God's Big Picture: The Mission

We began by recording on a flipchart what we think about when we hear the word “mission”.

You may have noticed a consistent theme over the last few weeks as we’ve explored together our four big themes of journey, family, community and now today’s theme of mission.

At some point in our exploring we’ve asked ourselves a similar question: What changes? What could we, what should we do differently? We’ve tried to see things differently, we’ve done things a little differently and we’ve tried to think a little differently.

So, when it comes to mission, what’s different?

Important as it is, (in fact crucial would be a better word to describe the overarching importance and significance of evangelism in mission), we know it’s not the complete answer to the question: What is mission?

#1 Influence

One church I came across recently describes its goals in terms of irresistible influence. Perhaps irresistible is not a word we’d want to use, perhaps it’s a little to controlling, dictatorial, for our liking, but we certainly want to be influential.

Think of the way yeast affects bread, or salt affects flavour. Their influence is unmistakable.
Think of the influence light has over darkness and remember that Paul calls us to shine like stars in a dark universe.

Our mission can shape our community. But it’s not easy.

Influencing, or being relevant to our community would be easy if we didn’t want to be biblical. If we didn’t want to honour God, then we could simply imitate the way the world does influence.
But we want to be biblical.

It’s easy to be biblical if we’re not worried about influencing our communities. We can detach from them, separate ourselves through the language we use and rules we employ.

But we want to be influential, we want to be both relevant and biblical.

The answer to becoming biblical and relevant simultaneously is not isolation or imitation, but incarnation. (Rick Warren)

Not just words, but a lived out gospel.

#2 What’s different?

New Attitudes

We see the world differently, we respond to needs and questions differently. Our communities are no longer dark and difficult places where we should not go for fear of contamination, but places where we can and want to bring the salt and light of God’s amazing grace and love to bear.

New Activities

Not only do we want to see things differently, but we’re prepared to do things differently too. We want our mission activity to have influence and we want it to respond to the needs of our communities.

New Associations

Whether through new friendships or new involvements, we want to build effective bridges with the people Jesus misses.

#3 The world deserves a better church

This little phrase may have passed you by last week. It just slipped out as I was talking about the community. This was something of a “God-moment” for me as I said it.

As I thought about our community, as I thought about what it meant to be the DNA of the community, to be influential in shaping it, I suddenly realised that if we wanted the community to change, then we needed to change too.

And I felt for a moment something of God’s heart for the world beyond my safe little world, and I felt his passion for them and I realised that the world deserves a better church.

Conclusion

So my challenge to you and to me is to seek to become more and more effective and influential in our mission.

I’m asking you pray like never before, to seek God’s heart and God’s impact in the lives of the people you love and the people you don’t!

I’m asking you to seek to live your lives in such a way that you inspire those around you to want to seek God’s involvement in their own lives. I’m asking you to choose to live an infectious Christian life.

I’m asking you to become the DNA where you live, where you work, where you learn where you spend any time at all.

I’m asking you to line up with these big themes and allow God to sear them into your heart.

I’m asking you to say, “Here I am Lord, use me.”

I’m asking you to let the love of God so overflow in your life that it spills into and onto everything and everyone with whom you come into contact.

I’m asking you, for the sake of the kingdom and for the sake of the lost and missing, will you do that?