This article by Darryl Dash describes what Sanctuary, a missional community, looks like. It explains many of the ideas that I was trying to get across in my defining-missional post. I will share a few quotes, but I am sure you will be encouraged and inspired by the entire article.
In not Out
As we talked, we noticed that our language didn’t match up. We talked about Sanctuary as a mission; Greg talked about it as a community. We talked about targeting people; Greg talked about wanting to be with people where they are.
With not For
When we come to a community with a set of services, Greg explained, there’s a power dynamic at work. We serve; they receive. They remain disempowered. When we go into a neighborhood, spend time with them, listen to them, and allow them to serve us, we become servants, and the power imbalance disappears. The challenge is to find who the poorest people are in the neighborhood, and to discover how we can be with them.
Us not Them
Greg talked about lessons he’d learned: about becoming a church of the poor, rather than a church that only served the poor; of learning early on that he had to shut up and do more listening than talking; of getting past the idea that church is only a service on Sunday; of connecting with those who are broken by being vulnerable about our own brokenness.
#1 by shaun on June 26, 2008 - 12:47 pm
Grace,
Really what a beautiful picture of what followers of Christ should be doing.
What if we actually followed Him instead of marketing Him or trying to fit him into our custom made box?
I think the world would be a very different place.
Thanks!
#2 by grace on June 27, 2008 - 5:30 am
shaun,
I loved this real-life example of a group that is living out missional values, a great example for all of us.
#3 by Kim on July 3, 2008 - 10:16 pm
The problem is the church is a social gospel church; I used to go there.