The church that looks like Jesus to me

'The church is a disciple of Jesus to the degree that it is the church

going out to the world, announcing and enacting the same “good news”

in the ordinary places of life. In “The Missional Church” the

benediction becomes one of the most moving moments in the life of the

“church gathered.” It recognizes the importance of the people of God

“disassembling” for the work of being the church in all of the nooks

and crannies of everyday life. In and through the benediction, the

people of God are “missioned” into their daily worlds ...' 

Brian Cunnington, from the Taproot, April 2009

Whenever I am asked to identify a church that looks like Jesus to me,

I answer ‘Doctors without Borders’ (MSF - Medecines Sans Frontiers).

Now to the best of my knowledge MSF is not a Christian organization,

but in thinking about people who willingly put their lives on the

line, their mission is a near match to the one who laid down his life

for his friends.

Now I imagine when MSF personnel assemble - infrequent as those

gatherings might be - the sense of kinship and renewal in their

assembly would be strong. It would have to be. Because when they

disassemble to care for the victims of famine and war, they can’t

afford to go out empty.

Not that their assembling wouldn’t include parties and one beer too

many - but there would be more to their gathering than social chit-

chat and the local brew. There would be stories, things they had

learned from the field, instruction on new innovations to combat the

dire realities they face; all combining to equip and train them to

respond effectively in the nooks and crannies of human despair.

Although I am blessed weekly at church with the benediction to go out

and be like Jesus, sometimes I go out empty. It mystifies me. The

sermon was good, the worship had me hitting new notes, the coffee in

the foyer worked, and I got more hugs than the Velveteen Rabbit.

It could be me. Maybe I’m not gripped with the same sense of urgency

that MSF has about the world I’m disassembling into. If I’m not going

into the week intending to put my life on the line for others, I’m not

sure what I’d gain from even the most heavenly of assemblies.

It could be the church. If we live as though our lives are not on the

line while we’re apart, what are we really expecting of each other

when we’re together?

It could be the benediction. However articulated many of us leave

believing that all that is really expected of us is we behave well and

bring a non-believer the next time we meet. We don’t leave thinking

it’s up to us to rescue the world...‘heal the sick, raise the

dead’ ... ’to be the ‘preview community’, the tangible foretaste and

harbinger of the coming reign of God.’

Until we do, are we really a disciple of Jesus?