the Lighthouse Ministry of Mariners Church in Irvine, California, for seniors from a convalescent home in the community. Young men dance with elderly women, and young women take the arms of older gentlemen. Walkers and canes are put away for the evening, for tonight is a night to dance—to feel the joy of youth and to hear music from days gone by.
Two hundred men and a smattering of women and children gather around television screens scattered throughout a room. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. Tables and chairs are arranged for optimum viewing and interaction, but men still jockey for the seats closest to the TV sets. On the table are hot chicken wings, five-layer bean dip, meatballs, nachos, chips, guacamole, and pizza—snacks befitting a world championship event. In the finest room Lake Avenue Church has to offer, the homeless have gathered for a Sunday afternoon in Pasadena. These are men whose candle is nearly extinguished. To be cheering for their team, to feel some sort of passion, reassures them that they are still alive. And for an afternoon at least, a community is created for those who have no community.
A dance and a Super Bowl party…what do they mean? Are they expressions of mercy? Of justice? Maybe they simply reflect love—doing unto a neighbor what you’d like done for you if you were in his or her shoes. When a woman poured out a flask of perfume on Jesus, the disciples exclaimed indignantly, “Why this waste?...This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor” (Matthew 26:8-9.) The spiritual bookkeepers of the world love a return on their investments, but what Jesus asks us to do can’t be measured in those terms. Jesus replied to the disciples, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Matthew 26:10b.) Sometimes things shouldn’t be measured in terms of better and best, but of beauty.
Eternally focused churches bring beauty to their communities. Their love is a garland of grace. They don’t just hand out soup; sometimes they serve nachos. They don’t just hand out winter coats; sometimes they help pick out a prom dress.
To be a blessing to their cities, externally focused churches go way beyond traditional methodologies. Through arts, drama, and sports, they create opportunities to influence the lives of children and youth. By offering classes to the community in public settings such as banks, hospitals, and hotel conference rooms, they equip emerging workforces with skills necessary to thrive.
The size of your church has nothing to do with your church’s ability to be externally focused. The operative word is focus. Remember Jesus’ words, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20.) Several years ago Scott Beck, the first franchisee of Blockbuster Video, was addressing a group of ministry leaders. The discussion centered on the meaning of critical mass. Scott was asked, “What does it take to launch a venture…to get it off the ground?” Scott’s answer was concise: “Critical mass is one person with a vision.” Most likely, for your church to become externally focused, it will take one person with a vision. Perhaps that person is you!
Questions:
• How would you explain the purpose of an externally focused, or missional church?
• How does Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine illustrate the purpose of a missional church?
• In many churches, there is a tension between what needs to happen inside of the church and what should happen on the outside. Why do you think this tension exists?
• What do you think hinders churched-people from becoming externally focused?
• What kinds of things could happen in our communities if the church truly became missional, or externally focused?
• Can you provide an example of when you saw the church living out the missional life?
Scripture Study:
Author Thomas Hale wrote, “No one can say: ‘Since I’m not called to be a missionary, I do not have to evangelize my friends and neighbors.’ There is no difference, in spiritual terms, between a missionary witnessing in his hometown and a missionary witnessing in Katmandu, Nepal. We are all called to go—even if it is only to the next room, or the next block.”
• Look up the following passages and explain what they all have in common: Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 9:1-2; John 20:21; Acts 1:8.
• What do you think it means to be “sent” into the world?
• For what purpose is Jesus sending the church into the world?
• Read Matthew 5:13-16. What metaphors does Jesus use to explain the activity he wants from the church?
• Jesus said the church is to be the light of the _________, and the salt of the _________. Is there any significance in the place where the church is to be light and salt?
• What do you think it means to be “light” and “salt” in the world?
• Can you provide some ideas or ways in which you or your small group could demonstrate the light of Christ to the surrounding communities and world?