This is a Throwback Thursday circa July 2016:
As we are moving into a post-Christendom world, the notion of mission is changing. It’s not primarily something that happens ‘over there,’ but the ‘mission field’ is now here. Our cities, our schools, our neighbors do not now fundamentally reflect a churched culture. If we are to take seriously the call to make disciples of all nations, we must ask ourselves, ‘How should I live my life on mission?’ and ‘What should the church look like to accomplish the task before us?’
Alan Hirsch, thought leader and missiologist, said, ‘The problem is that the church, in its current models, will at best reach 40% of society, but 90% of all church plants are pursuing that model. That is a missional problem. We need innovative new ideas for reaching the other 60%.’ Being in college ministry we are pressed every year to understand the current generation and what models will best reach them. But as I have become more active in my neighborhood, city, and at Kairos, I began asking how I can take what I’m learning in campus ministry and apply it to the rest of my life. What, for non-college students, will awaken new forms of missional living and new expressions of church so that not just Christians and church transfers participate in the life of Kairos, but that we begin reaching non-Christians and that Kingdom values begin to permeate our neighborhoods and businesses.
That is what has driven me to pursuing a Masters of Missional Church Movements from Wheaton College, where I’ll be learning from Alan among many other leading practitioners. As stated on Wheaton’s website: ‘As contemporary forms of the church are changing, we need a new type of leader who wants to plant and grow reproducing churches, transition existing churches, and extend the influence of the gospel into every sector and location of society. It will equip you to lead in the Church and in your community and workplace to bring the gospel to bear and see people transformed and neighborhoods and institutions influenced.’
My hope is that not only will it give me training for my work for InterVarsity, but that I can also apply what I’m learning to help Kairos better engage the city of Atlanta. My first paper was a reflection on the change process that Kairos experienced, which helped me think through how to better participate in Kairos’ mission and, I believe, helped shape a few things we are currently doing. It is also influencing our approach to the SE/E Atlanta gathering as we seek to be a ‘spiritual family on mission.’
- Nick Johnson (July 2016)