Identity: Starter's Pistol or Finish Line?

"Perhaps the greatest factor that hinders the Western church from missional engagement is that most Christians here do not identify themselves as fully empowered agents of the Kingdom of God." (p. 71)

Although this sentence does not appear until halfway through Chapter 1, "Putting the Extra in the Ordinary: Viewing Daily Life with a Missionary's Eye," it seems to contain the thrust of what Lance Ford exposes, analyzes, and proposes in the chapter. I'd rather hear from you, so I'll briefly break down his statement through the lens of Right Here, Right Now.

First, what about this "missional engagement?" What does that mean or look like? I'll let Alan tackle that one by saying, "A working definition of missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself by, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world. In other words, the church's true and authentic 'organizing principle' is mission. When the church is on mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only the result of God's mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God's purposes in and through his people." (p. 66)

Second, in the initial statement, with precision, Ford cuts into our identity. As the people of God in the world, who are we? In Jason Coker's beachfront context he's noticed Christians identifying themselves with the following distinctives, "The strongest churches here extoll conservative evangelical tenets: the inerrancy of scripture; the submissiveness of women; the threat of evolution to the faith; God's divine blessing on capitalism and Western democracy; an understanding of salvation as the assurance of heaven after death for those who confess specific boundary-marking tenets." Is that who we are? In UnChristian, the research data describes us as anti-homosexual, hypocritical, and judgmental. Is that who we are?

On page 67 of Right Here, Right Now, Ford proclaims, "There is nothing remotely average about a human being who has been born again with the very resurrection life that caused Jesus to rise from the dead, to have the indwelling Holy Spirit as guide, to possess the mind of Christ for needed wisdom, and then to be commissioned by Jesus himself to go into the world with his redemptive agenda." As the people of God, who are we?

Perhaps the latter section of the opening sentence provides a starting point to answering the "who are we" question: "...fully empowered agents of the Kingdom of God." As much as I would like to expound on what I think that means and/or looks like, instead, I'm going to defer to a humbling quote in So Beautiful by Len Sweet that should move us all to close our mouths for prayerful waiting and listening: "God is 'up to something.' Do we know God well enough to know what he is 'up to?'"

*What's keeping the Western church from shedding attributes that inhibit us from living as "fully empowered agents of the Kingdom of God?" Should we shed, renew, or reset?

*Should context influence identity, or identity cut into context? Where does contextualization fit in this conversation?

*What is God up to where you are at, and how do you know?