The icon stage left may define, at least in some measure, the missional challenge that has the contemporary church off point. It depicts three usually accepted priorities of the local church: UPREACH, INREACH, AND OUTREACH.
Like all of our other strategies regarding the mission of the church these three are open to debate, discussion, quibbling, smirks, question marks, and loads of circular rhetoric. They first scrolled across my screen back in the 1980's when I was scratching my head to discover some mission traction in my first church. It seemed reasonable enough to me, and our small, rural church went after them with some passion.
As the guy down the street says, that was then, this is now. The priority formula that helped a small rural church find some mission focus may not pack the same punch in the new millennium, especially in this culture. It seems that UPREACH, INREACH, and OUTREACH, in that particular hierarchy, has created hundreds, maybe thousands, of self-absorbed churches. I mean, promoting INREACH to point number two in a culture that specializes in me-ology may just indulge the church on itself to the point that it can't even stagger into OUTREACH mode. In fact, I would suggest that the un-holy trinity of church life is now INREACH, INREACH, and INREACH, to the exclusion of any meaningful UPRREACH, and only incidental, friend-related OUTREACH.
Get real! If UPREACH IS about abiding in Christ, personal discipleship, corporate and personal worship, living obediently in His care, the church in America is getting bad marks. If OUTREACH is about evangelism, service, ministry, mission, baptisms, church growth, influencing the marketplace, public policy, or moral indicators, the outcomes are equally unimpressive. If INREACH equals gospel bubbles, discussion groups, therapy sessions, nice club houses, or building caring communities, then the grading moves up a notch. We're good at the dynamics of INREACH. Let's all hold hands and sing "The Family of God" in the round. Amen, and amen.
The point? UPREACH, INREACH, AND OUTREACH is a flawed concept, on more than one level. First, there is no formula for effective church. If there had been one, the Lord Jesus would have given it to us, or the Holy Spirit would have revealed it to the writers of the New Testament. I mean, surely God wasn't playing "Name that Tune" with the church in the hopes we'd discover the secret of effective ministry. Give me a break! Second, effective mission is to some degree contextual. So, the triple threat may be expressed one way here and another way there. Third, UPREACH, INREACH, and OUTREACH, are circular and not linear movements. In a reversal of sorts, healthy churches are those with effective UPREACH AND OUTREACH.
The strategy for times like these may actually be UPREACH, UPREACH, and UPREACH, a radical emphasis on worship, personal discipleship, and the disciplines of abiding in Christ. Jesus said, "Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me" (John 15:4). INREACH should be a natural outcome of being mutually attached to the same vine, with OUTREACH as in fruit production as a result.
Today's church is self-centered because we're basically obsessive compulsive about the INREACH functions. Some churches sacrifice UPREACH and OUTREACH, even doctrinal integrity, for the sake of congregational unity. And, we ought to know by now that human unity is but a pretense of meaningful INREACH. To keep people together for the sake of nothing is doesn't equate with unity in any biblical sense. So, the mechanics of INREACH, as virtuous as strong fellowship can be, may not be a measure of strong inner union. If that unity isn't in Christ, you know, UPREACH, and doesn't propel us to share that Good News with others, like in OUTREACH, it isn't much more than a bunch of people watching a good movie together.
UPREACH, UPREACH, UPREACH is about Christ. When Christ is lifted up, He will draw us and all men to Himself. It's the priority for now.
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