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What is "Gospel Intentionality"?

From the introduction to Living on Mission:

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In the gospel, God does not just call you to salvation; He calls you into his mission. If you are a Christian, you are a missionary. You are commanded to obey everything Jesus taught and train others to do the same (Matt. 28:18-20). You are commanded to do everything for God’s glory (1 Cor 10:31). You are commanded to live your life naturally among unbelievers (1 Pet 2:12). These things are not optional. They are not only for “mature” Christians or people with particular abilities. Mission is what Jesus called you to. Mission is not optional. You are a missionary.

And being a missionary requires intentionality. If you were going to serve in a faraway country, you’d spend months – maybe even years – planning, preparing, learning the language, and designing a long-term strategy. Why wouldn’t you live with that same sort of intentionality as a missionary in your own neighborhood?

You can’t learn to read, ride a bike, play a sport, or be a musician without devoting yourself to training and practice. In the same way, you can’t learn to be an effective missionary without intentional training. That’s what this workbook is for. It’s like a set of “training wheels” for gospel-centered missional living. It will help you think very pragmatically about how to weave the rhythms of living out and inviting in into the ebb and flow of your normal life. You’ll find it most helpful if you work through it with others in your missional community.

This workbook will walk you through four weeks of action and reflection to help train you in living out and inviting in. There’s nothing magical or special about the practices and activities we’ve chosen to highlight for these four weeks. They’re just normal, everyday things that can become vehicles for living out and inviting in. Basically what we’re saying is: living missionally is not about doing different things. It’s about doing the same things differently. You’re going to eat every day. What if you began to intentionally use your mealtimes to show hospitality to non-Christians? You’re going to spend your money on something. What if you began to intentionally plan ways to bless others with your resources?

The goal of this workbook is to give you some guided practice in living as a missionary. So use this four-week journey to “get in the flow” of living on mission. And make sure you do it in community with others. After you get the hang of it, you can take off the training wheels.

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Beginning April 1, Westgate Church will be going through the workbook Living on Mission together, as we seek to learn and practice rhythms of gospel intentionality. Click here for more information.

Click here for Pastor Brandon’s sermon on Gospel Rhythms.