The Tangible Kingdom - Incarnational or Attractional

Should the church be attractional or incarnational? This is not a new debate but, it's one that I think is of utmost importance. How one answers this question will indeed impact how they live.

The term attractional, to me, is where a church primarily attracts people to a building for services and programs. "Come and be a disciple"


The term incarnational, on the other hand, is the idea of Christians taking the gospel to the people/world as well as being the gospel to the world. As we go we embody the good news. "Go and make disciples" The above video communicates this concept well...can't wait to read this book!

Most churches in the west are of the attractional variety. From what I read in scripture, though, it would seem that the incarnational model of church is what we find most apparent in the new testement. Jesus and his disciples, the early church were constantly on the move taking the gospel to the world. "Go and make disciples"


Some would argue that the church should be both attractional and incarnational. Perhaps this is a good argument but, I'm not so sure it's a practical one. If a church is attractional, especially in America, then it must put a tremendous amount of time, effort, talent and resources into attracting the masses. With all this effort, is there really any time or energy left to go and simply be among the people? To take the gospel to them? I simply don't see how an attractional church can spend all the time necessary to keep the church machine running and still be truly incarnational. It's sort of like attempting to go on a business trip and a vacation at the same time. Either the business part of the trip is going to suffer and give way to the vacation impulse or visa versa. They're really two different paths. It seems difficult to have a mindset of "going and making disciples" while living in a "come to us" environment.

Can you imagine a church full of people that see themselves as missionaries? Where they see their neighborhoods and places of employment as their mission field? In this senerio, they would be seeking ways to take the gospel to their mission field. They would be asking questions like, "How can I express God's love among the people" and "How can I lead people to Christ" This approach is far different from simply having the goal to get people to come to the church and have the professionals (pastors) take it from there.

The very nature of the attractional model really tends to set the bar so low for the average church member. As mentioned above, if our primary goal as church members is to get people into church so that they can find Christ, then that means that our responsiblity to make disciples ends as soon as they walk through the church doors. Now it's up to the pastor and the discipleship program within the church.

I hope I'm not sounding cynical here but simply bringing people to church just doesn't cut it for me. It sets the bar so low. Christ calls us to be the church. To get out of our buildings and take Christ to our neihbors, schools, places of employment and into the world. He calls us to go, not to call the world to come to us.

I would argue that a truly missional incarnational church is very attractive as it goes forth making disciples spreading God's love, being salt and light in a dark world. In other words, if the church goes about making disciples around the context of mission...the attractional part will take care of itself.

I'm trying my best to live this out, not just talk/blog about it. At times this can feel a bit lonely but, I know it's the path God has called me to walk...It's the Jesus way.

The Cost of Discipleship

I recently finished a book called "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" by Jeanne Guyon.

I figured, what could be better than having a deeper relationship with Jesus? As I read the book, I quickly realized that it wasn't going to be a warm fuzzy, "5 easy steps/tips for a better Christian life", type book. Here's a sample from the book where she discusses abandonment, one of the key points in the book...

"Abandonment is casting off all your cares. Abandonment is dropping all your needs. This includes spiritual needs...All your concerns go into the hand of God. You forget yourself, and from that moment on you think only of Him.
By continuing to do this over a long period of time, your heart will remain unattached; your heart will be free and at peace!
How do you practice abandonment? You practice it daily, hourly, and by the moment. Abandonment is practiced by continually losing your own will in the will of God; by plunging your will into the depths of His will, there to be lost forever!...Abandonment must reach a point where you stand in complete indifference to yourself...Become abandoned by simply resigning yourself to what the Lord wants, in all things, no matter what they are, where they come from, or how they affect your life".

In reading this book, I'm confronted with the reality of how full of myself I really am. When growing closer to him means death to self...I pause, then take a step forward...wait, that hurts, this can't be right! Again, Christ calls me to take his hand and walk with him, leaving myself behind. Maybe, I don't need to have such a deep walk with him...Perhaps there could be some kind of compromise. Now I'm at the heart of the matter, am I really willing to bring all of my life under his Lordship, to let go of everything...to become indifferent to my own needs a desires, am I willing to abandon all to simply walk with my Savior?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "When Jesus calls a man, he bids him to come and die" Western Christianity is often at odds with biblical discipleship, in many cases American Christianity has warped us. We've set the bar so low for discipleship that we actually think that if we're experiencing pain we must be doing something wrong. The very path that Christ calls us to walk is one marked with pain and sacrifice. Dying to self in inherently painful!

So, why would anybody be willing to give up everything to follow Christ anyway? Once you've seen Jesus, Once you've been touched by Him, Once you've been in His presence...You know why. Like the pearl of great price or the hidden treasure in the field, no cost... is too high!

Paradoxically, the greatest freedom is dying to self in surrendered abandonment to Him...the very thing we resist! I pray that in 2010 we spend time in His presence, see His beauty, experience His touch and leave ourselves behind in the process. It's the only way we can truly know Him. We must decrease so that He can increase.