Crescent Project Event in DFW Metroplex

I hope to see many of you at FBC Arlington for this important event offered by our colleagues at Cresent Project. We can be more Christlike in how we view and respond to our Muslim neighbors; an incarnational perspective on a global issue.

For more information visit www.crescentproject.org/DFW.

Pit Stop Ministry

Karl Bozeman has been a part of my life since I was in elementary school. He and his wife showed me God’s love before I had any concept of God’s mission. Their influence began about fifty years ago…and it still continues today. Karl directs men’s ministries at Mimosa Lane Baptist Church; he mobilizes men. Karl equips and empowers men to give their skills and talents to God, using them to minister to people.

In the ongoing dialogue about whether churches should seek to be attractional or incarnational, Mimosa Lane Church has decided not to split hairs trying to decide. Instead they simply invite people to come to be served in very tangible ways. That is what Pit Stop Ministry is about.

Senior adults, single moms, and those living on limited incomes drive to the parking lot of Mimosa Lane’s Pit Stop ministry, often in cars that would not pass inspection and consequently could not continue to be driven. During their visit, men and women of the ministry team will do a vehicle inspection and correct most problems. Additionally, they will perform routine maintenance on the vehicles to keep them operational. And for many of those serving, it is the first time they have found something they feel competent to do in ministry.

What is the cost? Nothing. These services are provided without cost as a ministry to bless recipients much like Jesus did when He walked the Judean hillsides. As I listened to men and women talk of how God has blessed them through Pit Stop ministry, I was convinced that this ministry attracts people not just because it is free, but because it expresses Christ’s compassion in very real ways. And that is incarnational!

I hope that you will be blessed as you watch the brief video that Karl Bozeman and the Pit Stop Ministry team allowed us to produce. Perhaps God will use their story as a catalyst for your own church in finding a creative expression through which Jesus-in-you can bless the people in your community.

This Missional Church Center video can be viewed by clicking here.

Re-thinking “Incarnational”

Continuing our focus on Attractional and Incarnational, it is clear that there are those who use the word “incarnational” to identify any congregational ministry that focuses beyond itself. For example, a clothes closet in which members gather, sort and distribute used clothing to persons in need may be identified as a “missional ministry” because the target recipients of the ministry are persons who are not part of the congregation providing the ministry.

However, it is possible for a group to provide such “ministry” without ever intending to really connect with ministry recipients. I see this fashion of ministry provided routinely by churches who feel they must “do something” for those who are less fortunate. But, truly incarnational ministry never sees people as objects that need ministry, rather as people to be loved.

If I do all ministries possible and have not authentic love for those who are receiving the benefits of ministry, I may be doing good deeds, but I am not incarnating Christ. While others saw crowds of people, masses of humanity with overwhelming needs, He saw individuals for whom He came seeking relationship – people whom He would love, at whatever the cost that was required. True ministry always has a cost associated with it. When touching Jesus robe, the woman of Mark 5 was healed. And the text says, “Jesus felt the power going forth from Him.” While I do not understand the depth of that statement, I understand enough to know that ministry did not come without a price.

Sometimes ministry is offered as a salve, not to eliminate the pain of the other, but to soothe our own conscience. We feel better because we have done something for “those poor people.” But unless we long to become real friends with those people, to journey with them through the challenges of everyday life, we are a long way from the incarnation of Jesus. He did not say “I have called you recipients of ministry,” He said, “I have called you friends.”

Authentic incarnation means investing in relationships with people, not just giving them a hand-out. Incarnational mission joins Jesus in seeking those upon whom He can lavish His love. Who are the people Jesus is giving you to love in your sphere of influence? Where will incarnational mission carry you today?

View the second Attractional or Incarnational ministry focus video by clicking the picture above or following this Missional Church Center Video link.

Attractional and Incarnational

Yesterday I was overwhelmed as I read and reflected on Psalm 87. There God speaks his pleasure that once enemy nations are now “born in Zion.” His mention of Jacob and Zion reminds us that while he loves individual families who worship and follow Him (Jacob), His supreme love is for Zion (the assemblies of the faithful). While the church may have many weaknesses, it is still the object of His supreme love – His bride.

David Clarkson wrote, “Prayer and devotion sanctify every family, and diffuse a spirit of piety through all avocations of life, so that we need not retire from the world, but rather are called to show forth the virtues of the Christian life in it.”

In one sense, Psalm 87 reveals the emotion of God while Matthew 28:18-20 reflect the purpose of God for His church. We are called to be the incarnate presence of Christ in the world and to live in such way that the nations seek to become part of this Body. In terms used in contemporary dialogue, we are to be both incarnational and attractional. Not one or the other, His mission encompasses connecting with people where they are and bringing them into the community of faith. Both/and … not either/or – attractional and incarnational.

As we conclude 2008, I am grateful for each person who has journeyed with us this year. I never cease to be amazed at the opportunities that God opens inviting us to share with fellow believers what He is teaching us about His heart for neighbors and nations.