Missional Monday-One Further Thought...

Last week I shared a thought about music and diversity that arose from a recent Huffington Post article about Evangelicals and art. In that article it was suggested that Evangelicals today tend to create subcultures and within those subcultures, tend to produce very sanitized, safe and unrealistic views of the world. If this be the case (and I think it is) I think the biggest and most problematic concern that arises for the church is our Mission.
Simply put Mission is messy. It means engaging with a broken and hurting world in order impact that world with the Gospel. If the church is unable to watch a portrayal of such brokeness as seen in movie The Blindside (which was specifically mentioned in the Huffington Post article) which did not glorify or promote such behavior but rather tried to give an honest portrayal of the circumstances, how will we ever engage the world? If our hope is to introduce the Gospel to those who have not heard, to those who are in need of a Saviour, then we will experience the harsh realities of the world first hand. We can also expect to engage with people who don't know Jesus and actually act like they don't. If someone does not know Jesus, does not know what He has taught and do not trust Him, how or why would we expect that their life should look like they do? Simply put, we can't. Mission is messy. You will see and hear things you might not want to see. You children might hear things you wished they would never have to experience. The choice then is this, do we live in a self made bubble protecting our kids and ourselves from the world but living in disobedience to the call of God for His church or do we trust God enough to get messy, to engage, and to live out His heart?