What is Mission?
The word Mission tends to be interpreted in different ways and its meaning has changed and developed within the life of the Methodist Church over the years.
In the past Mission was frequently associated in particular with two aspects of the Church's work.
• A special evangelistic campaign which was part of the ongoing work in the life of the local church.
• The Overseas or Foreign Mission of the Church which was always understood as that which happened in far away countries. Such understandings had their value but Mission is a much wider concept than both of these. Christian Mission always needs to be expressed within the wider world context and this includes a commitment to the World Church in a spirit of sharing and receiving, both ‘here and there'.
John Wesley led the way for Methodist people and others when he declared that –
‘The World is my Parish.'
There are two basic foundations to Mission:
The first is the Mission of God and the second is the Mission of the Church . ( Mission in Today's World , Donald Dorr)
St Mark's Gospel tells us that Jesus Christ began his three year ministry when he appeared in Galilee proclaiming the Good News of God. He announced that the Kingdom of God is near and all must repent and believe in the Gospel. For Jesus this was the beginning of his earthly Mission.
The starting point is to acknowledge the reign of God over all. Then comes the challenge to capture a ‘ Vision of God's Kingdom ' as it is on earth and in heaven, to paraphrase familiar words from the Lord's Prayer. The priority which follows this is to proclaim, promote and live by the ‘ Kingdom Values '.
Such Values are –
Salvation , truth, love, justice, peace, righteousness and goodness along with both recognising and valuing the worth, dignity and human rights of all people. To maintain these ‘Kingdom Values' means establishing and upholding certain spiritual pillars within the life of the local worshipping congregation. They are key to the outworking and promoting of Mission.
Prayer , Bible Study, Witness, Service, Outreach and Fellowship: all of them empowered by the Holy Spirit.
A commitment to such pillars involves a list of qualities which can be summed up as –
Pastoral Care , an unconditional welcome for all, a spirit of openness, creativity and flexibility, all of which must come together in the daily life of the church.
Regrettably a vision for Mission- remains only a vision in some churches. The life of the church or congregation can become submerged in one of maintenance, or else just a comfort zone for the ‘faithful' who meet behind the walls of the building.
‘Fresh Expressions of Church'- is a present day vision and programme for enabling Mission. It means having a willingness of heart and mind to hear God's call to go where people are in their everyday place. Then by the power of the Holy Spirit to discover together what is church in that situation and how might it be expressed and maintained in a creative and meaningful way. The working out of such a Mission will indeed mean doing things differently and being open to change.
Those who are enabled to meet with Christ -through such a Mission may choose not to come into the life of the traditional church. Congregations need to be willing to accept this and recognise that by God's power Mission can take place anywhere at any time. The experience of Christ which people find through
‘Fresh Expressions of Church'- is often just as real and meaningful as that of those who belong to established congregations.
The early centuries of the Church,- following the missionary endeavour of St Paul and the Apostles, were marked by persecution and harsh restrictions regarding meeting for worship and proclaiming the Gospel to others.
It is striking that the continuing growth of the Church then was based largely on two activities undertaken by the threatened Christian community:
1. The mutual caring within Christian groups and their social outreach into the community.
2. The witness of individual Christians among their friends and neighbours.
Mission involves the building up of the church , helping people to find a faith for living , the nature of our relationship with God and others, the enabling of Leadership in the church. Unity of heart and mind centred in Christ is the key. Mission also means an openness to ecumenism, people of other faiths or of none.
A Salvation Army slogan sums up Mission well by using just three words – ‘Belief in Action'
God’s mission
"Mission goes out from God. Mission is God's way of loving and saving the world...”
(Lambeth Conference 1998, Section II p121).
As Christians we follow Jesus who said “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (John 20.21). We are called to serve God's mission by living and proclaiming the good news.
“It’s not the church of God that has a mission, but the God of mission who has a church”.
For Christians God’s mission is about transformation – transforming individual lives, transforming communities and transforming the world. As we follow Jesus Christ, we believe that God’s mission is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit in three ways: through the Bible, through the tradition and life of the Church, and through our own listening, praying, thinking and sharing as we respond to our own context.
Five marks of mission
To proclaim the good news of the Kingdom ,To teach, baptise and nurture new believers ,To respond to human need by loving service ,To seek to transform unjust structures of society ,To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain the life of the earth
• A missionary church is focused on God the Trinity
Worship lies at the heart of a missionary church, and to love and know God as Father, Son and Spirit is its chief inspiration and primary purpose…
• A missionary church is incarnational
It seeks to shape itself in relation to the culture in which it is located or to which it is called…
• A missionary church is transformational
It exists for the transformation of the community that it serves, through the power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit…
• A missionary church makes disciples
It is active in calling people to faith in Jesus Christ…it is concerned for the transformation of individuals, as well as for the transformation of communities.
• A missionary church is relational
It is characterized by welcome and hospitality. Its ethos and style are open to change when new members join.
What is the mission of the church?
There may be varying opinions about the multiple tasks and functions of the church, but the following represents what would be its four highest priorities:
(1) To proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and make disciples of all kinds of people. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19-20). "And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
The passages above, often referred to as the Great Commission, were among Jesus' final admonitions to His disciples before He ascended to Heaven. Mark's gospel refers to Christ's command for his followers to "go preach the gospel to the world," while Matthew's reflects His emphasis for the church "to go and make disciples of all nations." The combination of these two elements, evangelism and discipleship, are generally considered as Christ's primary mission for His church. "Evangelism" is the ministry of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ that will bring men's souls into fellowship with God, while "discipleship" is the training of believers to become disciplined followers of Jesus and His principles.
The mission of the church is, in reality, a continuation of Christ's earthly ministry (John 14:12). Jesus viewed that redeeming men's souls was His whole purpose for coming to the earth. "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost" (Matt. 18:11). And in turn, He imparted this same objective to His disciples. He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19). The Apostle Paul later confirmed that the ministry of bringing people to God has been imparted to all those who have been brought to Him (the church). He wrote, "God... has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). It is the purpose of every believer, not only pastors and clergymen, to bring souls to Jesus Christ.
Perhaps the statement which best summarizes this mission of Christ and His church, was given as Jesus read from Isaiah's prophecy in Nazareth's synagogue on the Sabbath day. He said, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD" (Luke 4:18-19).
(2) To serve as a community of worship and fellowship — to manifest the presence and love of Jesus. "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20).
God originally made man for His own pleasure, to enjoy his fellowship and worship (Rev. 4:11, John 4:23). Thus, a part of the Lord's purpose of the church, besides bringing people to God, is to gather His people together and facilitate a corporate environment of worship, to express our love toward Him and one another. Jesus described these as the two highest ideals of Christianity. "And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31).
The Lord is greatly pleased to receive the corporate love and worship of His children who are joined together in unity and love toward one another (Eph. 4:1-4, 1 John 1:7). His presence is manifested in such an environment, and authenticates our Christian witness in the eyes of the world. "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).
Sunday church services were originally modeled from Lord's Day gatherings of the early church which included the agape "love feast" (Acts 20:7). They would share a common meal together (Acts 2:46) and then partake in the Lord's Supper — in recognition of the Lord's sacrificial body, and in recognition of His beloved body, the church. It was a gathering of love to the Lord and toward one another.
(3) To mature believers and prepare them to perform works of ministry. "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ..." (Eph. 4:11-12).
Another important mission of the church, by means of its ministers, is to strengthen the body of believers and equip them for works of ministry. The church should be an atmosphere of spiritual edification, where God's Word is taught, where believers are grounded, discipled and led toward maturity. This not only serves to anchor their faith in Christ, but prepares them for service. According to God's plan, each member of the body of Christ is called to serve in some aspect of ministry (Rom. 12:6, 1 Cor. 12:14-31), especially as it pertains toward bringing souls to Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
Even the laity is charged to encourage and spur their brethren on toward works of ministry, and according to scripture, this is one of the primary reasons of our church attendance. "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb. 10:24-25).
(4) To represent the interests of the Kingdom of God in the world, and to influence our society with the ideals of the Lord. "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden" (Matt. 5:13-14).
Jesus used salt and light as metaphors of the influential characteristics of His church in the world. Historically, salt has always been a valuable commodity used, among other things, as an antiseptic to withdraw infection. Light, of course, dispels darkness and is an essential element of life.
Likewise, the presence of the church in the world is Christ's antiseptic to sin, an influence of God's righteousness that tends to displace the infection of evil. The church is intended to represent His interests in the affairs of society. It was never intended to be passive, nor to be confined within four walls of a building, but to be involved as a catalyst of God's high ideals in the world around us.
Christ has intended for His church to let its light shine to the world — to love, to care for, and to meet needs of humanity, while upholding the redemptive truths and righteousness of Jesus Christ. "And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful" (Titus 3:14). Jesus told His church, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).
-Amen-
No comments:
Post a Comment