A History of the Outreach Place of Worship
Missional church is definitely a popular saying that is all over the place these days. The fact that we are required to categorize bodies of Christ, missional, has for eternity been weird to me. come on, shouldnt all churches be missional in their very essence? it should be expected from a church, at its very essence, want to introduce their culture and area with the message of Jesus as a missionary would in a foreign country? Isnt it what the churches is encouraged to do in the last challenge from Jesus in Matthew 28:19? Our own city requires this kind of church. Austin church is slowly transitioning to what our God instructed in the Gospels.
The Son of God gives the challenge in Acts 1:8 saying, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 personifies this concept as, right before Jesus Christ goes up to Heaven, He sends the disciples on a journey that would begin right in their personal community. He begins with their area of Jerusalem, and then broadens the call to the many parts of the globe.
As Christians, we are not called to privacy, but to be missional people who are aggressively going out and meeting people right where they are with the gospel. We have observed this throughout history: God motivated Abraham on a mission to go out of his city and his people and go to the town that God would show him (Gen. 12:1), God urges Moses on a exploration to rescue an enslaved people and lead them to freedom (Exodus 3:8-10), God motivated Jesus on a journey to creation to bring back all things to Himself through the death of Jesus (Colossians 1:20). And now God is sending us on a journey to engage neighborhoods, cities, peoples, and even nations with the message of Jesus (Matt. 28:19 Mark 6:7 Luke 10:1 John 20:21 Acts 1:8). If we abandon this call and continue to see the bodies of Christ like a closed off country club ” encouraging that people straighten up their act, pay their dues, and walk to our church God will continue His mission without us.
