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Missional-Church-2The unhealthy church is too inward-focused, some will say. Unless a church looks outside itself to its kingdom mission, it will shrink and die.

Wise counsel, of course. Just as Christians are to put others before themselves, churches are to put their mission ahead of their own comfort.

But missional churches are not called to only look outward. The biblical position is more robust (and beautiful) than the inward / outward dichotomy. In fact, one of the directions a missional church should look is inward, as long as it is being pointed in the other directions as well.

Adding to Michael Goheen’s three-directional church in A Light to the Nations, Bruce Ashford sees five aspects of a church’s missional calling. The quotes below are from Ashford’s chapter in The Community of Jesus:

1. Looking Upward (to God as the source of mission)

“Just as Israel was called to gaze upward toward God, and just as Jesus modeled that upward gaze, the church must allow worship to be both the fuel and the goal of her mission.”

2. Looking Inward (to themselves as those who manifest God’s mission)

“As God’s people love one another, they display God’s love to a watching world. As their inner life is marked by grace and mercy, they provide the world with a tangible picture of God’s grace and mercy. The church is a shop window for God.”

3. Looking Backward (to God’s creational design for the world)

“Although God’s creation remains structurally good, since the fall it is directionally corrupt. The church’s mission includes discerning God’s creational design in every area of life, ascertaining the idolatrous misdirection in those areas, and seeking renewal and restoration.”

4. Looking Forward (to the coming of God’s promised kingdom)

“As the church brings all of life into submission to Christ’s lordship, she points simultaneously back to God’s design in creation and forward to the consummated kingdom. Her life is a sign of that kingdom, a foretaste of the feast, a preview of the new heavens and new earth.”

5. Looking Outward (to the nations as they proclaimed and promoted God’s salvation)

“In the consummated kingdom, God will be given his due honor and glory by worshippers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. The multinational nature of God’s kingdom proclaims to the world that the God of Israel is not a tribal deity. He is the Creator, King, and Savior of the nations…”

To sum up, then, the missional church is not merely outward focused. It looks outward to the nations at the same time it looks in multiple directions. Ashford writes:

As the church worships God instead of idols (upward), she declares to the nations that God alone is worthy of worship.

As the church proclaims and promotes the gospel through her inner life (inward), she provokes the nations to jealousy so that they also will embrace the Savior.

As the church lives every aspect of her social and cultural life in accordance with God’s creational design (backward), she shows the nations the nature of God’s shalom.

As the church proclaims and promotes the gospel as a sign of the kingdom (forward), she gives the nations a foretaste of the future banquet and a preview of the new heavens and earth.

As the church takes God’s gospel to the ends of the earth (outward), she does so by drawing on the upward, inward, backward, and forward dimensions of her life before God.

What about you? What directions do you find your church to be strongest in? Where are the weaknesses?

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