FROM THE BISHOP’S DESK #1

As we continue in our affiliation with LMC it seems a good time for me, as interim Bishop, to reflection on what it means to join 

In case you don’t yet recognize it, that is the missional vision of LMC. And as new members of LMC it has become our vision as well.

In the coming months we will be working together to identify a Bishop Team who will lead our District into that vision. In order to understand the foundation on which that vision was built I have been reviewing some of the materials that guided LMC toward this vision. One of the books that influenced LMC is, “THE FORGOTTEN WAYS,” by Alan Hirsch. [Available in Spanish: CAMINOS OLVIDADOS: Reactivando Los Movimientos Apostolicos] If you haven’t read it I would recommend putting it on your 2025 reading list. 

But, I would also remind us, as the book does, that our western way of learning, with its focus on books and classrooms, is not very effective for bringing change to an organization. The Jesus model of leadership was not a book or a classroom. It was an apprentice model; built on observing, following, and doing. 

One important vocabulary term, coined by Alan Hirsch in “THE FORGOTTEN WAYS” is “mDNA.” Just as the same exact DNA structure is found in every cell of a living organism, there are core identifying elements that must guide the work of every church and every follower of Christ. Alan Hirsch calls those mDNA (missional DNA). This “mDNA” must be in us and in our churches or we risk becoming an “organization” but not a living “organism.” Peter speaks of us as an “organism” when he calls us “living stones (1 Peter 2:4-10).

The first and primary mDNA is: “JESUS IS LORD.” While this should not surprise anyone, the implications are huge. LORD is an all encompassing word. There can not be two “Lords.” Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.” (Matthew 6:24 ESV) All other “lords” must be dethroned or Jesus is not LORD. 

Hirsch identifies five core components that form the mDNA of the movement of the Spirit. 

• Missional-Incarnational Impulse, 
• Disciple Making, 
• Apostolic Environment, 
• Organic Systems, 
• Communitas (not Community).

Missional-Incarnational Impulse

Having a Missional-Incarnational Impulse results in there being no way to separate our lives into Spiritual and Secular spaces. If Jesus is LORD all our life is Spiritual. When this is part of our mDNA it results in a clearer understanding of the sent nature of Jesus’s Kingdom movement. It requires more than believing Jesus was sent for our salvation. As Jesus’ disciples we are also sent ones. As apprentices of Jesus it isn’t enough to repeat in our classrooms and from our pulpits that we are a sent people. We, pastors and church leaders, must take to heart the words of Paul to the Corinthian church, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV) Unless we are taking the message outside the walls of our church buildings we have no right to tell others that they are sent followers of Jesus. 

Our leadership challenge, if Missional-Incarnational Impulse is part of our mDNA is to live as sent followers of Jesus. Intentionally living in such a way that we can authentically say, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ,” taking Jesus, and the message of Jesus’ salvation, wherever we are. Then, as leaders and disciple makers, we tell the stories of your experiences as a way of communicating the mDNA that is essential to being a “Movement of the Spirit.”  

Interim Bishop, Kurt Horst

P.S. For congregations seeking information on how to take the next steps in the LMC on-boarding process see the post at: https://sccmenno.org/lmc-onboarding-process/