
Step 1: A missional expression is about living out your faith in a collective way, about loving your tribe – about knowing who your tribe is. With this in mind, your missional expression will need a ‘vehicle’. Most of the time this will be figurative. However, sometimes it will turn out to be literal…

Step 2: …(and even have retro cool-appeal) Once you have established what your vehicle is, you need to spend some time examining said vehicle from every angle…

Step 3: Think it through – is it just your ‘big idea’ or can others get onboard with you? Once you’ve thought this through it’s time to get going!
(So for a beach/surf based missional expression here’s how it might go next)

Step 4: Put Jesus at the centre. There’s not much point otherwise. Surf, play on the beach, be part of the tribe you belong to in this context. And as you live authentically it may be that others who share your interest, your passion, will join you…

Step 5: Be open to others joining you who have a different way of living out the missional expression. Not everyone will want to jump into a wetsuit and catch some waves. But how great would it be if a differently gifted, differently impassioned person wanted to be on the beach getting the barbecue ready for when everyone gets out of the water, ready to eat?

Step 6: …So it’s not surprising that more people will join in time. It’s going to be awesome!

Step 7: Shared beach, shared surf, shared food, shared life, shared love. Authentic lives lived openly with one another. And the chance to hang out in a VW campervan?
Okay, this is a playful rendering of an idea we’ve had. Children’s toys make everything look fun! Who knows what will happen, but in the meantime we’re going to have some fun on the beach anyway, because it’s what we love to do and we spend far too little time doing it.



6 comments
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July 6, 2009 at 11:13 pm
brunettekoala
So true! Look out for my ‘camper van’ posts. First is scheduled to appear on Thursday I think, but definitely not as good as this post!!
July 7, 2009 at 2:53 pm
bringonthejoy
Wasn’t this the most fun ever to do though?!
July 8, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Era
What an interesting post. I really enjoyed it!
July 8, 2009 at 8:33 pm
bringonthejoy
Thanks Era, lovely to hear from you. Enjoying your blog these days too!
July 9, 2009 at 9:31 am
Jesus, surfing and camper vans « Learning from Sophie
[...] For a step-by-step guide on how to create your own missional expression community (or if you live in Chorleywood, a ‘Mission Shaped Community’) head over to learn from the wise words of Bringonthejoy [...]
December 2, 2009 at 2:54 am
Marla Saunders
OK…thoroughly enjoyed this!! I never know what you all are going to be up to.