Hearing God's Call to Mission

Notes adapted from Brian Sanders' seminar at Sonburst 2008!! I learned a LOT from this, and I hope you do too... Enjoy!

--Starting with scripture, in typical IV style! :)
1 Samuel 17 (David and Goliath)
David exhibits fearlessness and comfort with himself, and is able to discern his calling in some ways we might not necessarily think of.

• He steps up because there is a void (nobody else will do it)... and it is perceived as arrogance!
• Living courageously for God draws criticism.
• He is not altogether inexperienced-- he has experience of facing great foes, and of God coming through for him.
• He focuses on the problem at hand, and not on other peoples' fear and criticisms.
  
• Takes this as an opportunity!

David puts himself in a position where only God can come through for him.
--When everything is against you, and there is still success... you KNOW it is because of God!

David is indignant in the face of a great bully who was against his God and his people.
David's identity in God is incredibly strong!
David believes that he is truly called.

He looks like a shepherd, but he is more. His connection to God obligated him to confront the great bully he encountered!!
--What really makes YOU mad in this world?
--This may help reveal what your calling is... we will come back to this later.

General revelations can answer many of our specific questions!!
--What are some scriptures that define what we, as followers of Jesus, are called to do?
--Knowing these scriptures, we can see some general guidelines that define our calling:

• The Great Commandment: "Love God, love people" (Mat. 22:36-40)
• The Great Commission: "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching..." (Mat. 28:18-20)
• Jesus' first act of ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor..." (Luke 4:16-21)
• There are more, but these are some of the main examples.
  

In Eph. 4, Jesus lists 5 types of people: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers

• Western churches are primarily "pastoral"-- led by Pastors (and also Teachers). Pastors guard the safety of the "flock."
• But ALL 5 are supposed to lead!!
• A team of all 5 types of people looks a lot like Jesus!
• By relying on ONLY the pastoral people to lead, we create a church body who feels that the church exists for them to be comfortable and taken care of.
• This is part of the church's purpose... but definitely NOT all of it!

Apostle: "one who is sent"... or what we would call a missionary.
--It is listed first, which stresses its importance.
--We should strive to be more missional leaders!

• Lead as cultivators of creativity-- create environments where people can be released to mission.
• Teaching people and sending them out...
• And also teaching those who aren't here yet by going TO them!
• Whatever we do should serve the Kingdom. Whether you are a doctor, a teacher, a manager of a restaurant... you should be able to say how the path you are on is enabling you to follow God's call!!
• We should not rely solely on church leaders to accomplish God's mission-- the whole body needs to be involved!
  

FACT: The church is growing pretty much everywhere in the world... EXCEPT the west!
--Explosive growth in China, India, the Philippines, Latin America, Africa...
--Our megachurches create the illusion that the church is growing... but it's not.

What are some tools we can use to discern our calling??

Discern your bully-- what makes YOU mad? You may think this thing (AIDS epidemic, sex slaves, poverty, hunger, inner-city violence) makes EVERYONE mad... but really, we each have certain things that we feel a special passion for.

Discover your gifts-- Try everything you can! Take ANY opportunity to lead (Bible study, worship, a prayer meeting, whatever!). Some people will find that they're pretty good at everything, and they might need to pursue full-time ministry.

Nurture your relationships-- with God, and with each other. We need kingdom leaders, not just church leaders. Think big. Also, many discoveries about ourselves come from community!!

Develop your vocabulary with God-- We don't have enough words to hear God in prayer... so read his word and get familiar with his voice! This generation has an especially high amount of risk-taking ability, and a high concern for each other, but we have an especially low knowledge of God's word.

Long live the Lamb!!

This is an excerpt from the blog of Shane Claiborne, author of Jesus for President. He discusses the role of Christians in this year's election.

Our central allegiance is to God’s Kingdom, and we invite everything else in the world to align itself with the norms of that upside-down Kingdom. That is what we endorse, and we stand behind everything and everyone that moves us closer to that - the coming of God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” And we get in the way of everything that contradicts and works against God’s Kingdom - interrupting injustice with grace.

In post-Religious Right America, we want to learn from the mistakes of the generation before us (so we don’t repeat them) - one of which was telling Christians who to vote for. Rather than spoon-feeding people answers, we hope to stir up the right questions - and trust that the Spirit will lead us as we “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” One of the places the religious right went wrong was telling people what to do rather than inviting them to think for themselves, with the help of the Spirit of God (in fact, it even seems a real lack of faith to to coerce or convince people to do exactly what we want them to… as if the Spirit is not at work in them). That’s where Jesus shines - he stirs up questions and tells stories that unveil truth, rather than drafting a careful declaration or endorsement that’s going to solve everything wrong in the world.

Folks come out of our JFP shows with all kinds of ideas churning. Some have shared that they are inspired to start an adoption agency to try and decrease the number of abortions. U.S. soldiers have said they are becoming conscientious objectors or are seeking discharge. Some folks have said they are going to organize for one of the candidates, and others have said they are going to write in “Jesus” on Nov. 4. To all of it we say, “Yes!” Thank God the Spirit is at work, and is renewing minds and imaginations in the Church, so that we might follow the command of Romans: “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Reporters often ask folks leaving our presentations funny questions like: “Young evangelicals are the swing vote in this election… has this evening affected how you are going to vote in November?” I heard one person say beautifully, “That’s the wrong question… the real question is how can we become the change we want to see in the world TODAY and not just hope that every four years we can elect politicians to change the world for us.” May it be so. May we continue to become the change we want to see in the Church and in the world. Enough donkeys and elephants - Long live the Lamb.