Missional Theology

Moses, Emmaus, and the Mission of Liminal Ministries

The word liminal refers to a threshold, the space between what is and what is becoming. Throughout Scripture, God meets people at thresholds: burning bushes, mountaintops, crossroads, shared meals, quiet walks, unexpected strangers.

These encounters are not spectacular interruptions but sacred illuminations of the ordinary. They reveal a God who draws near, listens, speaks, walks with us, breaks bread with us, and invites us into a deeper way of being.

Liminal Ministries seeks to cultivate such spaces: spaces of presence, story, and fellowship where the rhythms of life become pathways of discipleship.

The mission is rooted deeply in Scripture, especially in two threshold moments that reveal how God meets people in quiet, transformative ways.

1. Moses: The God Who Passes By (Exodus 33:12–23)

Moses longs to see God’s glory.

He is not granted a full vision. Instead, God places him in the cleft of a rock and allows him to see His back, the lingering radiance of divine presence.

This moment teaches us:

God often reveals Himself in glimpses, in subtle grace.

Revelation frequently occurs in hindsight, after God has already moved.

Holiness breaks into ordinary places, turning mountainsides into sanctuaries.

Liminal Ministries seeks to create such “clefts in the rock” for young people in Japan. These are places where they may glimpse God’s nearness in ways that renew hope, awaken curiosity, and restore relationship.

2. Emmaus: Christ in the Ordinary (Luke 24:13–35)

Two disciples walk in disappointment on an ordinary road.

A stranger joins them, listens to their story, and later breaks bread at their table.

It is in that everyday act, the familiar rhythm of a shared meal, that their eyes are opened and they recognize Jesus.

Emmaus shows that:

Christ walks with us often unrecognized.

Understanding dawns slowly through story, hospitality, and presence.

Discipleship is formed in the ordinary rhythms of life: walking, talking, eating, listening.

Liminal Ministries seeks to foster Emmaus-like spaces where Jesus is encountered in fellowship and where the rhythms of daily life become the formation of discipleship.

3. Together: A Theology of Threshold

Moses sees God’s back.

Emmaus sees Jesus in the breaking of bread.

Both moments reveal a God who meets us at the thresholds of noticing, understanding, and transformation. These stories embody the mission of Liminal Ministries:

To cultivate spaces of presence, story, and fellowship where the ordinary becomes holy and the rhythms of life become pathways of discipleship, particularly among young people in Japan, that they might come to know and fall in love with the story and person of Jesus.

We carry this hope into every conversation, meal, gathering, and shared moment, trusting that Christ continues to meet people on the roads they already walk.