Back To The Mission
What truly is the mission?
Do you think you know it?
Now more than ever the church needs to spend an adequate time in understanding the mission and come to the biblical definition of mission.
Does the Bible use the word mission?
The exact word is not used but the concept of sending is. Christ uses the word mission when sending the disciples to preach the gospel. In John 20:21 Jesus said to them, “… As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” In other parts of the Bible, the word may not have been used but the biblical concept of sending with a specific task is frequently used.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.
A majority of the church is familiar with this often-quoted Great Commission text which is our understanding of biblical mission. According to this, every believer is commanded to go into his neighbourhood, workplace, and the marketplace with the Gospel. We call it evangelism.
Is evangelism everything?
We often think evangelism is everything that mission is. In the past few centuries, the church has somehow understood mission to be evangelism only. This is an example of a scanty understanding of mission. This is not the whole teaching of the Bible on the mission. Evangelism is an integral part of the mission. But it’s not everything.
Matthew 28:19 focuses on the three elements of fulfilling the mission – going, baptising and teaching. “Teaching them to observe” is not mere lectures but “shepherding” them to live the Christian faith. Teaching/shepherding is as important part of the mission as the evangelism part is. The purpose of both is to form communities of disciples called ‘church’. This is the mission. Lack of this understanding makes us define mission inadequately.
What is Paul’s understanding of the mission?
In Ephesians 3:8-9 Paul says, “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God,…”
Paul describes the twofold aspects of the mission. The first, to preach the Gospel and the second to teach the church. The purpose was to mature the church in the faith. Here, Paul’s ministry reflects that the mission is more than just evangelism and teaching. The mission is all about forming the communities of disciples and bringing them to maturity by every means. The book of Acts unfolds the mission. It’s not about multiplying individuals but multiplying church, the communities.
Back to the mission now
This is a call for the church to return to Christ’s mission. Do you need to refine your understanding of the mission? Church, lets come back to the mission.
