Implementing a Missional Hermeneutic: Missional Holiness

God desires to transform each of us into the man or woman whom God created us to be. This is the power of the Gospel. A missional community exists to reflect God’s character. To reflect God’s character requires the work of the Holy Spirit.

The key questions for moving forward are these: 

What kind of person do I need to become in order to function as a member of a missional community? 

How does my life need to change? 

Am I willing to surrender my life to the world imagined by this text?

This moves the conversation away from personal spiritual formation as an end in itself to a true mission-centered spiritual formation that steadfastly insists on including active engagement in God’s mission in any definition of Christian maturity and discipleship. E. Stanley Jones, the great 20^th century missionary to India, once said, “Christianity that doesn’t begin with the individual doesn’t begin; Christianity that ends with the individual ends.” The questions in the preceding paragraph inspire hearers to dream about the new life that is available through following Jesus Christ into the world on mission. The purpose of the transformed life is to unleash women and men to serve as visible clues to the reality of the invisible God. When outsiders encounter enough clues they should find themselves at the cross with its invitation to the life that God intended for them to embrace and embody.

© 2015 Brian D. Russell 

Read the other essays in this Series: Understanding Your Context and Practicing Missional Community.

Looking for a curriculum to help implant a missional DNA in your community of faith? Check out Invitation.