Working out Salvation with Fear and Trembling

6 Simple Ways to Be Missional

I am out of pocket this week with my trip to PEI to help my inlaws, so I wanted to share 6 simple ways that we can try to be more missional in our daily lives. I’ve borrowed this from here.

1. EAT WITH OTHER PEOPLE
We all eat three meals a day. That’s 21 opportunities for church and mission each week without adding anything new to your schedule. And meals are a powerful expression of welcome and community.

2. WORK IN PUBLIC PLACES
Hold meetings, prepare talks, and read in public spaces like cafés, pubs, and parks. It will naturally help you engage with the culture. For example, whose questions do you want to address in your Bible studies, those of professional exegetes or those of the culture?

3. BE A REGULAR
Adopt a local café, pub, park, and shop so you regularly visit and become known as a local. Imagine if everyone in your gospel community did this!

4. LEAVE THE HOUSE IN THE EVENINGS
It’s so easy after a long day on a dark evening to slump in front of the television or surf the Internet. Get out! Visit a friend. Take a cake to a neighbor. Attend a local group. Go to the cinema. Hang out in a café. Go for a walk with a friend. It doesn’t matter where as long as you go with gospel intentionality.

5. SERVE YOUR NEIGHBORS
Weed a neighbor’s garden. Help someone move. Put up a shelf. Volunteer with a local group. It could be one evening a week or one day a month. Try to do it with other members of your gospel community so it becomes a common project. Then people will see your love for one another and it will be easier to talk about Jesus.

6. SHARE YOUR PASSION
What do you enjoy? Find a local group that shares your passion. Be missional and have fun at the same time!

Mission Through Meals

As we continue considering how best we can build relationships with those outside of the church community with the hopes of reaching them for Christ, consider this quote from Tim Chester on how mission works through something as simple as a meal:

“Jesus didn’t run projects, establish ministries, create programs, or put on events. He ate meals. If you routinely share meals and you have a passion for Jesus, then you’ll be doing mission. It’s not that meals save people. People are saved through the gospel message. But meals will create natural opportunities to share that message in a context that resonates powerfully with what you’re saying.” (Tim Chester, A Meal with Jesus, p. 89)

Are you looking for a way to better connect with unbelievers in your neighborhood, whom you work with, or just get to know someone better, the best place to do it is around the table. It’s not inaccurate to say that in the Gospels, Jesus was always on mission. And if you follow His movements, He was either going to, at, or coming from a meal. Some of us view meals as something that needs to happen. Simple fuel for our bodies. Yet meals have historically, and should be today, relationship building events. Want to have opportunity to share your faith with your neighbor? Invite them over for dinner. Want to get the chance to talk about Jesus with your coworker? Take them to lunch. Grace, community and mission happen around the table!