Hey folks! Our current unit in the kids curriculum is about the Church: what it is, what it does, and what it means to be a part of it.
Click here for a general overview of the unit.
This week we'll be talking about the Church as both the means and the end of Christian mission.
Here's some context for what we mean:
In recent years there has been a wonderful recovery of "missional" language as a core description of all Christians, whether they are sent to unreached people groups across oceans, or to their neighbor in an American suburb, or anywhere in between.
All Christians have, in varying degrees, been given the "Great Commission" by Jesus to carry the Good News to the ends of the earth. Everyone in the Church has a missionary call. This can look very different person to person, and everyone has to engage this call in light of their respective gifting (cf. 1 Corinthians 12). But we all are called to participate in the Great Mission of God. This is good and right.
However, one (surely unintended) negative of this recovery has been to begin to view the Church as a mere instrument (or vehicle, or means) for the sake of the mission.
This "instrumentalization" of the Church has suggested to many that the Church is only relevant insofar as it is useful (i.e., provides what is necessary for mission).
But this is to mistake the goal of the mission itself! The Church, as the body of persons united to God and to one another, is the goal of Christian mission. It is the means and the end.
" The basic identity [of the Church] is to be found not in what it does but what it is. This means that only as we probe what it is can we properly understand its true nature and role." - Simon Chan
What this means is that, yes, we are gathered to be sent. But we are also sent to be gathered--gathered specifically for the purpose of 1) offering ourselves again to God, 2) receiving him anew by Word, prayer, and Sacrament, and thus 3) embodying the Gospel as that collective of persons cleansed from sin, raised to new life, sharing in the very life of God, eagerly awaiting his return to make all things new.
A community gathered (even beautifully so) without hearing and heeding the call to go is less than the fullness of the Church. A community "going" for some other reason than the gathering all of God's children into Christ's one Body is missing the point of Christian mission.
The Church is gathered to be sent, and sent to be gathered, on and on until our Lord returns. Neither makes sense without the other.
What is the Church?
The Church is the whole community of baptized Christians in heaven and on earth, called and formed by God into one people. The Church on earth gathers to worship God in Word and Sacrament, and is sent to serve God and neighbor, and to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Scripture to consider:
1 Corinthians 10:15-17
Matthew 28:18-20
Colossians 1:15-23
Questions for your kids
What do you think it means that the Church is a "body"? (hint: see 1 Cor. 12)
What are some ways you could love and serve your neighbors?
How can the Church "show" the world who Jesus is?
Holy Imagination
Learning the faith isn't just about memorizing facts. It's about seeing the world as it really is: "charged with the grandeur of God."
Read together the story of St. Patrick. We've linked a wonderfully illustrated and summative account below!
Peace,
Danny+