NT Wright:: The tension of Worship and Mission

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This quote comes from "The meaning of Jesus; Two vision" by NT Wright and Marcus J Borg. The quote is NT Wrights::

I have come (not very originally) to envisage the two poles of Christian living in terms of worship and mission. The two flow into each other: worship without mission becomes self-indulgence (and might imply worship of a god other than the one revealed in Jesus); mission without worship degenerates into various kinds of do-goodery, following agendas that may be deeply felt but are by no means necessarily connected with Jesus.

Its interesting that I've seen this on both sides. Yet it is mainly my Charismatic/Evangelical heritage especially in the Vineyard denomination which I saw an extreme of 'worshipping' the god of worship.  I suspect it would have been this way if I went to Hillsong.

There is no doubt that good music/worship is an attractive influence on going to Church. I miss the "minors" of the Jesus is my boyfriend of worship music of the modern era. The new church which we attend the music is back a couple of decades in worship music style. But what I appreciate is the whole service is a call to worship. The lyrics are majestic in nature, aimed at God and his creation. Yet even though there is a different emphasis I think the balance of mission  is lacking. So its probably up to myself to balance the tension with mission....

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Mission as Compassion

One of the organisations which I have an affinity with is Solace EMC in Melbourne. There is a bit of interesting conversation happening on their blog about Mission and Compassion.

Mission is an outward focus -the wellbeing of others not yourself. (Life with God has a huge and primary place for every person's wellbeing and whilst we start at the place to be renewed we are inevitably urged by God to focus on "others" as well.)

Jesus' whole attitude was "missional" -focused on "other" - he was sent and sends his friends and followers in a likewise manner.

Compassion seems to be the motivator and the compass. If we can be soft hearted and full of love for the "other" then perhaps we may not go too far wrong. So practices and lifestyles that grow our hearts are vital - much more so than messages or techniques.

Loving God and loving our neighbour are the core of God's commands to us and make up the communal fabric of our life on earth. They are the same command with different faces and as all the letters of John in the NT make clear you can NOT love God and hate your brother. So service to God and the world is the same thing.

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The Gap, where Forge once was....

One of the things that surprised me over the weekend at the Rusty Springs festival was the amount of people who had been through or connected to Forge. I suppose there are a number of feelings expressed.

• That Forges Message of 'Mission' is now common language to the major Churches. 
• That 'Main stream Churches' have diluted Forges message with there own spin.
• That now there is no, independent 'Space' for like minded people in Australia.
• A disappointment at the hype of 'Forge' in the USA, while Australia effectively shut its doors, especially in its birth place of Victoria.
• That Forge once a radical movement on the edge is now, especially in the USA, now appealing to the main stream middle. 

Some of these things I agree with, others I don't.

I think Forge has planted important seeds in Australia; yet I think in many ways, people and the idea will never be ignited in the same way. It was a sort of home, which you will look back with fondness yet know that you have grown up and can't go back.