The Red Pill Brethren

The missional church cannot generate its energy from the sighs of relief exhaled by its members who are welcomed into it as a place of refuge from “icky ole religion.” Nor can it be a place where people slide “safe” into home base and stay there for the rest of their church life, with grass stains on their pants and a sense of elation for having made the run. The church’s responsibility is to help such individuals get up off the dirt, brush themselves off, have any injuries tended to, and sent back out on the field, and then eventually out of the ballpark altogether.

The core elements of the modern missional theology movement strongly align with the theological house of Unitarian Universalism that Rebecca Ann Parker explained at Collegium 2003.  These elements propel us toward new understandings about how we should work in, and engage with, the world.  They urge us toward the life of a modern missionary, in which we both work with the culture, yet still understand ourselves as radical prophets in a land that often reflects values vastly different from our own.

Written two years ago. Over-reliance on quotes. But I said I’d post it, so here it is. — Joanna