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Ce Ce Wilkes What’s your role as the stakeholder for El Shaddai Christian Church? As the stakeholder for El Shaddai, I have the opportunity to create strategic partnership opportunities with…

“God has initiated every part of His work throughout history. Instead of carrying out His mission on His own, God chooses to accomplish His mission in a very personal way.He chooses to involve His people with Him, working through them to accomplish His purposes. When He is about to take a further step to advance His mission, He comes to one or more of His servants… He lets them know what He is about to do. He invites them to join Him, asking them to adjust their lives to Him so He can accomplish every aspect of His mission through them.”

Joining Jesus on His mission doesn’t have to be complicated – it really just means living intentionally, with the heart of a missionary – and with the Gospel at the center of all that we do. A common fear and misconception is that missional means “additional”… Additional activities, appointments, responsibilities, serving opportunities… Filling up the calendar with more stuff. That perspective can easily start to feel like a heavy burden of duty that induces guilt, rather than a Gospel-centered lifestyle that results in purpose and joy.

I just returned from a week in Postdam, Germany spending time with our global partner, Steffen Weil, and his mittendrin team. (mittendrin means “in the center of it” in German, and is the name of their 4-yr old church plant located right in the center of the city). What a great week of listening, learning and gaining perspective on their vision to reach into their city with Gospel-influence over many sectors of culture – arts, medicine, education, athletics, small business, government, and beyond.

I get mixed responses when I mention that I oversee “missional living” at Fellowship. They usually fall into three categories. Sometimes I can read the response immediately in someone’s expression of confused curiosity that seems to say “What on earth is missional living?” Understandable since missional has been defined in so many ways. Or a smile that communicates resonance with the idea of living ‘on mission’ – and I’m guessing they might have read some recent blog posts or books or listened to a podcast that’s defined it in a palatable way.

I’m convinced that disciples are made in the overlap of three essential elements: gospel, relationship and mission. These elements are what I like to call “discipleship DNA.” They are the building blocks of transformational spiritual growth. It’s helpful to picture these three elements (gospel, family and mission) as three legs of a stool. Take out one of these essential elements and any approach to discipleship is likely to be unbalanced.

As a little girl, my wife Heidi always thought that one day she would be a missionary. She had visions of moving overseas, learning a new language – possibly living in the jungles of South America or among the unreached people of East Asia. A REAL missionary!

“Gospel Fluency”: “Our ability to speak and display the gospel in natural and effective ways in any situation in life, leading to transformation and restoration.” Is God stirring something in you that might lead you to become more fluent in the gospel? Consider joining the conversation – the beginning of a journey that will take the rest of your life.

By the end last night, we were all pretty emotionally wiped. But we were also celebrating. God’s grace, His love, His mercy, His pursuit – and the power of the Gospel to transform lives. We had just spent the evening listening to a number of people in our Gospel Primer pilot group share their own personal story in the context of God’s greater story. And to say it was a powerful experience – we’d all agree would be an understatement.

This last week, we talked about the concept of gospel listening. The art of paying attention to the patterns in God’s greater story of Creation – Fall – Redemption – Recreation in each of our own personal stories.

This has been particularly convicting to me – because I’m finding out just how bad of a listener I can be. Too often I’m more concerned about telling someone what I think, or fixing a problem rather than hearing gospel patterns in someone else’s story that would allow me an opportunity to speak good news into their life.