Our Missions Emphasis Sunday is coming up at our church in a few weeks. We take this time to remember twice a year the work that God is doing around the world with our ministry partners. Often times in our church life we however face a danger. We associate missions - the work that other people are doing around the world in cultures most of us will never see - with mission - the work that God as called us to do. When we do this, we assume that our mission - as individuals and even as a church - is equivalent with missions. And thus, when we participate in missions are fulfilling our mission. The problem is that this is not the case. God does not simply tell his disciples to go and share the good news of the gospel with as many people around the world as possible. In fact, there are more instructions on how to be the local church in the New Testament then there are instructions on missions work. By example, Paul did missions work, but they were chosen by God and sent by the church for this work and Paul does not at any point say to local churches that their pastors, leaders, or constituents ought to do the same work he was doing.
This means we each ought to find the mission that God has called us to in order to help fulfil His Mission for the world. Not all of us will be called to go to another culture, but all of us are called to proclaim the gospel in the place that God has placed us. Not all of us are called to go, but all of us are called to be faithful at all times. We all have commands that we ought to be following - clear commands of Scripture to interact with ourselves, with our fellow believers and with the lost world around us.
Do you think of mission and immediately think of a missionary, or do you think of mission and consider your own purpose and goals in life and how those are conformed to the plan that God has for you?
