{"id":352,"date":"2024-07-09T16:27:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T16:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jokercontacts.me\/?p=352"},"modified":"2024-09-02T11:52:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T11:52:24","slug":"recovering-the-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jokercontacts.me\/index.php\/2024\/07\/09\/recovering-the-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Recovering the Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
Recovery group might be a curious analogy to the kingdom of God. However, just like addiction doesn\u2019t discriminate, all are welcome to experience faith in community and the present availability of the kingdom of Heaven on earth. Like salvation, recovery begins with a not-so-easy confession that there’s a problem and a person is powerless to overcome it on their own. The genius of recovery isn\u2019t its inclusivity. Nor is it in working the Steps. Those are vital elements of the process of finding new life. The genius of recovery is Step 12: Sponsorship. Even though a person completes the Steps, there’s still room to grow. There\u2019s still temptation, trials, and triggers to face. You learn a need for community. But the way one works out their sobriety is by sponsoring another.<\/p>\n
If every Christian approached faith this way, it would transform our faith experience and revolutionize the Church!\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>If salvation is a Christian’s sobriety, we need a vision to be similarly invested in one another’s spiritual growth for their sake as much as our own! The good news isn\u2019t merely God offering forgiveness. God seeks to restore and redeem a creation as the dwelling place. Disciple-making is the means in which we work out our salvation as citizens of heaven on earth.<\/p>\n Have you ever noticed how every relational environment has an organizing identity?<\/p>\n In a family, we might carry the identity as son, daughter, sibling or parent where we negotiate responsibilities, respect, sacrificial love and loyalty depending on our role.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In education, we identify as a student needing to learn or a teacher responsible for development.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n In business, we operate as an employee, manager, or owner that each comes with expectations of effort and achievement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In each role, our identity informs how we act. When it comes to the Church (which can be argued as it\u2019s greatest dilemma) is that Christian identity is too often reduced to titles like believer, member, small group leader, children\u2019s volunteer, board member, or even pastor. We can be any of these things and still never make a disciple. The reality is we live\/think\/act whatever identity we take on! We\u2019re not simply sinners saved by grace. God already sees us as righteous in Christ. Belonging means we bear His likeness regardless of vocation and reproducing the life of Christ in the most relational and intentional ways. We\u2019re not called to be just to be Christ-like. That quickly can devolve into a performative Christianity. The incarnation implies that we are to be little Christs. And Jesus’ entire mission was given to making disciples.\u00a0Jesus invites us to uncover latent potential of our salvation saying,\u00a0\u201cThe kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, \u2018Here it is,\u2019 or \u2018There it is,\u2019 because the kingdom of God is within you\u201d (Luke 17:20).<\/em><\/p>\n\n