Is It in You?
Alan Hirsch calls it the “Apostolic Genius.” The early church had it. John Wesley had it. The Church of today explosively growing in China has it. Do you?
He defines it as the “primal missional potencies of the gospel and of God’s people.” He shares “the awakening of that dormant potential has something to do with the strange mixture of passionate love of God, prayer, and incarnational practice. Add to this mix the following: appropriate modes of leadership (as expressed in Ephesians 4), the recovery of radical discipleship, relevant forms of organization and structures, and the appropriate conditions for these to be able to catalyze.”
“When these factors come together, the situation is ripe for something remarkable to take place.”
Is it in you? Of course it is.
This spring we watched a new bloom. Last summer my son worked for a condo maintenance firm mowing. Their company had to clean out a flower bed of some under-appreciated perennials. The owner offered my son two, old, seeming worn-out rose bushes to take home and transplant. My wife planted them for the following spring just to see what would come up. As it turns out, we ended up witnessing the unfolding of the most glorious, old fashioned rose we have ever seen. You should have seen it come into full bloom. At first, the bud was its own mixture of white and a deep, yet brightest red. It looked like it was made out of raspberry swirl ice cream. Then, the more it opened it turned solid crimson with a beaming yellow center. Though transplanted in totally foreign soil, it was in its DNA meant to be glorious.
And so too are you.
“Greater is the God who is in you than you who are in the world.”
“We have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives within us.”
“We have not been given a spirit of timidity but of power, love, and self discipline.”
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”
What can we say? Acts 2 already lives in you.
Over the next several weeks Hirsch will lead us into better understanding what all that means, but consider where you start. You already have it in you. You didn’t need to go to a special seminary or church growth conference to have it (maybe if anything just to better untap it). You don’t need to toss up your hair with mousse and get a tat or ear ring. The Apostolic Genius is already living within if the Spirit of God is working in your life.
According to Hirsch, this new DNA is comprised of six fundamental beliefs or elements:
1. Jesus is Lord.
2. Disciple Making.
3. Missional-Incarnational Impulse.
4. Apostolic Environment.
5. Organic Systems.
6. Communitas, Not Community.
I am looking forward to the opportunity for further study with you.
All to Thrive in Christ,
Chris
