By Steve

What next? The tension of intentional and organic

I have been thinking much about where the church is headed in the future. I have been thinking about the future of Christianity. I have been wondering what role Citywalk might play. I have been thinking about what my own life may have in it all.

Small things I think about while trying to fall asleep.

Missio Dei, the mission of God, is what we are invited into and welcomed to join. How does one (lacking an appropriate verb here, should it be work, cultivate, advance, grow?) the Kingdom of God...Ultimately Jesus' mission, I suggest. Is it possible, and I think it is, to be about the mission of God, intentionally, but not subject it to pesticides. There is a difference between being a passive onlooker and allowing something to develop organically.

I still think organic is a good word. When I grow to the grocery store, I notice how the organic section is as small as a mustard seed. Most people avoid it, or don't even notice it. It is rarely given a prominent place in the market. You must enter the store intentionally seeking out the organic food. When you seek it out, eventually you will find it. You may not see many others around. It may cost a bit more. You may not see the immediate dietary results you were hoping for.

There may be a way forward for the church, for living Christian...that is organic. Where we don't force things but let them develop. Not passively, sitting on the sideline sort of letting, but intentionally partnering in the Missio Dei without infusing any more pesticides.

One thing that may require immense intentionality, is removing the pesticides that already saturate what currently exists. There are too many programs and ministries and blah, blah, blah that exist that in my courteous, humble perspective have nothing to do with what God is about. There are too many things we are encouraged to do and to avoid in our pursuit of living Christian that, in my gentle and kind opinion, are something quite different than how Jesus lived.

You can judge for yourself what these things may or may not be...as for me, It is my hope that the rest of my life is wrapped up in the missio dei, both the removal of pesticides and intentionally cultivating the fields of the Kingdom.

It's a great time to be alive. Don't you think?