Missional Living: Between Danger and Opportunity

This crisis has brought about paradigmatic change, and unless our response shows a consideration of this new reality, we will suffer from the law of diminishing returns.

If there’s anything these last few weeks have shown us it is that we are all living in an era of flux (to say the least). Change is upon us and its full implications are still amorphous.

We are living in a time that will be written about in history and that has resulted in a global crisis of epic proportions, with more to unfold. The response of the church, generally, amidst this time of crisis has been commendable. We’ve seen churches respond generously to their community through acts of loving kindness.

We’re witnessing the frenzy of churches moving services online to connect with their congregations. We’re seeing a flurry of online devotions and live online gatherings continue to escalate. Our pastoral care strategies have been dramatically impacted, as well.

I wonder, in all this, if we’re missing something, or leaving something behind? Ed Stetzer is right where he says that the crisis is not getting your church online. The crisis is also not when the church will get back to ‘normal’ again.

This crisis has brought about paradigmatic change, and unless our response shows a consideration of this new reality, we will suffer from the law of diminishing returns.

If there’s anything the events of the last few weeks has taught me, it has been that we need to think missionally about the times we are living in. We cannot assume it’s ‘business as usual.’ We are called to be completely faithful to the biblical text and shaped to the contours of our cultural narrative.

Missional Christians are in tune with the ever-changing contexts we find ourselves in and also aware of their calling from God. When I was a seminary student in the early 2000s at the Baptist Theological ...