Incarnational mission...

I'm struck by something I heard this week: missionary humility should be demonstrated by seeking the privilege of joining someone else's group, not by offering the 'privilege' of joining the ours.

Too often we Christians have been afraid of contamination, afraid of 'wasting time', afraid of having nothing to write home about (literally). But surely it's only when we learn where people are and become that (not just study it) that mission is done on the right basis.

This fits with what I'm learning right now about a new paradigm for mission: post-colonial, post-modern & incarnational.

How does this fit with the Great Commission? It fits because every Christian is commissioned to the same work - "we have this ministry" - not just the 'missionaries', but everyone. It fits because fulfilling the Great Commission is not just about 'going to heaven' but about right here, right now. And it fits because God is not calling his Church out of the world but into it, into a world which itself is being made new and will be redeemed, along with everything we do in it that reflects God's image and his glory. [these ideas come from Darrell Cosden: The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work (Paternoster: 2006), but he claims - with some justification - a higher authority...]

So where does preaching the gospel fit in? Don't worry, I haven't given up on that. But I wouldn't do it in a vacuum, lest I suck all the life out before I even begin.