Acts 13 is a defining moment in the life of the Early Church. I doubt very much that any member of Central Baptist Antioch (it must have been a Baptist church mustn't it?) thought of it as a defining moment, but defining it was.
A predominately Gentile church was about to commission to Jewish Christians to set out on a regional mission. It’s as if a small part of the emerging church has suddenly got it and is about to get on with it!
Mission is about to get a whole lot more entertaining.
God says to this fledgling church take you two most senior leaders, your strongest connection to the church in Jerusalem, and send them on a journey. Unlike Philip this was not a journey predicated on the miraculous ability of God to move them from one place to another or persecution. Unlike Peter this was not a one off journey defined in clear terms prior to the guides arriving.
But this was still God working out his purposes, calling his church to action in his mission.
Today, out them is mission, and we’re going to explore what we mean by mission and what mission means for the way we live.
John Stott once said that mission was everything the church did. For some, this definition is way too broad. It allows everything to be declared a missionary activity and draws attention away from the central thrust of mission–evangelism.
On the other hand, if you define mission only in terms of evangelism are we not in danger of reducing mission down to a verbal presentation of truth, a focus on the eternal destiny of the individual, with no room for for anything else.
Perhaps what we need is to understand mission more in the context of the Gospel story than in the context of church history.
Let me explain.
Defining Mission
I believe there are two fundamental mistakes we make when we start trying to define mission. The first is to define mission in the context of the church. When we do this we end up asking questions about how we can people into church. How we can connect them with what we do, what we believe and how we live. Start with the church and almost inevitably the mission will get lost.
The best example I know of this approach came quite recently with the Hope initiative in town. For some, the first question was not “How can we reach and serve the most number of people who are from God?” The first question was:” What’s our basis of faith?”
The second error is to define mission in the context of what’s wrong with the world. When we fall into this trap we find ourselves standing in judgement over our neighbours. Mission becomes focussed on righting wrongs and defining acceptable behaviour. Whilst it’s important to challenge policies and laws, to write to MPs and ask tough questions, our mission is not a quest to get Christian values enshrined in the constitution of the land but to populate heaven with people who have reconnected with the God who loves them.
So how do we define mission, where do we begin?
The only place to begin if we want to define mission correctly is to begin with Jesus. What we believe about Jesus has to be the basis for what we believe about mission and interestingly, what we believe about mission will lead us in the end to better understand what we believe about the church.
Think if it this way: What we believe about Jesus determines our what believe about how we live in the world (our mission), our mission determines our how we live as a community of faith (worship). Technically: Christology determines missiology, and missiology determines ecclesiology.
So, when we launch a celebration in Shortstown, when we begin a housegroup in the Wixams, it will be with the tag line: It’s not about coming to church, it’s about coming to life.
How did Jesus do mission?
If Jesus is the defining criteria for our understanding of mission, then what do we know about how he did mission?
Jesus did mission relationally
He invited followers,
he lived among them,
he entered their world,our world.
He committed himself to them.
Jesus did mission incarnationally
The good news was not just about Jesus, it was Jesus.
When he said the kingdom of God was near, it was no mere philosophical proposition, it was a bold statement of the presence of God made flesh among them. God had drawn near, and he still does. In the person of Jesus Christ the holiness of God stood next to the unholiness of humanity and the only who died as a result was the holy one himself.
The Old Testament people feared such an encounter. At Sinai they begged God to stay clear of them, Jacob, who wrestled with God declared with amazement that he had seen God face to face and lived to tell the story. Isaiah declares himself ruined as he sees a vision of God Almighty, high and lifted up.
But when Jesus came, he came humbly, he came as a servant, he came as one who was powerless. He drew near and threw his arms around saint and sinner alike.
This narrative of the God who walks among men is the story in which we find ourselves. This is the defining strategy for the mission of God’s people, to live among the missing in order that some, even all, might be found.
Living missionally
If Jesus defines our mission, then we have a few questions to ask. First we can ask what we truly believe about mission and our part in it. Second we can ask what it means to live our lives in the light of this mission. Thirdly we can ask to who are we sent? This third question arises out of the very nature of our missional calling to Go and make disciples
What do we believe about mission?
I’m not asking about the definition, we’ve already established the basis for that. I’m asking what we believe about our role.
Do we believe the the mission is urgent?
De we believe it is a priority?
Do we believe we have a part to play in it?
Do we believe it is primarily someone else’s responsibility?
De we believe it is a priority?
Do we believe we have a part to play in it?
Do we believe it is primarily someone else’s responsibility?
What is a missional life?
A missional life is: (I think these three terms are from Ed Stetzer)
Incarnational: we live the story. The gospel is not just something we believe, it’s the way we live.
Indigenous: In other words, we live among the people we are trying to reach. We don’t go somewhere to do mission, we live somewhere to be the mission, to live the story. It’s another way of saying relational.
Intentional: We live on purpose and with purpose. We are a sent people. We may not have been prayed over, set apart by the Holy Spirit to travel throughout Asia, but we are all a sent people.
The challenge we face is not to do mission but to live missionally.
To whom are we sent?
Of course we can say simply that we are sent into the world. Not to make it a better place but to live out the good news story so that others might see and choose to live it too.
But we’re also aware that God has placed and is placing opportunities, clear opportunities before us.
But we’re also aware that God has placed and is placing opportunities, clear opportunities before us.
Perhaps the credit crunch will give us a little more time to get ready, but houses are being built, people are moving in and we cannot stand by and do nothing.
We see the communities in which we already live and know that we cannot wait for someone else to come along and engage for us, we have to answer God’s call to be the mission.
Whether your heart burns for Cotton End, for Shortstown, for Wilstead or for Wixams, there is an opportunity for all of us to share the journey together.
Whether your heart burns for Cotton End, for Shortstown, for Wilstead or for Wixams, there is an opportunity for all of us to share the journey together.
Conclusion
I believe God has called us to a missional life. I believe will all my heart that the church exists primarily to serve the purposes of the kingdom of God through engaging in mission. We are here for the benefit of those who are yet to believe.
And if we get it, then for the sake of the kingdom, let’s get on with it.
