by Manik Corea, C4SO Global Consultant

Theologian D. A. Carson tells the story of a Christian who, when asked “what do you do?” would invariably reply “I’m a Christian.” If pushed further, he would follow up, ‘I’m a Christian full time, but I pack pork to pay expenses.”[1]

His answer makes absolute biblical sense. We are first and foremost Christian disciples of Jesus Christ. Our work on earth fundamentally is to follow Jesus and to glorify God in all we do. Who we are in Christ informs, directs and transforms every part of our life and work, or ought to. But this is true of the communal life and corporate work of the Church as well.

What is the true business of the Church in relation to the world around us?

Two thousand years ago on a hill in Galilee of the Gentiles, the resurrected Jesus gave his wide-eyed, partly doubting disciples an earth-sized task – to make disciples of all peoples for all times, going to them, baptizing and teaching obedience to all his commands. His kingship in all places (all heaven and earth) authorized them (Matthew 28:18-20).

We, the fruit of their apostolic witness, have now inherited the ongoing task of world mission in Jesus’ name, for these times and places, until the ends of the earth are reached with God’s knowledge and glory.[2] Indeed, it is the rich heritage of every true disciple of Jesus on the planet. It is the family business.

How are we to fulfill this great call as local churches?

The definition of what actually constitutes the “mission” of the Church (both global and local) is much debated among church leaders, councils and commissions, theologians, mission practitioners and the like. It can be confusing.[3] But it is vital that on this issue, more than any other, we be clear and consistent.

We will see in future blogs I hope to write that the form and substance of mission in Scriptures (and what it means for us) cannot be considered or separated from the nature, character and purposes of the God we love and worship.

God is presented in our Scriptures as being on a mission to reconcile a lost world to himself and to make his glory known in all the nations of the world.[4] He desires true worshippers in spirit and truth, a people prepared and set apart for him (John 4:24; Luke 1:17; Revelation 21:3). Indeed, the first question God asks in Scriptures was a searching missionary one – “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)

At just the right time, Jesus became incarnate as God’s missionary par excellence, sent into the world to reveal the Gospel of the kingdom and to seek and save the lost (Luke 4:43; 19:10; Mark 10:45).

God is still on mission today.

Theologians call this the “Missio Dei” or the “Mission of God.” His kingdom coming, supremely in the incarnation, passion, resurrection and future return of the ascended Christ, is the epicenter of that glorious, saving work. While many in our world tragically remain ignorant or unbelieving of this, his people are called into his mission of proclamation and demonstration (Romans 10:14-17, Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 4:9).

For as the Father sent the Son, and the Father and the Son sent the Spirit upon his people, so God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) sends us likewise out into the world on mission.[5]

Jesus made that clear. Contrary to popular understandings, Jesus gave his church not one, but five specific post-resurrection great commissions, i.e. Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47-49; John 20:21 and Acts 1:8.[6]

How can we take Jesus’ great announcement and his great commissions to heart?

We do well to place the making of disciples as the constitutive heart of all endeavors we could deem parts of the Church’s broader mission, whether evangelism, church-planting, community development, medical mission, food aid, education, peace-making, racial and communal reconciliation, marriage and family enrichment, environmental care or works of justice.

Consequently, if what we say and do, do not ultimately bring people into encounter with the kingdom of God and with the Gospel that invites them into faith and discipleship, we are simply trying to ‘sell’ religious services or attempting to fix the symptoms of a broken world rather than presenting the only vital cure in Christ.

As a Christian, you are called into the mission of God with Him, no matter where you live or what you do for a living.

In upcoming blogs, I hope to share what this may mean and what it will entail for C4SO churches to be involved in God’s global mission, right from where you are. I wish to be both practical, helpful and hopefully encouraging too.

Footnotes

[1] D. A. Carson, Basics For Believers, Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2004, page 25.

[2] Jude 1:3; Habakkuk 2:14; Acts 1:8.

[3] I would recommend Chris Wright’s The Mission of God (IVP Academic, 2006) and its companion follow-up The Mission of God’s People (Zondervan, 2010) as well as our very own Canon Theologian Scot McKnight’s The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Zondervan, 2016) as the most lucid, biblically-faithful go-to treatments on the mission of the Church today.

[4] Genesis 12:3; 1 Chronicles 16:24; Psalm 22:27; 46:10; 67:2, 3, 7; 86:9; 105:1; Isaiah 2:2; Malachi 1:11; 2 Corinthians 5:20 etc.

[5] Stated most clearly by the late missiologist Bosch, who argued that the true context of mission is to be found in the “doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology.” David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission, (Orbis Books, 1991), page 390.

[6] These co-operatively emphasize different facets of a common task: the Mission (‘make disciples’ Matthew 28:19); the Measure (‘all creation’ – Mark 16:15, ‘all peoples’ – Matthew 28:19 and ‘Jerusalem…and the ends of the earth’ – Acts 1:8); the Model ( “As the Father sent me” – John 20:21); the Message (‘repentance and forgiveness of sins’ – Luke 24:44-49) and the Means (“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes…be my witnesses” – Acts 1:8).

 

The Rev. Manik Corea, a Singaporean, is a missionary priest of C4SO and our Global Consultant. He serves as the Global Executive of NAMS. Following 13 years of mission and leading a church plant and missional community in Bangkok, Thailand, he oversees the day-to-day running of NAMS and its work in 15 nations on five continents. Manik recently completed an MA in Intercultural Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary. You can contact him at manikcorea@namsnetwork.org.