I think one of the most powerful words you wrote were, “We can be co-laborers with God’s work for the redemption of all things.”

“We can be…” What an opportunity! What a gracious gift!!

I fully also believe that it is God’s distinct desire to include us. In fact for some reason, God does not want to do it without us. What a thought! What a reality!!

Tom, you really made me think, when you wrote that, “A missional theology supporting the endeavor to seek and save the lost is not based primarily on an evangelistic canvassing strategy.”

In my mind, I imagine when we focus just on one aspect it is like hopping on one leg instead of walking with two. You can do it and make progress, but what we miss when we do not look at the whole is incredible. God is so good to us and for us!

My passion for God and His creation has increased again!

I loved being reminded that God’s love was so deep that He sent Jesus to us. Jesus was sent to liberate me and set me free from fear, guilt, sin and transgression. This love I experience from God every day is so overwhelming that my ‘cup runneth over.’ I understand Paul’s words that he is compelled by love to proclaim the gospel to all nations.

God’s power works to bring us all to him. His purpose for me is to do the same. He draws people closer to Him with love, and this should also be the method I use to bring people closer to Him. To love requires risk. It is an intentional act, not something that will happen by accident.

The nature of God is love. Everything God does stems from this nature. When he created the universe he did it out of love and created it with the capacity to love. Out of his loving nature he also made us free. We must now respond in love to the sin and suffering of others. We must partner with God in order to help save the world. We can be God’s love ambassadors that become a godly presence to those who feel abandoned. God is on a loving mission to redeem the world. The church must have that same mission by having a missional theology that is active in pursuing the lost.

Dr. Oord said it well when he wrote that God’s love fully encompasses “agape,” “eros” and “philia.” We know what love is because God first loved us, and gave us the ability to love. Love, as we see it in our lives, is from God, in all its shapes and sizes. But love is not love without being “on the move.” God’s mission is driven by love – active love, which restores and sets the oppressed free.

This is a beautiful reminder of how God calls us to participate in God’s mission of love to reconcile the world.

Praise God.  Love is the rule and the measure all through Scripture.  This blog post is a short and concise call to action through the lens of love and thus becoming missional.  Whenever we see first through love, care and compassion we have endeavored to pursue God’s mission for us.

Love must encompass God’s truths through Scripture as our guiding light.  Scripture is the “how to” book of love at its best!

A core idea of ministry needs to be partnership.  We are in partnership with God and in partnership with each other.  The idea is a partnership is that the partners have something to offer each other.  God offers us salvation and love and we offer God love and a willingness to work. 

We are not tools of God, we are partners.  We work together to live missionally, seeing where we are need in the WHOLE world and going there.

This blog post is descriptive of the attitude that our church advances in the world. I wholeheartedly agree that love is the centerpiece of God’s kingdom. Love is a verb in the Missional church. It promotes action. I resonated with the notion of God’s kingdom being described as “God’s loving leadership”. I’ve often described the kingdom of God as where God rules and reigns. This concept of “God’s loving leadership” contextualizes it for our time in history. It helps to situate the kingdom of God is a reality in the present as well as the future. It also supports our recent discussions on open theology and the importance of joining with God now to advances loving leadership.

I LOVE that my God, OUR God is a God who does not give up on creation.  Our God is on the move, and we are called to be ‘on an adventure of love,’ as you put it, with God!  I was at a church last night (not my own) and was talking to the pastor about my current education and ministry goals.  Upon telling him I am seeking ordination, he gave me an uncomfortable stare.  I know this man does not believe women should be ordained. 

I think we need to, as all of creation, move past differences like this, in order to fully embrace and enjoy this adventure with God!  We are getting too caught up on things that are not the big picture.  We are all working for the same cause!!!

I did not grow up in the church, as matter of fact, I did not become a Christian until I was 27. I was saved in a CMA Church before I ended up in the Nazarene Church. The entire time I was in the Nazarene Church I thought holiness meant you can’t do this or that. It was not until my senior year at Nazarene Bible College that I learned what Wesley meant by holiness.  I learned that holiness was not about following a bunch of rules and regulations. Holiness is about being filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love God and others perfectly.

Thus, God is a God of love who is on a mission to redeem humanity.  It was love that nailed God to the cross, and it was love the resurrected God and defeated Satan, sin, and death. It is God’s love and grace that opened my eyes on just how much I need a Savior. It is God’s love and grace that invites me and gifts me to Join God in redeeming the world by loving God and others.

Thank you for pointing out the RSV version of Romans 8:28.  I have never read the RSV version of this verse.  I love that God works WITH us.

One question that came to my mind, dealt with the priority of loving God over others.  When we claim the basis of missional theology is love for God and others, should we clarify that our love for God should be top priority above all others?  Perhaps there may not exist a situation in which appropriate love for others would interfere with our love for God, but it seems like our love for God should have greater importance than our love for others.

Any thoughts?

It seems like Tom was in his element on this blog: talking about love.  This was a very encouraging and yet challenging blog post.  If I have learned anything in these first few weeks of class, I have learned that missional theology is “a theology of love”.  Tom states that “a God on a mission is a God on the move… and love is the primary and persistent intent of our God-on-the-move”.  Overall, Tom states that “missional theology is based primarily on love”.
That thought completely resonates with me.  I believe that love should be the ultimate motivation for everything.  It seems to me like love is the truest of all motivations.  Doing things for other reasons could have smatterings of personal or selfish motivations.  But love?  It seems like it is the ultimate and truest of all motivations.
A theology that is based primarily on love sounds pretty good.

I love how Tom has made it so clear that God not only intends for us to be co-laborers with God but that God also empowers us to share in His Salvation of all of Creation.  This is exciting and makes me really think about how much God really loves His Creation and how He really meant it when He said that it was “good.”

Tom says, “A look at the overall scope of Scripture leads one to believe humans are the focus of God’s seeking and saving. But the Bible also says God cares about nonhumans. [1] In fact, Scripture says God intends to redeem all things. “The whole creation” hopes to be “set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rm. 8:21-22).”

This is a Scripture that I must have glossed over so many times.  I have never really understood it to mean that ALL creation is to be redeemed.  Now that I understand it better, I am filled with joy that our God loves all of creation and we all should feel empowered to help God in His mission of redeeming all of creation.  What a wonderful, awesome God we serve!

I like the thought of wholeness breaking in to brokeness and bringing peace and healing.  This is a geat attitude for a church to have.  This should be the mission of each Christian, to discern when brokeness is present and then being willing to interupt their schedule to stop and share the Gospel that brings restoration with those who are hurting and in bondage.

Love on the move is a great image of God.  the devil roams seeking whom he may devour… while God roams and moves His church seeking who He may love!

Great blog about our Moving Missional God. Not only does God act mercifully through His love, always pursueing and calling people to Him, His loving creation also groans for the day of redemption.(Romans 8) But let us understand that humanity is central to God’s creation. He says in verse 19 of Romans 8, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” What is this implying? Could in be that the most ergent action the church can take in taking part in creation reconciliation is building God’s spiritual Kingdom as creation waits for the day of redemption? Could it be “save the planet” measures are best done through the spreading of the Gospel of God and saving humanity?

“Love on the move!” Liberating, restoring love characterizes missio Dei. This article moved me to consider the many ways God loves. Tom makes an excellent point when he says that missional theology is not driven by methodologies, strategies or even liturgy; being missional is to love.

There is no limit or bounds to God’s missional love. I am thinking in terms of God’s love as seen in his reaching grace, prevenient and saving, as revealed in scripture; love that we can personally experience. Consider the diversity of people and how they respond while God goes on loveing. How many places must his love reach in order to touch all the lives of humanity and all of creation?

It makes me question what this love means in my life as I serve with God missionally. God uses all those who respond to his love to help him reach those who have rejected his love. This full spectrum of love, as noted in the essay, the agape, eros, and philia, is the demonstration of missional love.

After reading this article, I once again read the love chapter – devotionally, allowing the awesome God of love to fill me.

Good thoughts here, Tom. I have been co-leading a Celebrate Recovery group for nearly a year and it is one of the highlights of my week.I have often shared with people that what I most appreciate about CR is getting to see “the church be the church.”

Being part of a group that truly loves each other unconditionally and shares their struggles, hurts, and victories openly is quite refreshing. Christ came to bring life more abundant and it is certainly more blessed when we know that we do not struggle alone and that others have come through our burdens to restoration. Several years ago, in preparing for a devotional for my Christian couseling cohort, God impressed upon my heart that Ephesians 4:13 could correctly be translated, “until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the FULL measure of the WHOLENESS of Christ.”

This blog is full of encouragement! You write about the themes in the Bible of healing and freedom from oppresion. You also mentioned who God makes us whole and provides deliverance from things that destroy us. And all of these things are given to us because God loves us so much and is taking action in our lives. Your message comes to me at a time where I need encouragement, and what is better than being reminded of God’s incredible, indescribable love for us? Thank you for this blog.

I really liked how you connected well-being and shalom. I think we focus peace on resolving conflict so there’s no animosity between parties and forget how peace and well-being go hand in hand. It’s something we need to make sure we include when we talk about both salvation and the mission of God.

We also have to realize that love is at the center of this and all of God’s work. 1 John 4 is one of my favorite chapters. For all the attention 1 Corinthians 13 gets for being “the love chapter,” it’s not complete without 1 John 4. Love is patient, kind, etc., because God is love. When we love, we help to bring about peace and well-being to all of creation.

This week I have been thinking a lot about the courage it takes to both love and be free.  The “adventure” that God empowers us along can often take deep courage to live into.  Your post reminds me that it is God who is love, who’s grace is going ahead and before us, and his perfect love, working in us drives out fear as we participate with him in a process of transformation. 

It draws us outside ourselves and invites us to follow God’s example and risk into love.

“In a world of brokenness, wholeness breaks in.”  This is how I can best describe God to one who does not yet know the fullness of who God is.  In our human lives we are constantly seeking for that which gives us contentment or satisfaction.  Only in God do we find wholeness.  In situations like divorce, addictive behaviors, and physical and mental disabilities we can trust that God can fill the void and be the remedy we need to make our lives complete.
 
Missional theology is not based primarily on an evangelistic canvassing strategy.  It is based on love.  Strategies of door knocking, handing out tracts, bussing kids to church, and even revival meetings are no longer effective in the area I live.  It requires more and less at the same time.  A deeper investment of love and less programming.  Meeting people where they are at with authentic love is the best way to reflect the image of God to a world that is broken and desperately needs to be made whole.

What an awesome reminder that our mission is joined to God’s mission.  We are not joined out of obligation.  We are not even joined out of a desire to please God.  Instead we are joined by love.  We serve like God, because God’s love is flowing through us.  As Bob Pierce said, ““Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”  We are driven by the same passion that God has – the same love that God has.  So our mission becomes the same mission as God.  We see brokenness all around.  The question becomes will be moved to act.  I am reminded of the movie Laurence of Arabia.  In their march across the desert one Arab is left behind.  Laurence is told to let the person die,  because “it has been written.”  Laurence goes back and returns with the dying Arab.  He responds, “nothing is written until I have written it.”  May we see this unfolding story as an invitation to write new stories of salvation.