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Second, this evangelistic tool must function from within the context of the community's life, because it is only here that the words and pictures we share take on flesh and make sense. In post-Christendom settings in which people have no language to comprehend the gospel, an evangelistic tool can make the gospel seem like another lofty idea for achieving a better life. The gospel therefore should not be separated from real lives engaged in living the mission. It is the community that translates the mission of God, through tiny acts of loving one another and the world around us. The community becomes a necessary part of "the bridge."

At times, we at Life on the Vine have thrown up our hands and said that such community is not possible in suburban life. Yet who is not blessed by a friend who takes the time to offer "a cup of water" in the desert that suburban life can become? These relationships minister the gospel. And out of these relationships, words become explanations of a compelling way of life (1 Pet. 3:15). They make possible that communal moment when we say, "You've been hanging around awhile, you know what we're about; isn't it time to make a decision to follow Jesus as Lord?" Such a tool should provide the words to make "the invitation to turning" the natural extension of our communal hospitality.

We at Life on the Vine have yet to arrive at this elusive evangelistic tool. We continue to navigate Guder's "challenge of reductionism" for our context. It is still as busy as ever here, and the gospel should not be minimized to fit the suburbs' maddening pace. Yet loving our neighbors will mean a constant journey back and forth between big and small: from the bigness of God's work to translating it for our neighbors to bringing them back into this grand mission all over again. Call it missional commuting: a daily journey between worlds. Fortunately, unlike so many single-driver car trips, it's a journey our whole church—this unlikely family that's being grafted into God's mission—can take together.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

David Fitch will be speaking at the Ancient Evangelical Future conference, October 9-11.

Fitch is founder of a Chicago-area emerging church blog called Up/Rooted.

Previous Christian Vision Project themes were culture in 2006 and mission in 2007. 2008 articles include:

The 30-Day Leviticus Challenge | One church's experiment in living the most arcane book of the Bible. (July 25, 2008)

From Four Laws to Four Circles | James Choung has found a way to tell the old, old story to a new generation. (June 27, 2008)

When God Disturbs the Peace | Our gospel may be small because we fail to believe that God animates many social movements. (May 30, 2008)

The Poverty of Love | The desert fathers and mothers would know instantly why our gospel is too small. (April 30, 2008)

An Open-Handed Gospel | We have to decide whether we have a stingy or a generous God. (April 3, 2008)

The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel | Reviving forgotten chapters in the story of redemption. (February 29, 2008)

Singing in the Chains | To be saved means more than we might think. (January 31, 2008)

The Lima Bean Gospel | The Good News is so much bigger than we make it out to be. (January 8, 2008)

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September 2008, Vol. 52, No. 9