From Mike Andress: 5/10/07

This week’s Ripple Effect is written by Mike Andress, a member of our LFC Missions Team. He and his wife lead a Community Group at LFC, and you can see them with their children brewing coffee regularly on Sunday mornings in our LFC kitchen. What follows is his response to our emphasis on Missio Dei and expresses better than I can how I hope all of us at Lake Forest will respond to this fresh way of thinking about our mission - thanks Mike - great work - it is shaping my response to last Sunday:

“As a body we are called to enter into a Season of Discernment. I will explain as best I can. It is an ancient spiritual practice. The idea is to Listen, Watch and Prepare. The reason I suggest this is that my heart for our people is that we would not just jump and start doing stuff, or feel guilty because we are not actively involved in a “mission.”

“My prayer for Lake Forest is that we begin to seek God first, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where God is working, where our passions, skills, and experience align, and then move into that flow. There is a potential for people to get pumped up and jump in - I am not suggesting this is all bad, nor would I want to put God in a box or pretend to know how He moves in individual hearts through various experiences, but I think our flesh sometimes is heavily persuaded by emotions. I think it is important for people to know that it is okay to not just jump in and DO right away. They may not be in a season, or the condition of their heart might not be ready to start serving by Home Makeover, or a Bolivia trip.”

“I believe a season of discernment is not passive, so if there are not outward signs of activity, it does not mean people are not in the process of having their hearts shaped. We can also help broaden the perspective of missio Dei relative to last week’s message in this process. By recognizing that my alcoholic neighbor is loved as much by God as I am, I may be more moved in the Spirit to engage them, even if in some small way. (Remember the woman at the well). Our life lived in the Spirit, and authentically on display to our hurting neighbors, is part of the missio Dei.”

“For some people who have been burned out from DOING (and part of this is coming from the stories of folks I meet with regularly) , or perhaps unsure of this whole missio Dei thing, this may be refreshing way to know our heart heart for Lake Forest is to sit with God first, and move into His flow second. Let’s face it, God does not really NEED us to do anything. He can end around us to accomplish His work whether we choose to join in our not. Us joining the Missio Dei will be as much about God changing each of us, as it is about changing the world.”