Missio Dei “launched” about 2 years ago. We’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past two years. I know that church planters always say this, and say it with a bit of lightheartedness, but I say it with little lightheartedness. We’ve made some mistakes that now exist as cumbersome baggage. And just when I think we’ve moved on, I realize that the mistakes of the past still haunt us.

I feel like I’ve learned an incredible amount in the past two years. If I had it to do all over again, I would have gotten a part time job in the West Bank and we would have bought a house directly in the West Bank instead of a mile to the south. Even though the house would have been smaller, it would have made all the difference. This is one we hope to rectify in the near future, but we are in a much weaker financial situation now than we were a year or two ago.

If I had it to do all over again, I would never have started with a semi-conventional church service and I wouldn’t have tried to do church in a regular format at all. I would have set out to start a neomonastic community from the start. I would have visited Catholic worker houses. intentional communities, monastic communities, and neo-monastic communities and then set out to have a communal house of compassionate disciples. This is what we’re trying to do now. I didn’t know that’s what I wanted 2 years ago, but I know it now. The past two years has been a fun process of discovery, but for every new discovery, I realize we’ve made decisions that hold us back from pursuing the ideal. Sure, we’d probably end up having gatherings and whatnot, but only after establishing communal practices first.
If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t have raised church planting funds from people and other churches. I would have just found people who wanted to live a radical way of life on the West Bank. I would still have raised funds for Missio Dei, but only for specific ministry projects.

So, have we done anything right? Yep. Pursuing a relationship with InterVarsity was and is the right decision. They are totally on board with my approach to ministry and together we will accomplish more to reach out to students on the West Bank than we ever would have separately. I also think that our partnership with InterVarsity will help us reach out to non-students as well, since that will be a facet of our discipleship process.

At Missio Dei, we’ve always been willing to acknowledge our mistakes and change our course. I feel foolish for how much we’ve “evolved”–it shows how little I really know about what we’re doing. But I’m glad that we’ve created a culture that allows for mistakes.

We are right in pursuing affiliation with the Mennonite Church USA. I appreciate the BGC, but I feel like they tolerate our existence rather than celebrate it. I have no desire to break ties with them, but I recognize the added connection with the Mennonite Church will provide support and encouragement that we need.
We were right in planting on the West Bank. A strong sense of calling to a particular place has made ALL the difference for Missio Dei. It gives us a sense of divine commissioning that nobody can take away.

Tomorrow I’ll share some lessons I’ve learned that are more broadly applicable. What I shared today was largely specific to Missio Dei, but I think I’ve learned some things that may be useful to some of you, my readers.

About Mark Van Steenwyk

Mark Van Steenwyk is a member of Missio Dei. He is a speaker, writer, educator, and grassroots organizer. With the support of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference, he travels to radical and intentional communities around the country to help network and offer support.