Curiosity killed the cat, God brought the cat from death to life. . .

I feel the need to define what it is to be “missional” from a purely one-sided and personal viewpoint. Usually when we talk about missional attitudes or missional paradigms, the discussion leans heavily on the church as a whole and where we hope every disciple ends up (or at least a large community within). But today I just want to say what is pouring out of my heart as it applies to me.

I have inside of me an ever-increasing desire to see God move. And to be perfectly honest it’s 50% selfish ambition, 50% inspired. I’ve lived a life in service to a King, I’ve seen His power manifest through great movements and through the unexpected (maybe even mundane) events of everyday life. These experiences have continually brought me back to a place where I fully admit that I have no idea what He’s up to. And still I seek out His Hand. Now, it’s not my intention to wax poetic, on the contrary, I fully intend to show the practical application of this internal compass.

While I’m under no constraint or obligation to see God “do His thing”, I’m drawn to it. I’m always curious about what He is doing in the lives of others. Not in this monumentally overshadowing (often fictional) thing we’ve affectionately term a “calling”. No, I want to know what He is doing inside of others. For some it may be ministry but in most cases it’s a simple lesson that can be easily explained by open and honest communication. This is where community comes in. If I have truly connected with someone, this process is as natural as commenting on the weather. And I get excited about this stuff. To be more precise I get fueled by this “day-to-day” acting out of what God is doing in us. When I turn the spotlight around and place it on myself in this context I can see God doing the same type of thing in me. He’s teaching me (seemingly) simple lessons by the experiences I go through. In some cases I get it right away and move on to the next, at other [full disclosure=most]times I wrestle with the validity or truth of the thing that God is trying to reveal to me.

Now what does all that have to do with missional. Well, seeing the hand of God move in my own individual life (regardless of the enormity or commonality) births a greater desire to actively give myself to the community God has placed me in, which in turn fuels my passion to promote the Gospel which, of course, compels me to seek out the lost, to heal the broken, give to the poor, and love people. To me missional is this life lived toward others, giving myself away for the promotion of the Gospel. And not the Gospel as a formula, but as a redemptive story lived out by anyone turning away from darkness and embracing the light in any capacity.

That’s how I see it today, it will likely evolve. I’m curious about what it looks like in the actual lives of others.