What is Missions?
This post first appeared on Lightwalk.
If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to go listen to the latest Lightwalk podcast episode to learn more about missions and to get information on more resources for a deeper understanding of missions. You can listen to Episode 6 – Missionaries and Martyrdom by clicking this link.
Over the past few months, I have really been focusing on missions in my quiet time. I started 2023 by studying through the book of Acts. It was a transformative time for me as I learned so much more about the early Church and what it meant for Peter and Paul to be missionaries to the local people and to the nations around them. I realized what a great task they had in front of them.
Today, our calling is the same: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation,” (Mark 16:15). This is the epitome of what it means to be a missionary – to introduce another group of people to salvation in Christ and spread His Gospel.
Believe it or not, a large percentage of the world’s population has never heard the name of Jesus and that percentage is steadily growing from year to year. That is because only about 10% of Christians are telling others the good news of Jesus each year. A staggering 90% of believers simply do not practice the Great Commission from Matthew 28:18-20:
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Have we forgotten that this is the same command Jesus gave us? As a whole, the Church in America has to step up – myself included. Salvation is still available for ALL people everywhere. We must be faithful with the Gospel message. We should be obedient and not cower at the calling the Lord has placed on our life. No doubt, speaking the Gospel to people who are hard-hearted toward Jesus can be extremely intimidating but we should fear the Lord, not men (Hebrews 13:6).
So, what encouragement can we find in Scripture to go on mission and tell the world about the message of salvation found in Jesus Christ?
“Missions” in Scripture
You won’t find the term “missions” in the Bible, but the concept of missions is seen throughout the entirety of Scripture. The terms “evangelist” (Ephesians 4:11) and “witness” (Acts 1:8) are just a couple of the words used that are the closest in meaning to the subject of missions as we know it today. There are also many passages that encourage us to share the Gospel with the people around us and with people around the world.
Romans 10:14-17 gives us some questions to consider regarding Gospel proclamation:
“But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!”
Our hope should be that the Lord uses our witness of His message to spread the Gospel through His Spirit to those all around the world as Paul says, “ it is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in truth,” (Colossians 1:6).
If we are not proclaiming the story of Jesus to those around us, how will the world hear about the greatest Story ever told? And how will this Story continue to bear fruit and grow unless we speak the truth in love to those around us, (Ephesians 4:15)? We’ve been given a task to not only grow in our personal relationship with Jesus through praying and reading the Bible and attending Church, but to also tell others about His love for us in hopes that He would bring those people into relationship with Him through the salvation that He willingly provides for all people. This is where the Church comes in: to equip and send out individuals to teach the Gospel to people in foreign lands with no direct access to Christian churches, the Word of God, and to believers who are allowed to boldly proclaim salvation through Jesus.
The Church’s Role in Missions
Missionary activity should be of primary importance in the Church because without the obedience of missionaries in the world, there would be no believers. Christianity and the message of Christ would have died out with the disciples before 100 AD.
The mission of the Church should be to send missionaries to all parts of the world until everyone has had the opportunity to hear the message of Jesus and accept Him as Lord. While the hardest part is getting started, it is important to realize that the people in all communities around the world were also created by God in His image for a divine purpose. Once one person in a group starts believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Spirit spreads through a community like a wildfire.
Practically speaking, the mission-minded Church should have a goal of translating Scripture into the language of these frontier people groups – whether it is written in their language or they have audio recordings of Scripture in their language. That way, the people will be able to hear and understand the Gospel so that heart transformation can occur. It is also important for language teachers to be available in each country so that children can understand the Scriptures in their language.
Now, it is true that not every person in the Church can or should become an international missionary. So how are we supposed to respond to the call to become missionaries when we know that we are not called to go into the other parts of the world? We should be eager to pray, support, and come alongside missionaries when possible.
Believers have an obligation to be ambassadors of Christ – to make His name and His power known to everyone in the world.
“I am obligated both to Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. So I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” – Romans 1:14-16
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God,’” – 2 Corinthians 5:20
As theologian C.H. Spurgeon says, “if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go unwarned and unprayed for.” This is the mindset we should take when considering missions and evangelism to an unreached nation. May all people in every nation be made aware of the Gospel message.
Psalm 96
Sing a new song to the Lord;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to Yahweh, praise His name;
proclaim His salvation from day to day.
Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonderful works among all peoples.
For the Lord is great and is highly praised;
He is feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the people are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him;
strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Ascribe to Yahweh the glory of His name;
bring an offering and enter His courts.
Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness;
tremble before Him, all the earth.
Say among the nations: “The Lord reigns.
The world is firmly established;
it cannot be shaken.
He judges the peoples fairly.”
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and all that fills it resound.
Let the fields and everything in them exult.
Then all the trees of the forest will shout for joy
before the Lord, for He is coming –
for He is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with His faithfulness.
