I (Julianna) don't know if it's just at our church, but "missional" has become a buzzword of late. And it's a buzzword I fully embrace. We have missional communities and ask each other if we're living missionally, and I find it a very helpful description. That's because to me, the term missional implies focus and a sense of purpose.
The fact that our housechurch is missional means that we're not just getting together and making sure we all feel connected to one another or that we're all praying a lot. Instead, it means that in addition to those things (which are important), we also have a greater, more specific purpose. Our mission is to reach out to internationals (primarily students) in Norman with the love of Jesus.
Personally, living missionally means I know that I'm not just here living for my own benefit. God's plan to spread his loving kingdom is to use people, and that includes me. My mission is to love others well and share the freedom and peace that I have received with others.
I'm talking about being missional today, because the thing most often connected with that word — missions — is something that I'm telling people I want to do with my life. But missions isn't just for overseas or someday, it's meant for right here and right now. That's been a little hard for me to stay focused on sometimes in recent months as Brandon and I spend so much time planning and preparing for moving to South Africa to take part in God's mission there. But I was reminded yesterday that the awesome things I experienced in Cape Town aren't reserved just for exciting mission trips. They can be a part of the everyday life of a follower of Jesus living missionally.
Yesterday morning, I met with my dear friend. It was our first time to meet and talk about a book we're reading together, "The Bondage Breaker" by Neil Anderson. The meeting started out fantastically. Mary was telling me she had a lot of pain in her right knee recently for no apparent reason. Because I saw God heal my coworker Peggy's knees earlier this summer, I asked if I could pray for her knee. We prayed right then and she wiggled her knee around and said it felt mostly better, but still a small pain. So I got excited and prayed again for her knee, and Jesus took all the pain away! It was a great start to our time together, which ended up being in actuality even cooler than the healing. We discussed what we were reading and both received a lot of insight into our lives, which was definitely a result of the Holy Spirit fighting for us and bringing his freedom. (I highly recommend the book, which deals with spiritual warfare and personal freedom in Christ.)
Well, for those of you on our e-mail update list, here's a heads up that you should be receiving our September e-mail update letter soon. Brandon's enchanted with his new e-mail editor tool thingy (I can't remember exactly what it's called), so look forward to an even snazzier looking e-mail update this month. And for those not on our list who would like to be, add a comment asking us to and we'd love to add you to the list!
— Julianna
