Missions are founded on the
Great Commission, which are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20).
At its heart, missions is the sending of persons from an existing congregation to address people of other cultures and places beyond the usual influence of the sending church. The central purpose of the effort is to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and help them to fervently and completely follow Him.
George Peters gives the following extensive definition of missions:
"Missions is a specialized term. By it I mean the sending forth of authorized persons beyond the borders of the New Testament church and her immediate gospel influence to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in gospel-destitute areas, to win converts from other faiths or non-faiths to Jesus Christ, and to establish functioning, multiplying local congregations who will bear the fruit of Christianity in that community and to that country."
From the Fall of Man until now, God has been on a divine plan and mission to reconcile humankind back into an intimate relationship with Himself that they may live in His presence now and forevermore. Jesus Christ as the Messiah is the crux of that divine plan and mission.
Galatians 4:4–5 says, “When the [appointed]
time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons [of God]."
John 3:16–17 gives us this: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only [divinely begotten] Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
From these and other passages we note that God initiated the process (plan) by sending (mission) His Son, Jesus, with the purpose of redeeming lost humankind back into an intimate relationship with Himself that they may live in His presence now and forevermore. Jesus is the original missionary and the crux of missions.
This brings us back to the Great Commission. Jesus now sends His followers to continue God's divine plan and Jesus' divine mission of reconciling humankind back into a relationship with Himself that they may live in His presence now and forever.
“Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:21–23).
How do we continue God's divine plan and Jesus' divine mission? By taking the Good News about Jesus Christ into all the world. Again, the Great Commission is the key command or commission for this concept of missions.
The central purpose of the Great Commission and missions is to win people to Christ and to help disciple them to do the same. The final goal is to get as many as possible from every nation, tribe, and tongue to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John saw the realization of this final goal in his vision recorded in the book of Revelation in 7:9, "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes...".
Missions is the gathering of those nations, tribes, and tongues. Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
Interpreting Jesus' words gives us the principle that mission activity can be anywhere. In
Jesus' words being applied, your Jerusalem is your local community, your Judea is your region, your Samaria is another region of your nation, and the ends of the earth is any other nation. Missions may be among Buddhists in Thailand or Somalis in Minneapolis. In today’s globalized and interconnected world, missions are easier than ever and there is no reason to not be involved in missions.
What can you do for missions?
While not everybody is called to move to the other side of the world on a mission, everybody is called to play a part in God's divine plan and mission. That can mean to do any number of the following:
- Pray
- Mobilize
- Give
- Send
- Go
Each follower of Jesus Christ should pray and discern what all God is calling him or her to do for God's divine plan and mission. Jesus commanded and commissioned us to do so and the heart of love and servanthood that His presence gives us compels us to do so.
Besides the Great Commission and other commands of Jesus, the burden of missions is far less than the guilt of having neglected others who are lost. This is illustrated in Ezekiel:
Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you will surely die,” and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. (Ezekiel 33:7–8).
From this passage, we see that God calls His servants to reach lost and wayward people with God's message. Jesus commanded us to do so in the Great Comission. To not do so is to disobey and be held responsible for that disobedience. This and the things we did in fact obediently do for Christ is what we will answer for at the Judgement Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10). But the presence of God in our hearts moves us to obey, because through the filling of the Holy Spirit, we have love for God and love for others (Mk 12:29-31). Indeed, Jesus as God in the flesh said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments" (Jn 14:15).
In summary, Jesus gave us a command of global missions through the Great Commission and if you love Jesus and the billions of lost and wayward souls on this earth, then it's time to get serious about missions.
