Do we expect to be missional?

There were some great comments on my last post on whether to create community at the expense of being missional.  I recommend especially clicking through to Chris Jefferies article.

I'd also like to respond to a couple of posts about the organic nature of mission.  Few of us enjoy the prospect of programmatic mission, and as someone commented, people intensely dislike being made into a project, albeit a worthy one.  That is not at all what I am talking about.

In every aspect of life, we need to listen to the Lord and respond to what he says. This is especially true in the context of mission. However, what we hear is often colored by our sense of expectancy (or lack of it).  If we never expect God to say, "Go and start a conversation with that person," we're not likely to hear him say it.  Do our lives, including our prayer lives, have an outward focus or an inward one?

If we are already praying for the not-yet-believers in our lives, if we are asking God for opportunities to share the story of our walk with God with someone, we are much more likely to recognize his promptings to share our faith.

The same is true for us as a group.  If the focus of our simple church is ourselves and our own situations, and we never pray for our neighbors or different groups within our cities, we are not likely to hear him say, "There's a refugee work I want you to involve in," or "Go and prayer walk this low income housing project."

Let's ask God to give us his heart for the world around us. It's a prayer he delights to answer.