A Missional Leader’s Easter

You are a missional leader.

What you do is critically important.

You are engaged in the most important endeavor in the universe. You have joined with God and are calling on His power to multiply disciples, leaders and churches.

Your mission is not to build a better widget. Your calling is not to fatten an investor’s wallet. You are giving yourself to a venture that has eternal ramifications; nothing could be more worthy of your time and efforts.

This is Easter week. The week when every Christian stops and ponders the amazing love of God for human beings caught in the trap of sin with no hope of ever getting out by their own power.

The events of this week as recorded in the Gospels are as varied as they come.

- We see crowds of people celebrating the entrance of Jesus into the area of Jerusalem. Laying down their coats (and this was way before the days of dry cleaners) to honor Jesus’ arrival; shouting “Blessed is He Who is coming into our midst!”

- We see Jesus’ missional heart, weeping over Jerusalem; longing for the people of that important and populated city to turn towards God.

- We see Jesus’ fervor for spiritual authenticity as He throws the money changers out of the Temple area.

- We see the Creator God who is willing to get down on His knees and wash the feet of His disciples (perhaps it would be meaningful for you today to realize that He loves you enough to wash your feet).

- We see the ultimate display of patience with humanity as Jesus warns and yet commits His love to Peter, a disciple-leader, who is going to deny Him.

- We see obedience taken to a whole new level as Jesus humbles Himself to the Father’s will, even though it will cost Him his life.

- We see the supreme act of love and sacrifice as the Lord of All becomes the sacrifice for all sin through His agonizing, substitutionary death on the cross.

- We see compassion in the midst of stress as Jesus ensures the future care of His mother while He is experiencing the horrific pain of crucifixion.

- We see His preoccupation with a missional-mindset as He promises paradise to a criminal hanging on a cross next to Him.

- We see, most glorious of all, His supreme power and authority over sin and death as He comes bursting out of the tomb and back into the lives of His followers.

Obviously these are just a few of the many events laid out for us in scripture. This is NOT just another week for missional leaders. This is THE week. This is the week that provides the passion and the motivation for all that we do.

Missional leaders take many cues from Jesus’ life during “passion week” to apply to their own:

- They are motivated to pray over a city or territory…to see it through the eyes of Jesus and to earnestly pray that the Father’s will may come about in that place.

- They are motivated to put a towel over their arm and serve others, caring more about a missional movement than their own advancement.

- They are motivated to pray, realizing that the Father’s will for specific missional activity is often revealed only through times spent in earnest prayer.

- They are motivated to speak into situations of missional disease, dysfunction or ineffectiveness with boldness, realizing that often the most God-honoring activity is to speak the truth in love.

- They are motivated to remain humble; not lashing out against those who do not share their missional mindset, but instead trusting God to work through them to bring about His plans for human transformation and His ultimately glory.

But ultimately, this week provides missional leaders with the greatest of all motivations to do what they do…a passionate love that stems from the realization that the God of the universe with walk through anything, endure anything, and stop at nothing to be in relationship with us.

A missional leader’s work is not forced, nor is it done out of drudgery. A missional leader’s work is done out of passionate love for a Missional God who went to the cross for their sin; has freed them from the trap of condemnation, and has now given them the opportunity to be His ambassador to others who find themselves still bound.

Missional leader, may this week be all the Father intends is to be in your life and may it provide red-hot, high-octane fuel for your missional efforts.

:: By Chris Conrad :: Dir. of Church Planter Development :: The Wesleyan Church

[Taken from The Expanding Wave e-mail newsletter dated 03/31/10]