ARE WE MISSIONARIES?
What is your first impression of the word “missionary”?
It often is described as someone else – someone who has decided to travel to another country to share about Jesus.
Yet, Jesus tells us that each of his followers are missionaries. It is part of our identity. We are family because we know God as Father. We are servants because we know Jesus as King. In the same way, we are missionaries because the Holy Spirit calls us to be witnesses. In Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Jesus makes it clear that the reason he has sent his Spirit is to empower us, his Church, to be his witnesses!
So according to Jesus, the Spirit’s job is to be a witness about him, and it is also our job. If all this is true then it should completely change the way that we see our lives. Rather than seeing ourselves as just a neighbour, co-worker, parent, or student, we need to start seeing ourselves as a missionary (someone who bears witness to the person and work of Jesus.) As we work out this identity in our everyday lives it should affect our relationships but it should also shape our church.
We are all missionaries! In summary, we could say:
- God is a missionary God, therefore, we as His people are missionary people.
- The church doesn’t just send missionaries; the church is the missionary.
- Individually and collectively as the body of Christ, we are a sent, missionary church.
So what is the mission? Here are thoughts from those who specialize in this question:
- “Mission comes from the Latin “mission”, meaning “I send”. It is the task on which the church is sent into the world. If you prefer, it is the church’s job description. Mission is a comprehensive word encompassing everything that Jesus sends his people into the world to do and accomplish in his name. Jesus himself drew a parallel between the commission with which the Father had sent him into the world and the way he was sending the disciples. “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Mission is intrinsic to the church. The church cannot properly be called such unless it is missionary.” Nigel Wright
- “Mission refers to “everything the church is sent into the world to do”. Jesus says in John 20:21 ‘as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ if anything is clear, it is that Jesus both preached and healed. Jesus explicitly said that he came both to proclaim the Gospel and to serve (mark 10:45). If we are sent in the same way as Jesus, then our mission in the world includes both evangelism and social responsibility.” Ron Sider
- “Mission is understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It is thus put in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine of the Missio Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit is expanded to include yet another “movement: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.” David Bosch
This mission needs missionaries. Jesus’ mission is always to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10) and he calls upon his followers to remember that as God sent him, so he sends all of us (John 20:21). The same gospel that transforms us also sends us. As we are renewed and reconciled by Jesus we are sent on mission of renewal and reconciliation.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2). Jesus used the symbolic meaning of harvest to explain how people are ready to be gathered into God’s family. Like a field ready for harvest, people are ready for the gospel. We ask God, the Lord of the harvest (Matt 9:38) for harvest workers and go with him when he sends us.
We are sent into this city. We are all called to know and love the city God has placed us in. We pursue this mission as a response to the life-changing grace of God. Ultimately, this is Jesus’ mission. He’s building our church and he calls and empowers us to join him in his supernatural disciple-making mission. Therefore, we bring the gospel to our city in unique and diverse ways and God works through us individually and corporately. As we live out our calling where God has placed us we seek to advance the mission of God by knowing and loving our city.
Our city is going to be renewed by the gospel one neighbor, one conversation, one kind act of love at a time.
Our city is going to be renewed as we use our job, skill, and passion where we live, work, and play to join in the mission of God!
Our city is going to be renewed as the church commits to being missional!
So what does a missional church look like? Tim Keller – a church planting expert says a missional church in the Western world needs to:[1]
- Confront society’s idols and address how modernity makes the desires of the individual into an absolute.
- Contextualize skillfully and communicate in the vernacular, recognizing that many do not understand basic concepts of God, sin, redemption, etc.
- Recognize that all Christians are people in mission in every area of their lives.
- Understand itself as a servant community – a counterculture for the common good.
- Be contextualized and expect nonbelievers, inquirers and seekers to be involved in most aspects of the church’s life and ministry.
- Practice unity on the local level as much as possible.
We will need to commit to these missional values to saturate the city of Prince George with the gospel. Let’s make Prince George a hard place to go Hell. Let’s make Prince George a place where people find healing, recovery, renewal, abundance of life, purpose, meaning, belonging, community, and transformation! This is possible through Jesus!!!
All over the world revival is breaking out – India, China, Iran, etc. There is a movement happening right now in Canada sparking new church plants and raising up church planters. This isn’t just about starting a new church. We long to spark a movement. We want to see the kingdom of God expand throughout Prince George!
[1] Tim Keller – Center Church