...the Christians all became missionaries...

"Forced to leave home base, the Christians all became missionaries" (Acts 8:4 The Message).

Isn't that a beautiful paraphrase to the quote in the New American Standard Bible that says "those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went." Isn't this the heartbeat of the missionary movement? We put a person or couple on an airplane, they go live in a foreign city trying to evaluate culture, they meet needs and build relationships, and then they wait. "Wait on what?", you say. I'm glad you asked. They wait on God to allow the seed to germinate and grow in the hearts of their "Mission Field." Then they simply invite people into the only purpose worth living and dying for... God's purpose to redeem His relationship with all creation.

It's interesting to me that the church has become a "come and see" movement, instead of a "go and reach" movement as Jesus commanded about 2000 years ago. Luke tells us in his stroy of Jesus that "the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place where He intended to go." He then gave them a few simple instructions and sent them on their way.

Where in Auburn and Opelika does Jesus intend to go and who does He want to send ahead. I believe He wants to go to every nook and cranny and that He wants to send you (us). What greater compliment could we hear about the modern church than "the Christians all became missionaries?" I want to be about that business. However, for the early believers, persecution forced them to leave "home base." I don't know about you, but I'm not too excited about persecution. So, I want to invite you to go with me now before it gets to that. I'm quite convinced that the plan of God is to expand His Kingdom and I'm also convinced that He's willing to go to any length to see that happen.

What does that mean for CONVERGE?
This is what I'm hearing:

1. It means we are to be a "missional movement"
2. It means that those committed to our community are to be "missionaries"
3. It means that, as a missionary, those committed must define their "mission field"
4. It means that we must be strategic, prayerful and intentional about meeting the needs in those mission fields (and)
5. It means that we must provide places in which to invite those we serve into Christian community and the redemption of creation when the seeds begin to sprout
   

In the four zip codes in Auburn and Opelika there are about 90,000 people. Of those, 50,000 claim to have little or no faith involvement! That's a lot of people. In a church building that could seat 1,000 people, we would need 50 services per week to seat them. It's not going to happen! We are at a stage in history that "the Church" is going to have to grow in the places where people live and work. I want to reach those 50,000 and I hope you do too. We must go to them and provide places where 10-15 people can grow together weekly in hundresds of "church buildings" that may look like living rooms and break rooms.

What if we could tangibly serve every home in Auburn and Opelika once per month and then invite those people into Christian community. What if we could honestly say to those people, "Don't come to us, we'll come to you."

I've been thinking a lot this week about what that type of movement might look like and what type of resources it would require. To be honest, it scares me to death... and that excites me. It's bigger than me and you and even bigger than all of us together. That sounds like a God vision to me! Come on board... I can't buy you a plane ticket to Asia, but I can probably give you a ride across town.