Leave the Ninety-Nine: The Call for a Missional Church

(This article by Stephan Pues originally appeared on the Redeemer City to City website)

In 1517, Martin Luther knocked his Ninety-five Theses onto the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. In 2017, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of this Reformation. It’s an inspiring story of how God used Luther to call his church to a much-needed, healthy change. But this change wasn’t something totally new. It was a call to come back to what the church should be like. 

Today, the church in Luther’s home country, Germany (and the whole Western world), needs to hear this call again. Church buildings are empty, membership is declining, and most people—especially younger ones—don’t consider Christianity relevant or helpful. If Luther were alive today, he would surely call the church he loved so much to another reformation. 

But what would the next reform be? What change would God want the church to make now? What would have to happen for people in places like Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris, Athens, and Moscow to say, “Church is relevant and helpful for me and my city”? 

There’s at least one thesis I’m sure Luther would give the church today. It’s one he wrote 500 years ago:

The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?¹

Dietrich Bonhoeffer used this quote from Luther in his book Life Together to make the case for an outward-focused church. As Bonhoeffer stated, “Church is only church if it is church for others.”² Today, many people call this being a missional church—and this must be one of the theses of reformation for the 21st century church.

THE VISION OF A CHURCH FOR OTHERS

Jesus explains the reason he lived missionally in two parables: the story of the lost sheep (15:3-7) and the story of the lost coin (15:8-10). The two stories are quite similar:

  • Someone owns some things.

  • One gets lost.

  • The owner leaves everything behind to rescue the lost item.

This is how Jesus thinks the church should be. After all, rescuing the lost was his vision when he came to earth. Jesus’ job description in Luke 19:10 states, “The Son of Man has come to seek and find what is lost.” And that’s the same job he gave to the church: “How the father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

THE PRACTICE OF A CHURCH FOR OTHERS

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

—Luke 15:1-2

These two verses describe how Jesus acted during his time on earth. He was always with the tax collectors and so-called sinners. And they loved to be with him. He was always hanging out with a group that was quite diverse: rich and poor, men and women, different nationalities from all parts of society. But they all had one thing in common: they weren’t considered the religious in-group.

In some sense, this group describes people in Western cities today. In my city (Frankfurt), we call them bankers, business-people, young professionals—most of whom wouldn’t consider themselves religious. Jesus, according to these verses, had a lifestyle of receiving them.

Unfortunately, the lifestyle of many churches is different. Churches often spend a lot of time and effort strictly inside the church. Being a Christian today often means that you do a lot of Christian things with other Christians in Christian places.

This is the opposite of how Jesus called his church to live. Before Jesus ascended to his Father, he did not command to his disciples, “You guys form a subcultural religious community and exclusively spend all your time with like-minded people.” But this is how many experience church today. We need to stop being a church just for ourselves and start being a church for others.

My dad gave me an old Ford Fiesta as my first car (probably because he knew I would wreck it (I did)). But even before I wrecked it, the car had a problem. Whenever I drove it, it always turned slightly to the left. I had to actively steer against it to avoid hitting another car or running into the fields. In the same way, the church needs to actively steer against the tendency to become an inward-focused religious group.

THE HEART OF A CHURCH FOR OTHERS

Both parables end the same way: what was lost is found. Both the shepherd and the coin’s owner are more than just glad. They don’t simply put the sheep into the barn or the coin back into the purse and go on their way; they throw a party! They invite all their friends and let everyone know. There is great joy when something lost is found.

With these parables, Jesus challenges his church to reach others not out of guilt but out of joy. We, too, are the lost sheep the Great Shepherd saved. He gave up his life to bring us home. Our great joy at being found should compel us to search for the lost and help them experience the joy of being found.

To be a truly missional church for others, we must always lead with the gospel. After all, the story of Jesus is what caused Luther’s Reformation and many other revivals in the church’s history. As Luther said, “The true Treasure of the church is the holy gospel of the wonderful grace of God.”³ When it comes down to it, the great treasure of the gospel is really what Frankfurt, London, Athens, Lisbon, Paris, Amsterdam, and all the cities of Europe need. And missional churches will help them find it.

Notes:

1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (HarperOne, 2009), p.18.
2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison (Touchstone, 1997), p. 382.
3. Martin Luther, Thesis 62.

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