I recall an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. (How about that season premiere on grief?) Meredith was “fine.” Now really she was not “fine.” But when asked how she was doing, she said, “fine.” So often did Meredith say “fine” that it no longer meant anything.

We face the danger of important words no longer meaning anything. Ed Stetzer recently pointed out how this has happened to the term “missional” and the consequences of truncating the global mission of God to the mission of God right around me. It is both/and. Hard to hear from a tribe that is always asking its people to be either/or. The comment stream on that post was so effusive of Ed’s discerning words it seemed inappropriate to ask a question or press him at the point of how language used in the post continues to foster an either/or when he is arguing for both/and. Language is such a game. Wittgenstein anyone?

Contextualization is another word suffering a la missional. The difference between contextualization and missional  is that conceptually some very big names don’t like it, don’t get it, or don’t want it. So while it suffers the same fate as missional, it does so for different reasons. The problem may lie in the various nuances. What magisterial body gets to tell us all just what or how contextualization should or must be done? Most are self-appointed at best. Problem is we do it everyday. We have very few who help us interpret our own moves in a way we see this going on in our own decisions.

Sour? Not at all. My friends at The Upstream Collective offer American pastors Jetset Vision Tours. Rather than a trip for the “jet set,” these trips are for jetting around, taking in an alternative culture, and doing so in such a compact fashion you feel like you are “jetting around.” The opportunity helps both shrink the world and enlarge the world.

When you realize how quickly you can be in Taiwan, for example, the earth does not seem nearly as big as we think. When we experience other cultures we quickly realize the world takes on an expansiveness beyond my city street, rural routue, or highway intersection. We AmericaWest Christians need a good does. We pastors need just such an experience. Travel outside your own hovel and you will unearth other hovels challenging your ideology, theology, and missiology. Don’t think so? Give it a whirl.

Ed promises one last Taiwan post. Look for it. In the meantime, follow this link and watch the videos and get a “virtual” taste of what life is like beyond the scope of your village, town, or city. You may also want to consider the account offered by Larry and Caleb over at The Upstream Collective Blog.

When it comes time to look at your next trip, you might consider London and Paris next year. Think it is just a tourist trip? Think again. Put on your walking shoes, open up your heart, expose your mind and after your Jetset venture you will not be the same.

Related posts:

1. Where In the World is Ed Stetzer?
2. Missional Thinking Meets Collaboration in Contexts
3. Thoughts from the Edge – Seeing the World In a Whole New Way

Growing up attending Falls Creek Baptist Assembly – back in the day – I recall sitting in an old wooden pavilion twice a morning. That’s right some of you newbies who think camp must come with air conditioning. Don’t get me started on the steep hills we had to climb, and now you sit and worship in an enclosed, climate controlled mega-theater. I digress.

During one of these early morning sessions we listened to a professional missionary; often on furlough from his/her country of assignment. Many times these talks came complete with visual aids. Not a bad idea for we adolescents with short attention spans, long before we knew anything about ADD or any other acronym for that matter. It was hard to visualize their work. Despite the props we just did not get the idea as we had not been to a country without freedom and a church on every corner. But, we sensed these folks were doing something amazing – and they were. So, we gave money. Southern Baptists promote missions via special offerings and the Cooperative Program. Churches send along a percentage of their gifts and a percentat of those gives end up funding work around the world – Gospel work done by these professionals.

Over time these professionals get little attention and support from our churches other than sending our dollars. Occasionally one would read of a church reading “missionary birthdays” which led us to pray for them on that day. A number of years ago Missionary Moments was develpped to help get the story out about real people behind the giving percentages and offerings like Lottie and Annie. But, in the end, we were outsourcing the Great Commission to professionals. They will do the work for us. Beyond that our organization that helped prepare those to “go” took on the feature of a parachurch organization; not a church but an entity to come alongside churches to do something they do not/cannot do.

Sometimes we would know these missionaries from prior relationships. One of my youth ministers from my youth days has been serving overseas for some years.

Our current church has sought to connect the work of missions with someone we know. Music ministers have accompanied touring groups to sing and share the gospel, young people have take short term trips, young couples went along with a cursade ministry, and young people spend years serving in central America all with our support. Helping our children to make these connections was important. When we could put a face with an offering, a face they knew, it seems “more real.”

In February I was invited to go to Barcelona and meet with missionaries, professionals, from our mission sending entity. I met some of the greatest people ever! We share conversations and meals. We prayed for the discouraged, celebrated the commitment of all and worshipped the Triune God singing as if we had never before. A couple of those missionaries let me know of a move to help churches re-connect with the Great Commission and the world. Under the banner of The Upstream Collective, these missionaries desperately want to help churches connect with people everywhere. They hope to help re-locate “mission” in the local church. They do not intend to bypass our mission sending agency. But, that agency is just that, an agency. Too many tasks to also take on the “care and feeding” of our missionaries.

What’s more we are discovering a new “breed” of missional missionaires. Those who understand following Jesus is not a profession. Rather than feel led to a place, figuring out what to do, get trained and then go, these young people believe God wants them to live elsewhere. Not just live, but settle and live out their lives among people who need to be connected with God. Rather than as professional missionaries, they are professionals who get what missional living is all about. They take up resident in another place. Live out their lives. Share hospitality in the name of Jesus and demonstrate what Andrew Jones refers to as Jesus’ model of “throwing parties and telling stories.”

I can get behind that idea. In fact, we have contacted one of these young couples and hope God will connect us in helpful, hopeful ways. If not them, then someone else. The relationship will be mutually beneifical. We will hear the call to connect people with God while we are working the assembly line, the cafeteria line and the checkout line. We will be reminded that rather than separate our lives from our faith, we will become friends, real friends. Not friends with projects in mind, but friends with sharing life in mind, the life of Jesus. It will take natural courses like what Joe Thorn describes.

If you hear of The Upstream Collective coming to a town near you. Go. Check out their website. Encourage your church to connect with these folks. A whole new world will open up for you. You will envision a world where former boundaries are shattered and the things you love to do will be the things God redeems the world with.

Related posts:

1. Objectifying people …
2. Bathrooms and mission work …
3. From the Margins … The Way Forward … More Reflections from Western Europe