Tonight we were asked to challenge the Montecito Covenant Church to be a missional community of faith, and I’d like to share the outline of our talk. First, though, I’m impressed with this community of faith — its piety, its resilience, and its stability. The best preaching is not about saying something new but reminding us of something old in fresh ways.
Imagine a missional community was our challenge to do together:
Imagine Grace at work to flow from God through the community into the wider community. (Genesis 1–2, Eikons: created, cracked, and designed to be Christ-like in the form of a community.)
Imagine Strength at work to empower simplicity in focus. Deut 6:5, the Hebrew word for “strength” (me’od), and the 5 L’s of love: listen, look, learn, link and begin locally.
Imagine Generosity at work to create resources in motion toward others. Here we focused on 2 Cor 8:2, 13-14, and 20 — generosity, equity, and abundance.