What is Mission?

When we think of the word mission many images are conjured up in our minds.  For some when we hear the word we think mission impossible; secret agents sent on clandestine missions.  For others images of space, mission control and astronauts are conjured up. And for the more spiritual the mind gravitates to packing up the family, selling possessions and moving to Africa.  The similar stream of thought in all of these is when we think mission: we think over there, infiltration, or being sent.  In many ways as we talk about the mission of the church, these thoughts are helpful, though not complete.

When we talk about the mission of the church we are not talking about a program, method of evangelism, a trip we take or even a missionary we might support.  The mission of the church might include some of those things but is not defined by any one of those items.  Mission, for those who are now in God’s kingdom, is more that a project we take on for a period of time, it is now a lifestyle.  It is more than just what we do, or an option we might choose – it is who we are in Christ.

CS Lewis – “[Christianity] is a civil war, a rebellion, and we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel. Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”

We are called to live in and among, to interact, to build relationship, to get involved and to do all of this with the power of and for the advancement of the Gospel. It is now part of our nature to be missionaries to take the Gospel into the places God calls us to go, and not just at special times, but also in ordinary life. This final session in our Partnership Class will examine how our Partnership in the Gospel includes us being a missional community. Let’s start by considering eight statements about our God-given mission.