Joining Jesus on His Mission: How to Be an Everyday Missionary

I met Greg Finke at one of his Dwelling 1:14 seminars. He is a gracious and kind-hearted man, passionate about “missional” living, and easy to talk to. Though I did not agree with everything he said I know he is a committed Christian, husband, and father, who desires to help others share the Good News about Jesus with the lost.This book is the culmination of his consultant work so far with Dwelling 1:14. The reader will certainly hear his passion and desire to “join with Jesus on His mission.” However, one will not find present the clear Lutheran theology of the tradition to which Finke belongs, and in fact may become unsettled by the manner in which Finke develops his thought. In all fairness, the book is not a theological treatise and he readily admits it’s a “how to guide” for the everyday Christian evangelism. However one would assume that it would at least be undergirded by the clear biblical theology of the tradition to which Finke belongs—the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.Putting it simply, the book is filled with simple and practical things Christians can do to become what is considered to be more “missional” and therefore be “on mission with Jesus.” Nonetheless, it’s another how to book in the long list of recent books on how to be a better everyday evangelist, but now with new terms and friend making formulas that point to the current “missional” fad among North American churches.Without question, there is nothing wrong with many of the behaviors that Finke encourages. In fact many of them are simply good common sense approaches: Talking to people, doing good, praying with and for people, throwing a block party (with food), and paying attention to the people around you. Good common sense stuff that we can be intentional about.However, the theological manner in which Finke frames these behaviors becomes concerning and ultimately unhelpful. The whole premise of his book is predicated on a phrase he uses at his seminars and one that runs through the whole book. “How is Jesus messing with you?” It’s a reoccurring phrase and approach that soon becomes like finger nails on the spiritual chalkboard. His claim is that Jesus is at work in the world, in people, and in communities redeeming them apart from His word and sacrament. (To be fair Finke does twice reference “word and sacrament” but does not go much beyond referencing the terms.) In any case, through the circumstances and conditions of people’s life God is somehow miraculously at work “ripening” them for the harvest, where the kingdom of God is present and redeeming them in that moment.He often speaks definitively about the hidden will and work of God in ways that can lead people to think God is a puppeteer pulling the strings of everyone’s lives, where God is behind the scenes “messing” with them for a specific reason, which is invariably always aimed at making them a missional person. However, Finke never makes a clear distinction between good and evil, nor accounts for sin and the devil in his reoccurring “How is God messing with you” theme. In fact, he never mentions how the scriptures clearly say the devil is the one more apt to be “messing” with you behind the scenes.Regardless, he portrays this “messing with you” as something that we can definitively say is “a God thing” or “a God moment,” when in all honesty it may only be nothing more than a premonition or an emotional intuition that God was at work. And this is a huge problem. We don’t know the hidden will and work of God. It becomes dangerous business to say something is of God, when in fact it could very well be Satan—the prince and ruler of this world— masquerading as an angel of light, not to mention our own sinful nature and the inclinations of our sinful mind. That’s why we stick with God’s clear revealed word.Yes, to be sure, God is at work in His creation as the creator, but what He does apart from His clear Word, He has not told us. Finke dangerously asserts he knows what God is up to “messing” with people, places, and communities. He simply crosses the line of theological and biblical certainty and integrity, misleading people and causing them to look into themselves and the world rather than to God and His word. This will be disturbing to many Christians, but for Lutherans this is especially troubling, particularly as our guiding principle has long been that God is at work in this world through His Son Jesus Christ who comes to us clearly and locatedly and only in His Word and Sacrament—an irony considering Dwelling 1:14 comes from John 1:14 about the Word becoming flesh.Further, consider what Finke writes about the Kingdom of God: “The kingdom of God is the redemptive presence and activity of God in human lives. To say it simply, the kingdom of God is God himself. Wherever God is present and active, his Kingdom is present and active. So, in the beginning when God created the physical universe, and people particularly, we were created to live with God and be in a loving relationship with God (Genesis 1-2). And living with God is what especially the New testament means by living in the Kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13).” (p.75.) Thus, Finke does not locate the coming of the Kingdom in the Word of God, but rather in the creation of God, which of course lends itself to all kinds of pagan and New Age undertones.Mountains of concerns arise from his portrayal of the Kingdom of God. Lutherans certainly affirm the first article gifts of God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. But the kingdom of God comes through nothing other than the presence of God’s Word and Holy Spirit. It comes through the Word of God, not the atmosphere of a community, or the laughter of an unbeliever, or a neighbor’s garage. For Lutherans, God “does not give his Spirit or grace apart from the external word of God” (SA, 3, 8), which obviously means the Kingdom of God does not come apart from the external Word of God.What is more, Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer which teaches us to pray for the Kingdom of God. Finke notes this (p.125). However, what he glaringly misses is what his own tradition clearly and simply teaches on this petition. Luther’s Small Catechism summarizes the truth that the Scriptures make clear: “Thy Kingdom Come. What does this mean? The Kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that is may come to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? Our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” God’s kingdom comes through His Word and Spirit, not apart from it.It may well be that God is at work preserving and protecting His creation in many and various ways, but as Hebrews says 1:2, “now in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” Thus, apart from the Word of God that reveals God’s will in Jesus, we don’t know how God is “messing” with people.In the end, Finke makes the goal of joining Jesus on his mission the absolute priority of his book. He constantly reminds readers it’s a mission that’s not “for Jesus” but “with him.” However in his portrayal of joining Jesus on His mission he treats very lightly, if at all, the most important work of Jesus’ mission, the work of Jesus “for you” on the cross and through the empty tomb. This is so startling because of the greater emphasis that he puts upon Jesus being somehow at work redeeming people behind the scenes and apart from the Word: “Jesus is on a mission to redeem and restore human lives to the Kingdom of his Father. This is what he does. And you can count of this: he is already on the move; already doing the heavy lifting of preparing human hearts for good news; already working, stirring, whispering and sometimes shouting to people in all of our ‘neighborhoods.’” (p.31) Again, this has the tendency to point people away from the Word, toward the world and their own emotions, premonitions, and intuitions for how Jesus is “messing” with people.Though we are in a new era, there are some disquieting parallels to the classic liberalism of old (i.e. Harry Emerson Fosdick) that saw the kingdom of God as a possibility on earth (as do the Emergent churches of today) and so often let the world set the agenda for the church.Finally, Finke also in essence elevates people to the means of grace, or at least to the means to the means of grace: “As the people of God, we are the visible, tangible contact points between the kingdom which is real but spiritual and the created world which is real but physical. We are the way the kingdom-on-mission breaks into the flesh-and-blood-world of human beings and has its effect. In other words, it’s the kingdom work, but it comes to human beings through us.” (p.93) Of course, people have to speak the Word of God for others to hear it. However, I fear the effect of Finke’s portrayal is to teach people to look inward rather than outward to the external Word of Christ. I agree relationships are important and must be cultivated, but the way Finke spiritually portrays them is unsettling.I mean no ill will towards Finke. I'm always open to correction. I have no doubt he is a good man with a huge heart for the lost. I wish him well. I simply desire greater theological clarity in the development of all his missional endeavors. Keeping it simple is good and helpful for the everyday missionary. (I prefer simply to say Christians at work in their vocations.) Nonetheless, theological integrity and clarity must be at the core of any biblical writing, speaking, or consulting endeavor. That is missing in this book.Lucas [email protected]

I am offering this review as someone who’s job it is to bring God’s “exceeding great and precious promises” into the ears of others. I read this book because I want to do more than “collect scalps in the Army of the Lord,” I want to live in a community that is no longer “conformed to this age,” but is “being transformed by the renewing of the mind,” to “test out and prove what the good, acceptable and complete will of the Lord is.”This book is written by a man who has served as a Confessional Evangelical LCMS pastor. He was not a “social gospelite,” or a Lutheran-In-Name-Only. He put in the work. In so doing, he found, through trial and error, that there are people, both inside and outside of LCMS worship communities, that desire to see the Kingdom of God as a real, incarnate and active presence in their physical communities. They just didn’t know how fulfilling their vocations played a role in that.One significant obstacle is what I will call the “Mission Impossible” image of missions. If you have seen either the original Peter Graves TV show or the Tom Cruise movie versions, you know the storyline: a group of highly talented, intensely trained, incredibly creative people are offered, “should you choose to accept it,” a mission of grave importance. At the conclusion of the message regarding the mission, which they must memorize and internalize, “this message will self-destruct in 5...4...3...2...1... BOOM!Many people view our pastoral exhortations to become involved in “witnessing to our neighbor” just that way. Worse, they - no, WE - see ourselves as NOTHING like Ethan Hunt or his colleagues in terms of bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ, or of encouraging our congregations to participate in what we have been convinced to see as “our mission for Christ’s sake.” Rev. Greg Finke replaces that imposing, intimidating image with another, one which is, I believe, actually more consistent with our Confessional understanding of Christ’s presence in His Church, which calls His “Body” and His “Bride,” not His employees.This book takes us back to the concept of the “Missio Dei” - the “Mission of God” - the idea that the Kingdom of God, the redemption and restoration of His creation is His mission, and we are involved as participants with Him rather than agents for Him. In contrast to the Calvinist image of the Cosmic Absentee Landlord who bought the property and then left us to rehabilitate it, Finke presents Christ as present with His Church, continuing the work that He began with His incarnation and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, continues today. As Jesus said at the close of Matthew’s Gospel, “And behold - I am with you always, to the completion of the age.”This book, along with its study guide included at the end, will help get your dry bones gathered together, fleshed out, and on your feet to join Jesus in His mission that He secured by His “holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death,” confirmed by His resurrection from the dead, and invited us into through the gift of the Holy Spirit, making us His witnessed when the Holy Spirit came to us through Holy Baptism. Rev. Finke does not denigrate the historic Christian understanding that Christ always comes to us in Word and Sacrament - in fact, he mentions the importance of Word and Sacrament ministry and the proper understanding of the Office of the Public Ministry. He simply points out that people are not born under the altar, not everyone today has been raised by parents who presented them to be baptized and confirmed in the Confessional Faith of the Holy Christian Church, and Jesus is not handcuffed to the altar rail waiting for us to meet Him there.Instead, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” goes with you “as you go.” As you discover others who need a neighbor, you become their neighbor through the “five practices.” To help you stay encouraged and encourage others who are with you on Jesus’ journey, he gives you “five questions” that help you to stay focused and not get either distracted or discouraged by your own attempts to legalize a grace-filled process.Some have criticized this book for its use of homespun turns of phrase like “how is Jesus messing with you,” which Finke explains as meaning “How is Jesus working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure?” Others have viewed the image of trials that people go through as an exhibit of God bringing them to Himself rather than Satan seeking their destruction problematically. Such characterizations fail to take into account that “what the enemy meant for evil, God worked together for good.” They also forget that, while Satan is the “accuser of the brethren,” he uses the Law to do so, for “the Law always accuses.” “The Law works wrath,” even as it serves as “our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” Two seemingly oppositional things can both be true, and in the lives of humans, God and Satan are each using this world for His purpose. God wins! So will you by engaging this book.

I have been very impressed with this book. It has a common sense approach and good, simple illustrations. The author gets people and gets Jesus and want to help them be more confident and intentional in having conversations about Jesus with other people.

Using for a devotional

This is a very straightforward and practical way for all of us to take Jesus' Great Commission of spreading the Gospel seriously and to show His love and grace to others no matter where we are in life. It's really a simple concept and it's void of judgment, guilt, fear, pressure, rituals, scoreboard keeping, etc. It's simply following the principle of "Love They Neighbor As Thy Self" to the T, and surrendering to God and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us instead of us trying to do it alone or pressuring others to follow us! Instead we can watch people follow Him right along with us and make great friends along the way!!Greg has an amazing gift of communicating as an everyday soldier of Grace. He has overcome his own life detours that God has challenged him with and is a great example of serving the Lord and being an every day person as well as disciple of Jesus.This book is written just as Greg would tell you in person. If you ever have heard him talk, you can hear him in this book and the humor, wit, candor, wisdom and love that he shares to everyone, no matter what walk of life they are on or what challenge they face. This is an easy and must read.

Love this book! Finke teaches us simply how to Follow Jesus in His mission.We are using Finke's books in our discipleship program for college aged young adults and I have only heard good things from them about this book.

good practical summary and guidance , recommend

Written for everyday people. Easy to read and very practical.