Coming from different cities, we’re all on our way to O-Hi-O, to the Change the World Missional Church conference.
Speakers include Mike Slaughter, Rudy Rasmus, and Alan Hirsch. We are psyched.
Alan Hirsch is one of the fathers of this movement, authoring many of the books that have held transformational moments for their readers, such as The Shaping of Things to Come.
Mike Slaughter and Rudy Rasmus are two of the folks making missional a reality. I’m personally acquainted with Pastor Rudy, as he went to my seminary and isn’t averse to stopping by and talking to students. His book Touch, was one of those transformational books for me, before I’d ever heard “missional.” This is a guy that is walking the walk. When he was visiting my ethics class, he talked about the fact that about a third of his parishioners are, or were, homeless. They even pay homeless folks to come to church. Sure, they’re hoping that it will effect a transformation in the homeless person’s life. But equally, they feel that the person can help John Smith, driving in from his comfortable life in the suburbs. To stand next to someone, in fellowship, who maybe doesn’t smell so good, or talks to herself, can open a door to the heart. Because if this person is my brother here, at church, then he is also my brother when I leave this place. When I’m driving downtown and see him standing on a corner, he is my brother, then, too.
This is one of the hearts of missionalism that speaks to me. It says we’re all walking along a path, hopefully toward becoming part of beloved community. All of us have areas of brokenness, all of us can move toward wholeness. All of us have value, all of us can work toward creating and realizing Kindom.
-Sister Jo
Red Pill Brethren 