Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

P ART I: C OACHING U RBAN C HURCH P LANTERS • 63

IV. Adopt the Demeanor of Your Representation as a Missionary Candidate.

A. Recognize your place as an agent of the Lord : affirm the significance of understanding leadership as representation.

1. Jesus was a representative of the Father who fulfilled with perfect obedience and flawless accuracy precisely what the Father wanted him to do, Phil. 2.5-8.

2. Jesus appointed the apostles as representatives of himself , even as he was a representative of the Father, John 20.

3. You are now a part of the sacred tapestry of leadership as representation : the authority of the risen Lord continues to be dispensed among the members of the church for his purposes, Eph. 1.19-23.

B. Change your persona (match your demeanor with your designation).

1. Get your pretense on! Do not be colloquial or casual about your acceptance as a missionary of the Lord; you will be formally acknowledged, formally accepted, formally commissioned, and formally assigned your place. 2. Embrace your identity as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ : you are called to represent the Gospel call now in all you do (your words, disposition, attitude, communication, etc.). 3. Fight all tendencies of reductionism : this is not just a new job, a “ministry” with kids, or helping-needy-people-in-the city work.

a. You are now called to represent the Kingdom of God as an apostle of the Lord to the city.

b. You are a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (with all the privileges, responsibilities, and stigmas associated with it thereto!).