Frost #2

Found a set of talks that Jordon had online from Mike Frost. Here are my notes from #2. Oh man.

The church is only one of the options on the buffet of spiritual experiences and searching
you have invited these people to church a million times
they came once to keep you happy
all our eggs are in the attractional model - it is not the chief or primary way for people to meet Jesus

instead holistic, like Jesus

mission in terms of us going to them
what framework - what should we look like
the difference between two approaches to mission
attractional vs. incarnational

attractional - create a God-zone and get people to go there
we change the style, music, seating
they still don't want to come
"You have flag waving in your church? I'm coming!"

incarnational - what God did for us
He reached us with the Gospel by sending Jesus - He went
Becomes one of us
leave the church zone

Not just where Jesus would go, but what He would be doing?
Loving, healing, transforming people
It is the more difficult option

Attractional is actually easier
Easy for you to create that space
Do worship to mobilize and unleash us for what Jesus has called us

What incarnational people do, what is expected of them, requirements:
1. Embrace holy godly living as an evangelistic, missional end in itself
Church is big on holy living, not looking like the world
Culture doesn't love how holy we are.
They don't say,
"We love fundamentalist Christians."
"The church is the salt of the earth."
"They are loving, generous, hospitable."

Instead, "bigoted, judgmental, sanctimonious"
We have a heritage that says holy living is about showing people how less clean they are than us.
The NT does not say holiness is about separation
Instead, such lives that people are dying to be part of what you have
Your holy lives are supposed to be so delicious
We are supposed to be defined by how generous we are
how compassionate
how hospitable
how generous

2% of giving is offering to mission outside of our needs
Tom Sine - "We even tithe to ourselves"

We need to be a stand out community in our culture

2. We need to be a praying community
To impact to our culture, pray about:
- pray that God would raise up more evangelists and missionaries
an evangelist - not necessarily Billy Graham
someone who so naturally and normally secrete the Gospel that people are transformed
not necessarily presenters or preachers
it just seeps out of them
they are in your community - they know that they are too
most of them are kooks - they are not clean, tidy, neat
they keep you on the edge
they keep you thinking that church exists for the world, not just for us
they won't let you spend money on yourself
they keep pushing us out

the evangelists ought to be totally immersed in your culture and context
invite them to every dinner party
mission is mission - in your backyard or overseas

- pray for the success of the evangelists
for their blessing and protection

- pray for your unsaved friends and neighbors
by name
recognize that you are God's gift to them, even if they don't know them

we spend far too much time planning what happens on platforms

3. called to socialize with as many unbelievers as we possibly can
I Cor 5
context - issue of eat and drink
people would take an animal to a pagan temple
they would sell the meat
Christians - are we supporting the pagan industry
if you don't eat meat offered to idols, what is the implication of that socially
it means you can never eat at the table of a nonChristian
I can't sit down and eat together
For Paul, not a theological issue
It is a missional question - can I eat with unbelievers?
The answer is yes - do not separate yourself from your friends
Certainly, there maybe times or situations where you need to distance yourself
Still need mentors, coaches, etc. to keep you strong and accountable

Pastors, leaders:
The more involved we get in church, the less contact we have with people who don't share our faith
Why - because the wheels of a dualistic/attractional Church crank faster and faster the more you commit
sucks people to the center, while incarnation blows people out to the edges

We ought to be at every dinner party

Couldn't get Jesus on being a dissenter, heretic or revolutionary
They got Jesus on being a drunkard and a glutton
He drank and ate with all the wrong people
Jesus knew how to eat and drink with the best of them. Or the worst of them.

And when Jesus gave us something to remember Him by, it was by eating and drinking
Australia - a culture that loves to eat and drink

4. about resourcing evangelism
throw some money at evangelists, unleashing these kinds of people
some of us have the gift of making money

Jesus told the disciples that they had to be fishermen for people
When we fish, we use a rod and a hook
When they fished, they used nets
They spent the majority of time making and fixing really strong, tight nets - 80-90% of the time
Grabbing people with their nets
What are the nets? Strong relationships and friendships between Christians and nonChristians
If I choose to be the best friend that I could be, thats a strong net
Sooner or later, the web of friendships finds others and they will connect with some really good friends
And some of them are the evangelists - and the Gospel rolls right across the table

Maybe we have made it harder than it needs to be with programs, buildings, accoutrement's of church

The early church combusted before they ever had a single public building, or put anyone on staff