Mixit means mixit

“What is Christian mission? Fundamentally it is helping people to make Jesus their king. It’s doing whatever it takes to bring about the reign of God in our own lives and the people we network with.” So far so good; and when I used those words in church recently most of us nodded in benign agreement.

But it also means mixing it. Mixing with real people. Getting up close and personal with people we know and love and bringing Christ into this arena.

It is well known in the annals of criminal justice that most murders are committed by someone the victim knows. Now (and I’m not sure about this analogy but humour me for a moment) so too are most conversions. Most conversions come about because of someone the person knows. Many of us could identify someone in our close network who influenced us. This was the person who helped us discover God was on our case and eventually helped us submit to Christ and follow him. So began the liberating road of discipleship. For me it was my parents who embodied walking with God. For you it may have been another relative, a friend or a fellow student. Whoever.

So it stands to reason that to see the gospel thrive, to see the church of Jesus Christ grow we need to mix it. Mix it with people we know and love, mix it with people who are only acquaintances or mix it with people we do business with. Mix it with whoever.

The danger in the UK Christian church, as I see it, is that mission can too easily be diluted. This dilution can be a result of the zillion nice projects that have more to do with salving our consciences or impressing other people than with sharing a simple message of Christ. It can be diluted by theobabble (clever sounding God-speke) when we try to complicate the issue by being over technical. Or it can just be put in the class of ‘someone else’s calling’.

Mixing it with real people is foundational to the vision of our church. Conveying Christ in all his glory in an up close and personal way is what we have been called to do.

We are here to help people to find Christ become his disciples – including ourselves. When Jesus is my king I put myself under his authority. He is my mentor, my guide and my saviour. When we do this his promise comes into its own: “… surely (bank on it!) I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

God bless you as you mix it!

Ian