You're a what?

Usually thinking about missionaries leads a person's mind to wander down a path that leads to a place located across at least one large body of water. Somewhere just outside Chicago, Illinois isn't exactly a traditional missionary destination. But it is a place in need of missionaries, and that's why we're here.

It seems that almost every week there is a new statistic released that trumpets massive changes in the way Americans view and practice Christianity. Whether you've seen these statistics or not, you may sense that things aren't quite the same as they used to be. You hear grim reports about youth leaving church once they go off to college. You can't put your finger on why, but it doesn't seem that Christianity has quite as much of an influence on our culture as it used to. You hang out with people who are as interested in showing up at church as they are in dusting. Your experiences and statistics indicate that we are increasingly a nation in need of missionaries.

There are many good churches in the United States making a great impact on the people and communities they serve, but there are also an increasingly large number of people who won't ever step through the door of one of these churches. To reach these people, there have to be those who will approach our culture as missionaries--going to people where they are and being the presence of Christ with them.

This kind of missionary takes time and patience, which is a bit of stretch for me because I tend to have a solid impatient streak.
You can ask anyone in the group I pastored in Denver--if something didn't work in three months (or sometimes one) I wanted to change it. This constant change made it difficult for people to discern what that group was about and didn't give any of our strategies time to succeed.

Now God has taken us from that ministry to one that requires even more patience (do you think he's trying to tell me something?). When a missionary goes into another country, they don't expect to see converts and have a thriving church in a few months. They know that their work, if it is done right, will take a long time. It takes them years to develop relationships, see people put faith in Christ, and teach them what it means to be missionaries as well. Though the context is different, our work is really no different. If we want to reach people who have no interest in going to church, we need to take a long time to listen, be with them, and understand how the gospel is best communicated to them.

When we came here I hoped to see massive impact in the first few months, but I'm learning that's not a missionary pace. The work is intense, and being missionaries has required a huge adjustment in how we live, but if we really want to reach people we have to have a wider lens. I am training myself to think in terms of three years rather than three months. And Michelle gives me a gentle reminder of that every time I talk about changing something.