Rachael is becoming missional.  She really is!  Rachael is joining God on his mission to reach and save the lost.  She’s doing it by living intentionally in those spaces that she lives and loves.

We’ve been talking a lot around our church over the last year about what it means to live missionally.  Our hope is that people will live out the GREAT COMMISSION throughout the week in their neighborhoods, work places, and recreational spaces.  We’ve devoted significant energy on Sunday mornings to teach what it means to live missionally.  Community groups are giving people an opportunity to experience missional living.

It is so cool to see someone putting words to actions.  Rachael is becoming missional.  Rachael has been a part of our church for almost six years.  She is also a part of the Railroad Avenue group.  This group has a heart for (and actually meets in) the Railroad Avenue neighborhood.  They pray for this community.  They listen to the needs of this community.  They reach out to this community.  They work together to live missionally in this community.

Rachael shared in an email what she is learning about living missionally.  Rachael’s email is pasted below:

“Growing up and even in college “evangelism” meant initiating conversations with strangers and asking questions like “If you were to die tonight would you go to heaven or hell?”  I don’t think anyone liked that approach but we still rehearsed it anyway.  The other alternative was to ask your non-christian friends to come to church or some church event.  The more subtle approach was to wear a t-shirt that looked like something cool or popular but cleverly reworded to say something about Jesus and people would think you were so cool they would ask about it or become a christian.  Ultimately it didn’t matter a whole lot because we just didn’t talk to non-christians much anyway and if we did the conversation wasn’t any more substantial then you might have with the cashier at Target.  Of course God wants us to love everyone but somehow it felt like donations to charity and cheesy t-shirts were good enough and I had little more interest in being real friends with a non-christian than a beauty queen would have in being best friends with the chess team. 

Once I came to grad school I went from being in an environment of mostly Christians to being a minority.  People with careers in science aren’t exactly the most religious bunch.  Still, I became friends with my coworkers and learned that while their morals were different than mine, they still liked Chick-fil-a, making fun of CSI labs (a real lab looks nothing like that, FYI) and laughing at nerdy jokes.  One of my co-workers was going through a tough time and I happened to be around one day when she really needed a hug and she shared her problems and we became closer friends.  Her life had lots of problems and uncertainty at the time and her brother in Missouri suggested she start going to church, and knowing that I went she asked if she could go with me.  I was thrilled and over the next year she came with me to Crossbridge and we had a lot of discussions about God and later she was baptized.  It was an awesome opportunity but I kind of moved on and thought of it as an isolated event.

Through recent sermons and being a part of the Railroad Ave. group, I’ve been reexamining the way I approach relationships.   I’ve started to try and build relationships with people I know from work and the bar I frequent with the goal of just being a friend and, if needed, a close friend who can be there in tough times.  God has helped me to care about people in a new way.  I try to look at my time in that part of town as an opportunity to be a part of that community.  A common appreciation for good quality beer makes for a good conversation topic and gives us something in common.  A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a few guys who are atheists at Fermentation Lounge and although they weren’t trying to “find God” or whatever we discussed some of Christians shortcomings and some misconceptions they had about what the Bible says.  That particular conversation may or may not lead anywhere but for me to be in a position where that conversation would even happen and not be terribly awkward is a big change.  The verse comes to mind where Jesus was criticized for hanging out with sinners and he basically says “They’re the ones who need me.”  I’m not the type of person who’s comfortable striking up conversations with strangers but I feel like I can be a friend to the handful of people I interact with frequently and that maybe God can use that relationship to bring people closer to Him.”

This is such a cool story.  I love to see how much Rachael is learning.  I love to see her faithfulness and persistence.  She gets it and is living it!  I love to see how Rachael is engaging with the mission of God right where she is.  I love to see how Rachael is making a difference.  She will do great things!