By Brad Brisco
When discussing what it means to live a missional-incarnational lifestyle I will often say that the word “missional” denotes our “sentness,” both individually and collectively as the church. It is about our direction—we are sent. The term “incarnational” reflects the idea of “staying.” It is about how and where we are sent. While missional speaks to being sent, incarnational speaks to embedding our lives and the gospel of the Kingdom into a local context.
Proximity
To further understand the importance of an incarnational posture towards our context I like to use the ideas of “proximity” and “presence.” Proximity is about the necessity of living close to others. I love a line in The Road to Missional by Michael Frost, when he states,
“We can not love and serve those God has sent us to from a distance.”
We have to be in close proximity to know and love those we are called to.
Presence
For me the idea of presence pushes the concept of proximity one step further. We are to not only be close to others, but we are to be with them. Presence speaks to the idea of identification. To practice the ministry of presence means to slow down, and be with people—be for people. In a real sense we become their advocates. One of my favorite quotes on the idea of presence comes from Henri Nouwen:
More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.
Do Nouwen’s words reflect your life? What keeps you from living a posture of presence?
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Love the Nouwen quote. We’re throwing our first neighborhood party this weekend…so well timed. Also I’ve got that that “things move so slowly” feeling here and now at the beginning of our missional-incarnational church start. Thanks for the encouragement.
Luke, thanks for sharing. Yes I believe patience is a huge piece, both with those we are called to love/serve because there is a lot of religious/church baggage and skepticism, and patience with those inside the church that do not typically think of living life in this manner. The gravitational pull to think and act in traditional, attractional, come to us, kind of ways is very strong.