This Sunday I will be heading up to Wesley Woods to co-dean their Youth Mission Work Camp. I'll be taking 27 energetic, hormone-filled teenagers, plus 4 other chaperones from my church, up to serve God through serving others....painting, construction, roofing, landscaping....you name it! Please keep us all in your prayers!
And yet, as I've been mulling it over in my head the last few weeks, I've realized just how reductionistic the term "mission" has become in our lives. For most people in our pews, "missions" is that stuff that we support financially...that stuff that happens outside the church walls, in other countries, and usually done by trained "missionaries." But what happens inside the church walls...well, that's not missions. That's all about discipling the faithful who come every week to get their spiritual needs met and, hopefully, to get challenged as well.
Darrell Guder, professor of missions at Princeton Seminary, has written that in the Bible there are actually three distinct aspects of the church's mission in the world:
First, there's kerygma - proclaiming the Word of God, the good news of the Kingdom, that the world might know the objective truth of the faith. Paul winning converts at the Areopagus in Acts 17 would be a good example of this.
Then there's diakonia - reaching out to others with acts of service and unconditional love, allowing us (as the book of James might say) to show our faith by what we do. Peter and John healing the crippled man in Acts 4 is the example.
Finally, there's koinonia - authentically living out the life of faith in community with others, presenting an alternative method of relationships from that which the world gives. The description of the early church in Acts 2 is the example here....and notice what Luke says: because the early Christians lived this way in community, the Lord added to their numbers daily those who are being saved.
The bottom line is this: Christians have been reborn, and the earth is no longer our ultimate home. And yet, we are all called to be a city on a hill, so that all may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Every believer should see his/herself as being on a mission. When we refer to our "work trips" as mission trips, are we somehow not doing justice to the fact that EVERYTHING the church does is "mission"....that EVERYTHING we do in Christ's name has the potential to bring the Kingdom of God on earth? Is it possible to communicate to our congregations that the way they relate to each other as brothers and sisters, the way they worship on Sunday mornings, the way they talk about their church in the outside world....all of these things are potentially missional moments that can give bring either glory or shame to the name of Jesus Christ?
May the Spirit of God convict us, and those under our shepherding care, to live every aspect of our lives in the intentional mission of our Lord!
3 comments:
Good post...just a thought..I recently read Bill Hybel's book "Just Walk Across The Room," and he argues that the true mission field is right where we live, work and play.
I have always felt that the word "mission" has been used in a condescending way...to suggest that sending missionaries to the third world is more noble than trying to offer Christ to the guy in the next cubicle is just wrong.
Sometimes I feel like when we go abroad, we are offering our values and lifestyles and not just the gospel of Christ.
So I agree with you. The mission field is anywhere there is someone who doesn't know Christ.
Good stuff...have fun and know you're covered in prayer...especially for the hormones part.
I love Wesley Woods. That place has a lot of special memories for me. Have a wonderful camp and give them heaven!
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