Too busy to be missional? (a Resurgence Post)

From the Things that keep us from Mission series they're running at the Resurgence Blog. View the post here. This one goes into detail on the first three from the list of 10.

Too Busy To Be Missional?

Duane Smets » Mission Evangelism Community Apologetics

View the Things That Keep Us from Mission series

The last post listed 10 things that keep us from mission. This post details three of those reasons:

1. Too Busy

Most people live extremely busy lives. Maybe we do care about mission, but it seems like one more thing on the list of stuff to do, and to be honest, it just isn’t that high of a priority.
The key to combating the competing things that vie for our time and attention is to see mission not as something we do, but something we are. It’s an identity thing. If we’re Christians hooked up with Jesus, then we have become missionaries who are on a mission. When you look at it like that, there are a lot of common ways we can be on mission even in the midst of being extremely busy. Check out this post from Jonathan Dodson which outlines 8 ways to be missional.

2. Inadequate Community Support

Sometimes we can become very passionate about Jesus’ mission and so immersed in it that we become overly missional. This is what happens when all the people you are living and spending time with are non-Christians. You may still show up to church on Sundays, but you are mostly sharing life with people who don’t know Jesus.

“ The key to combating the competing things that vie for our time and attention is to see mission not as something we do, but something we are.
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This is not good. I believe we are meant to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus out of the strength of our Christian community. If you are not in a community group, discipleship relationships, and finding your primary source of belonging from your Christian relationships, then it is inevitable that bad company will corrupt you (1 Corinthians 15:33). I believe you should have more Christian friends than those who are not Christians. Otherwise, it is likely you will be overpowered and overcome by non-Christian influence.

3. Uncertainty of Beliefs

Many times, we don’t try to speak the gospel into people’s lives because we’re not really sure of it ourselves. We may not be sure of what we believe or whether it is relevant or applicable to the issues of life that our friends may be dealing with. There are three things that I think will help:

• Apologetics: Apologetics is the defense of the Christian faith. If you’ve never studied apologetics, you should. Christianity is the most reasonable belief system on the planet and gives us sure footing on which to plant our feet so that we can have confidence in its truth.

• Gospel Application: Sometimes we can become convinced that the gospel is true, but we don’t see how it plays out practically in our lives, from common things like coming home tired and cranky from work to more intense things like sexual molestation or an addiction to pornography. The more we begin to work at applying the gospel in all areas of our lives, the more we will see how it can benefit the lives of others who don’t know Jesus.
• Discipleship: When we recognize that we have doubts, uncertainties, or are just confused about things, we should find another Christian brother, sister, or pastor and talk things out with them. Leaving issues unaddressed will never help us and it will hinder our ability to be missionaries for Jesus.