Making Space for the Gospel in the World

Recently I came across an article by Todd Hiestand entitled, The Gospel and the God-Forsaken, which gives focus to the challenge of being missional in the suburbs. He raises a unique distinction for understanding what differentiates missional churches from churches operating within the Christendom paradigm.

It is a distinction between being sent and those that go. Basically, churches that have a mindset of “going” see themselves as separate from the world and in order to share the Gospel they make forays into the world to “do mission” and then retreat “back to the safety of separation” (Hiestand, http://www.allelon.org/articles/article.cfm?id=385). Many of us live out our Christian faith in this way. We interpret Jesus’ command in Matthew 28: 18) of go into the world as making disciples as a command to set everything aside and go, with the result that we charge into the world, only to retreat once again to be refreshed. This cycle of going and retreating keeps us from being not only “of the world,” but it also keeps us from “being in the world” as well.

In many ways this represents a monastic paradigm in which we separate ourselves from the world; even in our reaching out we exude a separateness. And so we wonder why we struggle with making space for the Gospel in the world.

In taking note of how Jesus became one of us and engaged the culture, we see that an incarnational approach calls for us to be in the world. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to be in the world carrying out God’s redemptive mission, so too we as Christ’s community in the world, called to continue in the ministry of Christ, we are a community that is sent into the world, rather than a community that goes into the world. The difference is staggering.

The realization that we are sent is the realization that we have been placed in the world in order to make space for the Gospel. By the way we live, relate to one another, carry out our business, we are sign, foretaste, and demonstration of the presence of God’s rule in the world. As a sent community in the world, we live out an alternate reality to the way the world is used to living.

What might this look like? I propose that we are called to walk among our neighbors – those God has placed us beside in our contexts – to walk with them, alongside of them, supporting and encouraging them in their growth and development as human beings by engaging them in the way Jesus would. We engage our neighbors with the realization that it is not our efforts that make space for the Gospel, but as we are open to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit who sends us as persons and communities to engage our world. We are sent to love the people who we are with in the world as Christ loves them, to seek their well-being, to offer ourselves, as imperfect as we are, to be of use to God so that they might be made whole.

In an attitude of sentness, we make space for the Gospel in the lives of our neighbors, as we make space for them in our lives. As we make room for others in our lives, we do not come to them with our agendas, but we are open to the agenda that God has for us in coming alongside of them in our encounter. As we make room for others in our lives – our lives in being open and yielded to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit has opportunity to touch the lives of our neighbors and draw them to himself. In an attitude of sentness we remain in the world and the Spirit is present in our relationships making space for the Gospel. It is when we go and retreat that we are more apt to grieve the Spirit and create barriers for our neighbors to experience the reality of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.

The Uncomfortableness of Being Led by the Spirit

There are too many times that I would rather do what is comfortable. "Comfortable" is under my control. "Comfortable" allows me to know what is coming, allows me to do things in a manner that are not strange to me. "Comfortable" also gives me the power to shape my experience. The problem with "comfortable" is that I think it also keeps me from being open to the Spirit of God.

Being led by the Spirit of God into situations, different contexts, different experiences seems to take me into places where I am not very comfortable at all. I guess what makes me comfortable is that I can rely on myself, my abilities, my limitations. What makes me uncomfortable is to be asked to live outside of those bounds.

As I read Scripture -- I am in the midst of re-reading the birth narratives of Jesus -- I see there is very little of "being comfortable" in heeding the Spirit of God. Was Mary comfortable when she was visited by an angel telling her that she would give birth to a son who would be known as the Son of God? Was Joseph comfortable, finding Mary to be with child and wanting to break his engagement with her, to discover that what was conceived in her was by the Spirit? I think they were comforted by God, but there were far from being comfortable. They were filled with joy once they began comprehending this new reality - but it was way beyond their comfort zones.

I am finding that being led by the Spirit usually takes me out of my comfort zones -- and into zones that I am unable "to control," to rely wholly on my abilities. Rather, I have to rely on the Spirit; I have to rely on God to be able to go ahead in what the Spirit is leading me into. I find myself walking carefully, ensuring one foot is placed well before I take another, as if I were rock climbing, or walking a narrow mountain path. I am not comfortable with this at all -- but as I allow myself to be open to what the Spirit is doing in my life, I am comforted, strengthened, hopeful, that this pathway I am walking on I am not walking alone -- the Spirit of God is with me, because the Spirit is leading me.

It makes for an adventuresome journey - outside of my comfort zone - however, it is the only way I am able to develop clarity of vision, acuity of hearing, and courage to participate in what the Spirit of God is doing in the world as I trust the Spirit of God to guide me and lead me into what God is inviting me into.