My Context

Hey.

I’m a 26 year old father, husband, & youth pastor. I grew up on the outskirts of a small city known for having the highest senior citizen to gross population ratio in Canada. My family life was stable. My upbringing tended to be too. I was raised in the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church and, after high school, set out to study at the respective college. Through the college I made a connection with the Nazarene Church in Atlantic Canada and have been serving here since July 2006.

Sometime in early 2007 I had a significant paradigm shift. However, shifts are not a rarity with me. It’s part of my character to always want to know more and understand things better. Regardless, this shift brought a new perspective on the nature of the Gospel of Jesus. I have, therefore, made it my personal objective to be missional in my culture and context beyond what my job prescribes.

The thing is, a truly missional lifestyle leaves little or no room for the archaic attraction-based and mechanistic institution that the church typically manifests (or, at least, so I think right now). However, rather than abandon my church or abandon my ideals, I have decided to try to work myself out of a job.

Hence, this blog. This is a journal of my endeavors, experiences, thoughts, and struggles trying to engage a small community of Christians into the missional lifestyle their faith calls them to. Just as the Messiah went “first to the Jews, then to the gentiles,” so I go “first to the pews,” all the while understanding that eventually I must move on.

Please feel free to comment, criticize, ask questions, etc. about what I have to say here. As long as it what you have to say is tempered (ie: no flaming; no spamming; no trolling) then I will gladly have it connected to my content and look forward to engaging with you in conversation. And, frankly, I don’t want to hear only Christian voices. Now is your chance: let me know what for. Though, understand that I’m looking for debate and discussion more in the faith and practice realm than apologetics.

I would love to someday see guest bloggers and multiple authors on this site (not to mention, a domain name) including references and resources to equip and fuel other missional thinkers. However, I’m probably getting ahead of myself. For now, here it is.

~Jon