Being Missional

By Tim Worden - Missions/Community Life Pastor, The Vista

If you’ve been hanging around The Vista lately, you’ve probably heard a word that may not sound familiar. That word is missional. Simply put, missional means sent. Being missional is not the same as appreciating and supporting missions. It’s not necessarily even going on mission trips or giving significant sums of money to evangelistic causes.  All those efforts can definitely be good, but missional people’s main gift is themselves.  As missional people we primarily see ourselves as bearers of Christ himself. When we show up, He shows up. We believe that God intentionally puts us in places so that people can get to know Him when they get to know us.  As missional people we see our entire lives as an opportunity to minister in whatever situation our sovereign God puts us in. We don’t have to plan missional. It’s not something else we’re supposed to do. It’s something God has called us all to be. The problem is, most people that have come in contact with the church have been exposed to a whole lot of “do” and very little “be”. Although being missional may sound like a great idea, we may still struggle with how exactly to pull it off. Unfortunately, many of us have never seen it in practice. We have a need to be “discipled “ in missional.  With The Vista, our goal is to do this together in Christ-led community. To be discipled together by the one who invented missional (and I think you know who that is).  That’s the whole purpose behind our COM Groups going through The Tangible Kingdom study together; to see our calling as missional disciples lived out together in community. I recently asked one of our church leaders “What would happen if we lived every day with the same missional intentionality that we have when we go on a mission trip?”  She answered, “We would completely change our world in no time”. I think she’s right.