I’ve been reflecting on what defines the Thingy (the missional church Wendy and I are a part of).  This is part four of a four part post.

One of the things our crew does better than anyone else in the world is humility.  We are the most humble people on the face of the earth.  I mean…seriously…when it comes to humility – we rock!!!

Just kidding.

I list humility as one of our defining characteristics because it is something we struggle with.   It  seems impossible for us to approach a Gospel passage together without someone pointing out, “To live out this passage we have to see everyone as better than ourselves.” We are relentless in the disciple of confession ourselves to be sinners dependent upon God’s grace and seeing others as  beautiful creations of God who He deeply loves and cherishes.

I am consistently amazed  at the level to which our religious pedigree instilled in us the “us vs. them” mentality.  We are the saved.  They are the lost.  We are the saints.  They are the sinners.  We are the holy.  They are the tainted.  We live in the light.  They live in the darkness.  Now while all of these are biblical images, they were never meant to be worn as badges of honor.  Quite the opposite.  At Levi’s house Jesus is pretty clear.  If you see yourself as healthy then you don’t need Him.  To live in His grace means understanding that, without His love, we are all helpless.  There is nothing special about us.  It is all about Him.

Missional living demands that we approach everyone with this perspective.  We are all sinners in need of God’s grace.  We must strive to see the beauty of God’s image in each one of His creations. Only then can we truly love like He loves. Only then will we be able to model his compassion.

I hope we never lose this.

Concluding The Series

What I’ve learned over the last two years of seeking to live missionally with a group of people:

• Loving others like Jesus in our community is the primary focus of our lives.
• We encourage and equip one another to do this by meditating on Scripture together when we gather and holding one another accountable to live out what we see in the Gospels.
• For 1 and 2 to be possible we must, in humility, view others as better than ourselves.

I’m excited about the coming year with the Thingy.  I think it is going to be a fantastic adventure.