1.21 blog

In the last two posts, we’ve looked at how God serves as the pattern of the church’s mission, and how corporate worship serves as fuel for the church’s mission. But there’s still one more aspect of church life we want to look at. In the New Testament there are two main strands of what makes up the church. One element is more formal, it involves authoritative teaching and the administration of the sacraments. We engage with this aspect of church in corporate worship. The other element is more informal, it involves more interpersonal participation and interactive relationships. We engage with this aspect of church in our mission groups. (Other churches will have other formats)

We can look to the mission of God through Jesus, and be commissioned and empowered for it through preaching and communion yet still fail to live the sort of mission-oriented lives to which God calls us in Christ. Sometimes we’re just really not sure how to go about it. And because we all have diverse lives and situations, it’s impossible that this could all be addressed in the preaching of the church. So to figure this out, God has given us each other. As we share life together (per Acts 2.42-47), we get to know one another. We see where we’re struggling, and we can work through it with one another.

In community, you can see from where my failure to be on mission stems, and you can help me see how the work of Jesus on my behalf specifically bears upon that problem. You can keep up with me, asking how things are going, encouraging me along the way. And I can do the same for you. As we do this, we share in mission together. And as our lives become more and more intertwined, my friends become your friends. My mission becomes your mission. As this happens, we become partners on mission, and are able to carry the gospel further than we could on our own. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

In this series we’ve looked at three sources and aids in mission. I know that we all have a tendency to choose whatever our favorite is and focus on that while downplaying the others. But let me assure you, if you do, you’ll be on a very anemic mission. And in some cases, you’ll be on a mission that is entirely different than (read: opposed to) God’s.

And in all of this, we dare not lose sight of the whole source and motive of our mission. Jesus Christ has died for us, risen again, and sent us. We don’t have to be on mission. As we are drawn to him by these various means, we will find that we are on mission.

Posted by: Gene Schlesinger