Authors Eleanor and Alan Kreider, longtime missionaries to the United Kingdom, encouraged leaders toward missional imagination at a monthly pastors’ breakfast on February 10.
It is only by worshiping a God who is missional that God’s people can become missional, according to the Kreiders. We become like the God we worship, Alan said, “What kind of God are we worshiping? The deeper we get into God, the deeper we get into mission.”
They pointed to Herm and Cindy Weaver, parents of a young mission worker who was killed by a 16-year-old boy who was texting while driving. The parents forgave the boy–and it made headlines. “They are shaped by their worship of a God who forgives them to be people who are forgiving in their world,” said Alan.
The Kreiders, who published Worship and Mission After Christendom in 2011, believe that worship fans mission.
The Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program, which started in Canada in 1974 and is now an international agency, began because one person asked “Wouldn’t it be neat?” said Eleanor.
“‘Wouldn’t it be neat?'” Alan added. “There is the missional imagination coming into play!”
The Krieders’ PowerPoint presentation
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.