Introduction

As a student at Grand Canyon University and a member of a very outward focused church, I spend every summer listening to countless mission trip opportunities. Year after year Christian institutions send thousands of people across the globe to connect with unreached people groups.

Unfortunately, many of these people are sent off without a proper understanding of what they are doing or even why, and oftentimes these mission trips turn into nothing more than a sight-seeing vacation. Without proper missional thinking, we will fail to fulfill the purpose of the mission. Our actions are always preceded by our thoughts, and thus if we want to be fruitful in our mission trips we must first have a proper theology of missions.

Proper thinking about any subject must always begin with a strong foundation, and as with all Christian doctrines, that foundation must be Scripture. God is the ultimate source of truth, so it would be ludicrous to try to develop proper thinking based on anything other than His Word to us, which is the Bible (Moreau, Corwin & McGee, 2015). And this Bible gives us a clear direction for mission – a clear purpose. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul gives us the purpose for everything that we do: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We are here to make much of God, and thus even missions will fall under this guiding theme of God’s glory. More than this, throughout Scripture we are given a few motifs that help flesh out what missions for God’s glory truly looks like.

Creation, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Great Commission, and the restoration of all things give us a clearer picture of a missional theology that is built on the foundation of Scripture.

Creation

When God created the earth, He called it “good” (Gen. 1:4,10,12,18,21,25). When He created mankind, however, He called them “very good” (Gen 1:31). This is because mankind was made as the ultimate reflection of God’s image. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). Mankind is the crowning glory of His beautiful creation. But why is that? That question takes us back to the theme of missions: God’s glory. Humanity is the crown of creation because they are the most accurate reflection of God’s glory.

There are two implications of the Imago Dei for missions. The first is that people, as image bearers who reflect God’s glory, are worthy of our concern and care. To love God means to love people, because people are the image of God. Jesus communicates this idea in Matthew 25:40 when He tells His disciples, “As you did to the least of these my brothers, you did to me.” When we care for other people, we proclaim the glory of God. In fact, love for others is one of the best evangelical tools we have. John 13:35 says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So not only should we love others because they are image bearers, but we should love others because by doing so we proclaim God’s glory and show that we belong to Him.

The second implication of the Imago Dei is that we ourselves are called to live into that image of God that we were created to reflect. This means that we seek each and every day to live like Scripture has called us to live. God is a God who pursues people, as shown in Jesus’ parable of the shepherd who left the ninety-nine sheep to go after the one who left (Luke 15:1-7). If we want to reflect God’s image in us, we must also be a people who pursues. Mission is pursuit. The heart of mission is going out to people. Whether it be to preach the gospel with our words or offer assistance with physical needs, we must be a people who go out. Just as God chased after us when we were the one sheep that ran off, so too must we pursue those who are lost as we go out on mission. And as the Spirit of God works in us, God’s glory will be proclaimed because of the character of God that is demonstrated through our actions.

Abrahamic Covenant

In one of the most profound mission texts in Scripture, God tells Abraham “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” This command is known as the Abrahamic covenant, which essentially contains God’s promise to Abraham of great blessing for His family. It is significant that God not only provides blessing to Abraham, He also provides a purpose for that blessing. We are blessed to be a blessing.

Everything that we are given is given to us so that we might “go” out and bless others. To put it simply, everything we are given is given for God’s glory. One of the most famous battle cries of John Piper’s ministry is, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” (Piper, 1997). If we know that God’s glory is the most important purpose of mission, and if it is true that God receives the most glory when we are satisfied in Him, it follows that we should go out to the nations making His name great with the hope that others will come to find their satisfaction in Christ. With every blessing that we receive, we should be asking ourselves, “How can I use this to make God’s name great?” This is the greatest blessing we have to offer: the gospel of Jesus Christ. By proclaiming that gospel, we not only bring glory to God, but we bring blessing to the people around us.

Great Commission

At the end of Matthew, Jesus continues to shape our mission theology as He imparts to His disciples what is known as the Great Commission. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). There are three principles of mission that are presented in this passage: We have to move, we have to teach, and we have to trust.

The first principle comes in the word “Go”, a command that was also found in the Abrahamic covenant. Mission must involve some sort of going out, as we forsake the comforts of our lives for the sake of following God. How does this bring God glory? It demonstrates to the people around us that God is more valuable to us than any precious silver or gold (Phil 3:8). God is the most valuable thing in our lives, and by sacrificing something to follow Him we give God glory.

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“One cannot be a missionary church and continue insisting that the world must come to the church on the church’s terms. It must become a ‘go’ structure. And it can do that only when its concerns are directed outside itself toward the poor, the abused, and the oppressed. The church must recapture its identity as the only organization in the world that exists for the sake of its nonmembers.” – Harvie Conn

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Second, mission involves teaching. It is important to teach the theological truths of the gospel, but the Great Commission calls us to also teach others to obey. Proper mission should inspire others to follow God’s commands. This can be done through telling them what God commands, but it is much easier done by showing what God commands. When we demonstrate God’s love and grace and care for people, it will inspire others to that same kind of radical living.

Finally, the Great Commission asks us to trust. Everything that we do can only be done through the power of God working in us. When we go out to preach or go out to provide for physical needs we must do so with an attitude of fully entrusting ourselves to Christ, understanding that all we do is for His glory and not our own. Without that kind of mindset, our missions will fail.

Restoration

Restoration is the culmination of God’s glory through missions. Throughout Scripture, God has painted for us this beautiful picture of His Kingdom made up of every nation. In the end, all people will bow before Him to praise Him. When Christ returns to restore creation to what it was meant to be, God’s glory will be on full display. This is the end goal of mission. Every well that is dug, every gospel tract given out, every meal eaten with the homeless, every sermon preached on the street, and every mission trip to another country serves as a small glimpse of this coming restoration. When we go out on mission, we do so with one eye set upon this coming restoration. We do so knowing that one day the fruit of our labor will be seen, as every nation bows before God in awe of His great glory.

Conclusion

Mission is not just a concept, it is action. This is why it is coupled with the command to “go” in Scripture. But this going involves a change of scenery. Whether it is talking to someone new or going on a trip to another country, all different levels of mission involve an environment shift. It is therefore essential for a concept like contextualization to be contained within our mission theology. Contextualization is “taking the gospel to a new context and finding appropriate ways to communicate it so that it is understandable to the people in that context” (Moreau, Corwin & McGee, 2015, p. 12). In order for mission to be effective, we must communicate the message of the gospel to other people within their own contexts. It is important to remember, however, that contextualization is not the same as compromise. While we should present the gospel to people in a way that is understandable to them, we must make sure that we do not compromise any gospel truths for the sake of being less offensive. This is the balance we must find when we go out on mission. For God to be most glorified in mission, we must be willing to step into their contexts just like Christ stepped down into our world in human form to communicate His message to us. We must also, however, maintain our courage as we present gospel truths that may be hard, just as Christ went to the cross and died for truth.
Mission is hard. It involves a humbling of oneself in new ways, as we set aside our own glory, our own culture, and in some cases even our own lives to reach those who do not know the gospel. But it is each of our life’s calling.

Whether we are raising up our children as disciples of Christ or moving to a tribe of people who have never heard the gospel, we are on mission. And we go on these missions with the understanding that it will be hard, but in the end God will give us the strength to face whatever trials will come our way. And through this supernatural strength, God’s name will be made great.

 

Ben White