Everything was created to reflect the glory of God; however, through disobedience and rebellion all of creation was tainted and tarnished the glory of God. God responded to this rebellion through entering into humanity history and walking amongst us, and his name is Jesus. Jesus came to rescue and renew all that was lost through disobedience and rebellion by willingly laying down his life on a cross so that all of God’s wrath toward sin, in that moment, would be taken completely out on Jesus Christ. It is through faith in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection that allows us to be rescued and renewed. Rescued from eternal separation from our creator and renewed to walk in newness of life.
It is this eternal theme of rescue and renewal that runs throughout all of history and this eternal theme is the purpose of the missional church. To not merely go to the people, get into conversations, and gather them in a room to look at each other, but to go (engage and enter), get (express and explore), and scatter (equip).
Throughout history the local church has followed the go, get, gather model. The church planting leadership team will go (engage and enter), they will get (express and explore), and they will gather (equip). However, it is at the point of gathering that the typical church plant will tend to get distracted by securing a place to meet, finances, and having better worship, better teaching, better planning and they neglect to spend as much time on the going and getting.
Therefore, instead of the go, get, gather model we want to create a culture that will go (engage and enter), get (express and explore), and scatter (equip). Below is a five step process to move people to participate in an eternal mission of rescue and renewal.
Engage
The story of rescue and renewal doesn’t stop when we meet Jesus, but the story is continually being told and the story is continually being written. Throughout scripture we see a God who is engaging in a mission to redeem all that was lost through disobedience and rebellion. From the calling of Abraham to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 “As you have sent me, so I am sending them (disciples)…”
The evidence of this value will be seen when we are:
• Prayer: Praying for opportunities
o Identify people you come in contact with on a weekly basis.
o Work, neighborhood, family, hobbies, school, and community events.
• Scripture: Personally read through Gospel of Mark and ask specific questions.
o What did Jesus say?
o What did Jesus do?
o How did people respond?
• People: Identify at least one other person to share this dream with and meet with them on a weekly basis for encouragement and support.
Enter
For too long the Christ follower has observed what he has been rescued and renewed for. He has become bored with organized programs that are uninspiring and instead of inviting people to come and enter into this same experience we need to enter into the lives of the people around us and experience the gospel transforming our lives and the people around us.
The evidence of this value will be seen when we are:
• Prayer: Praying for discernment
o Entering into relationships with others doesn’t mean we enter into relationships with everyone.
o Each day / week ask God to lead you to enter into relationships with others.
• Scripture: Participate in a community group where we examine scripture, learn from one another, and encourage each other as we participate in this mission of rescue and renewal.
• People: After we have engaged in this mission with God we must decide to enter into relationship with them through simple conversations. Austin is highly transient and people long to be in relationships with others. Through simple steps of talking about the weekend, asking questions, and being friendly you will be surprised how open they are.
Express
Often times we reduce the gospel to an outline or a memorized monologue where we force a conversation on someone, however, the Gospel is a story that started thousands of years ago when Jesus spoke creation into existence and this story is still being told today.
There are people we interact with daily who have heard about Jesus, heard about church, heard about salvation, but never heard someone share how this message of rescue and renewal radically transformed someone’s life personally.
The evidence of this value will be seen when we are:
• Prayer: Praying for boldness
o It isn’t creating awkward conversations, but looking for the opportunities and taking advantage of the ones the Holy Spirit naturally brings into our lives, Col. 4:5-6.
o Ask God to show you the next step in the relationship that will help them see a clearer picture of who Jesus is.
• Scripture: Participate in a community group where we examine scripture, learn from one another, and encourage each other as we participate in this mission of rescue and renewal.
• People: After we have engaged in the mission and entered into the lives of others on a daily / weekly basis we will have opportunities to share our testimony, encouragement, and have gospel conversations.
Explore
When it comes to exploring truth intentionally with others often times we conclude our first step is to bring them to church / pastor. However, the most powerful avenue to communicate the wonders of God will take place through the life of the individual Christ follower.
Will people have questions we can’t answer? Absolutetly. Should that hinder us from stepping out in faith in having those conversations? Absolutely not. Being able to explore truth with others is something every Christ follower can do, it just takes practice.
The evidence of this value will be seen when we are:
• Prayer: Praying for wisdom
o The Holy Spirit is the one who illuminates truth and we desperately need Him to show up.
o Ask God for the wisdom to explore truth in such away where Jesus Christ is elevated above everything else in every passage of scripture.
• Scripture: Participate in a community group where we examine scripture, learn from one another, and encourage each other as we participate in this mission of rescue and renewal.
• People: After we have engaged in the mission, entered into the lives of others, expressed spiritual conversations, we will have opportunities to sit down with people and explore scripture with them. We will be surprised at how open people are to explore scripture and ask questions about who Jesus is, what he did, and how people responded.
Equip
Often times when a Christ follower gets into spiritual conversations with people our first thought is to bring them to church / pastor. However, our focus is not to pull people into a building, but to scatter them throughout the city of Austin to Engage, Enter, Express, Explore, and Equip: to call people to an eternal mission of rescue and renewal. A calling that goes beyond denomination, economic, race, or social barriers, but a calling that goes out to all of humanity to participate in a mission to magnify His glory.
It is this mission that moves us to gather weekly to encourage one another, learn from one another, and allow scripture to remind us of the importance of this mission.
The evidence of this value will be seen when they are:
• Prayer: Pray for the lossness of Austin to weigh heavily on our hearts and the hearts of others.
• Scripture: Participate in a community group where we examine scripture, learn from one another, and encourage each other as we participate in this mission of rescue and renewal.
• People: When we are individually sitting down with people to call them to participate in this mission we will be surprised what God does when we submit our lives to His mission.