Chris McNairy is spreading his vision for making disciples in Mississippi and beyond.
McNairy, through the outreach he has founded, Urban Fusion Network, is partnering with Baptist leaders in a state with the highest percentage of African Americans of any state in the union, at nearly 40 percent.
Among 2,000-plus Southern Baptist churches in Mississippi, meanwhile, only 40 are predominantly African American.
David Michel, mission strategy director with the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, said Southern Baptists cannot afford to overlook such a large segment of the state.
“Chris McNairy is working with Baptist leaders to build new Gospel-centered collaborations in the four regions of the state with the largest black concentrations,” Michel told Baptist Press. “The work is slow because of the historic racial barriers that exist, but we are praying for redemptive breakthroughs that will result in new Kingdom expressions of faithfulness and compassion.”
McNairy launched Urban Fusion Network after more than a decade with the North American Mission Board in several front-line roles, most recently coordinating church planting efforts in the District of Columbia. He also has served as African American missions leader with the Baptist State Convention of Michigan and as a pastor in Memphis, Tenn.
McNairy envisions the Urban Fusion Network as a network of Great Commission-minded Christians, churches and others focused primarily on urban missions in spreading the Gospel and enhancing Christian disciple-making. At the African American Advisory Council meeting in Atlanta in February, McNairy set forth the network’s disciple-making model and an overview of his work in Mississippi.
For McNairy, the central question is: “How can we engage from a Kingdom mindset and a biblical worldview to collaboratively plant the Gospel?'”
“That’s what we’re working through [in Mississippi],” McNairy told Baptist Press. “It’s about us as Christians saying, What does ‘Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven’ really look like in 2014?”
“The Kingdom is not a subset of the SBC. The SBC is a subset of the Kingdom,” McNairy said. “I understand there is one biblical worldview. We as a body of Christ must begin to embrace what this looks like as we work both within our own family denominationally and collaborate with others,” he said. “We’re seeing this played out in all places in America, and God is blessing me to be a part and to see this being played out in Mississippi.”
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SOURCE: Baptist Press
Diana Chandler
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