Being “missional” has been a central part of the vision for Generations since we the idea of a church plant first emerged a number of months ago. Because it is so important to what God is calling us to do and to be as a community, there has been a missional thread woven through each of our gatherings, beginning with the January orientation meeting and continuing through the 6 subsequent gatherings in Feb. and March.

Last Sunday evening, in talking once again about this idea in the context of his message, my dad asked “what does it mean to be missional?” There was silence initially and a sense of uncertainty.  A couple of people eventually answered, hitting on some related aspects of what it means to be missional. It was a clear reminder to me that this is a new way of thinking for many of us and that it will take time, effort and repetition to make this shift in our lives. I am not disappointed about this, mind you. I count myself among those of us who find it easy and natural to slip into the comfortable relationships with people who already share my world view, rather than to intentionally engage those in our culture who, at best have a different perspective than me, and at worst are hostile toward Jesus, Christianity, church and “religion”.

Recognizing that we are inviting God to change our hearts, minds and relational habits by the power of the Holy Spirit, I want to remind us again what it means to be missional, so that we have a common understanding of what God is calling us to as a people. There are three parts to this:

• We believe that our local church must be faithful to the content of unchanging Biblical doctrine (Jude 3).
• We believe that our local church must be faithful to the continually changing context of the culture(s) in which they minister (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
• We believe that our mission is to bring people into church so that they can be trained to go out into their culture as effective missionaries. Our goal is to be less attractional in our philosophy of ministry and more incarnational. (2 Cor. 5:18)

In short, we are suggesting that, biblically, every member of Generations is sent by God as a missionary.

The trouble is that most of us, if we are honest, do not naturally think like missionaries in our culture. In fact, most of us tend toward stereotyping people and we are guilty of thinking in terms of “us” and “them”, “insider” and “outsider”. In order to impact a community and culture with the gospel, however, it is incumbent on the people of God to learn about their community and become students of the culture. If we are to make any difference in Norcross and the surrounding areas we must be led by humility and a heart of understanding that sees people first through the eyes of grace while maintaining a bold gospel-centered witness.

We are depending on the Holy Spirit to lead us as we lead the church, and we are depending on you to partner with us in this mission. So, as we seek God’s heart for Norcross, we are asking for your insight to help us identify the 10 greatest obstacles to Church and the Gospel in our context. (i.e. “Christians are judgmental and intolerant”, “The church wants your money”, “All the Christians I know are hypocrites”, “Christians are fanatical”, etc.)

Here is the biggest challenge: Don’t do this from your recliner, couch or futon. In order to understand, we are asking for insight based on anecdotes (conversations) and cultural exegesis (spending time in pockets of resistance or indifference). We are asking you, along with us, to talk deeply to non-Christians, asking them their thoughts about Church, Jesus, the Gospel and Christianity. We want to learn from them on mission.

If you don’t know how to start, here are 3 simple questions we would suggest you ask people:

1. What do you see God doing in the Norcross area?
2. Where do you see needs in Norcross?
3. What do you think it would look like for a church to meet those needs?

As you do this we want to hear what you are learning. Please begin recording and sharing, preferably through The City, your stories and insights with us and with each other so we can all benefit and become more effective missionaries.