Grace
Grace for everyone
The Way of Mission grows out of our experience with grace. It changes us and how we live!
Earning and Deserving
One of the lies our world tells us is that we get what we deserve, what we earn. Those who are crippled by a car accident, cancer, or who are victims of war know better. Sometimes, many times, what life gives is in no way what is deserved or earned. Sometimes, good people suffer and are punished, and cruel people prosper and find health and success. Life is not fair.
That’s not to say that work, dignity and responsible choices are not wise and helpful. But only the arrogant would suggest that any of us make all smart choices, or live perfectly moral lives, or are fully in control of our world and lives. We are each wonderful mixtures of good and bad, wisdom and folly, successes and failures.
The Grace of God
God and Grace
The truly good news is that God loves and values each of us, regardless of whether or not we deserve that love. The Bible is full of stories of deeply flawed, often broken people who are used by God. Jesus spent more time with those society rejected — the sick, prostitutes, tax collectors… than with those who were considered upstanding religious leaders.
God’s love and grace changes us, because we realize what we can be and become and do is much greater than what we deserve or earn. Being loved and valued brings hope and purpose beyond our failings and flaws. God’s grace gives us more than we deserve!
Sharing Grace
Being given grace, being valued regardless of our history or flaws, is a gift. And that gift motivates us to do the same for others. As we learn how to accept God’s grace for ourselves, we realize the power of giving grace to others.
Being quick to forgive, quick to see the best in people, quick to praise and encourage — all of these are acts of grace. The Way of Mission leads us to practice grace everyday in how we relate to ourselves and others. We share grace not because other people deserve it, but because we are on a mission to change the world, and grace is the powerful fuel for that work of faith.
Watch for more about grace for everyone
Practices
The Way of Mission is something we practice each day — never perfecting, but always at work shaping our lives. Check out the practices section of this website to find ideas for how to practice mission today, tomorrow, and across the rest of your life.
Like Jesus Does
We learn about the grace of God from the grace we get from others, and then we hear about it in country songs. LIKE JESUS DOES I'm a long-gone Waylon song on vinyl I'm a back row sitter at a tent revival But she believes in me like she believes her Bible And loves me...
“Daddy!”
I was working in my yard, and I hear this heartbreaking sound from two doors down. Loud enough and alarming enough to stop what I was doing and head that way. A towheaded three-year-old boy was standing at the top of the steps outside the door to his house. He’d...
Grace Under Fire
I’m a Baptist. A real Baptist. Steeped in the American tradition of a free church in a free state. Political factions aren’t to be named and aligned by religion. So it hits me hard, up close and personal, when world news shows Christianity directly, intentionally,...