“One year into my position as president of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), I am more convinced than ever of this biblical principle: doing big things for a big God is merely the accumulation of little things done for people.  I have seen firsthand the big things we are doing in partnership with the Hindustani Covenant Church among sex-trade workers in India. But it comes down to people who are willing to babysit the children of prostitutes while their mothers work in new alternate employment. . .  I have seen firsthand the great relief it is to families to know their adult handicapped children or siblings are in a caring, professional setting in our network of group homes known as Covenant Enabling Residences. But know it comes down in certain cases to staff members who change adult diapers for those who cannot care for themselves.” – Gary Walter, President of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC)

I don’t know about you, but I certainly have the great ability to overcomplicate things at times and, as a result, miss the point in certain areas of life.  Following Christ and living as His body through the Church is no exception.  Words such as compassion, mercy, justice, and missions have a sweet ring to them, but is it possible that we are thinking and talking about them more than actually living in them daily?

Before I go any further, I need to give a brief disclaimer: I am not a church pimp for the ECC!  It is also not my desire to make an attempt to get as many folks as possible to jump on over to the Covenant.  However, I am grateful to be a part of what God is doing through this body of believers.

Having said that, I invite you to read the words of Gary Walter cited above once more and then really pray and meditate on them.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe that God calls His people at times to do some pretty wild stuff on some pretty large scales.  However, is it possible that we have made the call to live missionally more romantic and grandiose than it really is at times?

Maybe God will call you to something HUGE in the future, but in the mean time, what are some “little things” that could be done today for people in your world in the name of Jesus Christ?  Once again, isn’t it funny how the paradox of God’s kingdom works in that often times the things we deem as small and insignificant are the very things that Christ uses to do big work in people’s lives?

“In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs.  If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.”  –  C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

I hope to this point I have gotten many of you to think about service and generosity to the point where you feel overwhelmed. To ask the tough questions like: “How do I do all of this?” “How do I keep my eyes open to see the needs around me and respond?” “Why am I so selfish?” Let me bring some guidance along the way.

The is no doubt each and everyday there are hurts, social injustices, and pain all around us. So how do we really help? We also see catastrophes like Katrina, Haiti, 9/11, and so on. How do we help? Do we get so overwhelmed we don’t do anything? This past Sunday we had a couple of families leaving for Thailand to work with young women in the sex trade industry. There is something that Kelly said that has stuck with me. “What do you burn for?”  She said, “find what you burn for and do it…”

Let me ask you! Do you burn for anything? Something so strong that you would leave everything behind to pursue it?  If not, why not? Do our neighborhoods burn for anything? Do our churches burn for anything? The lost, the poor, the sick, the naked, the hungry? I have a feeling that we all have no idea what we burn for so therefore we throw money at things that come our way, go on mission trips, serve in soup kitchens so that we feel better about ourselves as people and sadly enough as Christians. So instead of serving out of our God given passion and gifts we serve out of duty. So how is that working for you?

If you feel lost in the area of engaging or struggling with your identity and purpose than I ask, “what do you burn for?” If you know than focus on it. Andy Stanley in many of his books says, “do less for more”. If you focus the impact will be greater. Reality is we have so many organizations and ministries that have no clue what God wants them to do so they throw the kitchen sink at it and hope something sticks. Then we sit back and wonder why we are not being effective. I know strongly enough that people don’t want to be involved in something that doesn’t make a difference or is stagnant. If you don’t know what you burn for go out and serve and educate yourself. Find something you believe in and want to impact and go for it.

What do you burn for?

This post isn’t going to be controversial, I don’t think.  Although the topic: What is CQ Missional?- has proven to be controversial for some, confusing for others, and a great learning process for me- interestingly enough.

This post is about the words we use that help us describe what we do, and what we’re about. We want to get to the point in the description, and have clarity (something I’m not always great at, I like the “stream of consciousness” stuff).

Here is the answer: CQ Missional helps people discover their role in making the world a better place. Its not rocket science.  We want to help people…help people.  And while these words may sound a bit “vanilla”, they are all on purpose, and each has an important meaning and context.

Those words have risen to the top in the last 5 months- as I have fumbled trying to explain how we do things and what we offer and how that is unique or enough like what the people  want to hear. Some people have chosen to not work with us because the language doesn’t sound like something we hear at my church- and that causes them concern. Thats ok.  I just want our words to be honest, real, and easy to understand for anyone we may encounter- and I’m praying that is how we operate as representatives of CQM as well.

We do believe that Christ is the center of the story. I also know that we will work with people from all walks of life- and I am jazzed to interact with all of God’s children, and ….help them discover their role in making the world a better place.  A better place in a “Lords Prayer” sort of way…  That is our working definition of Missional- and it has much to do with the Lord’s prayer when Jesus prays “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

I’ve found my time explaining what CQ Misisonal is to be very interesting in what thoughts and questions the process has brought up in my own mind.  This is good, and not easy.  I want to explain what we do because it is a unique approach, and there is a vision attached. However- I am discovering that my own need to position us as “unique, creative, out of the box, …” motivates my stream of words. It starts to look like I’m the center of the story at that point.  To contrast- I would rather be part of a work that cares about the people we come across, and simply does the things we do well to help people find their unique role in the big Story.  If we get to help people…. help other people… (making the world a better place); then we’re doing our job.

So- helping people discover their role in making the world a better place… this is what we do. I’ll write more in future posts about the purpose of each of the words and the connectedness to what we’re about as a community.  I will also use this blog to post upcoming book excerpts for us to wrestle with.

I’m looking forward to the dialog.

Please engage our different blog posts which will be produced almost everyday by a variety of friends.  These are different people who provide engaging questions and content all around the “missional” life. You’ll find opinions and questions that will be diverse and expand the “missional” thread- shoot back with your perspective! I want you to help us think.  Maybe we can help you as well.  We want to be a community that helps people, and having our assumptions challenged in this group can be one way that we help each other grow. I am so thankful for our blogging partners, and excited about the content, stories, and most of all- the lives they live. Our agreement with our team goes for 6 months, and we promise not to edit or censor  their content- trust is a big fat word around here.

I also look forward to contributing weekly and connecting with readers as someone who cares, and who is a fellow journeyman. Not Journey, as in “Don’t Stop Believing” with short guy with mullet Steve Perry belting it out (thats excellent as well…) but more like sharing the life journey.    As we walk together with this community, we will have shared experience.  Shared experience plus reflection is big time way that our ears and eyes are opened to mission and purpose.  God is speaking to us all the time.  I look forward to seeing what you and I are discovering.

Here is an interesting story of some “missional” people where words and life meet to be a part of “Kingdom come”- or in everyday language- “making the world a better place.”
http://www.parade.com/news/2010/01/17-why-we-gave-away-our-home.html

Till next week,
Chris King