What is Mission?

For those of you that don't know, I am applying to be an Anglican Priest. The first part of this process is filling out an application, which includes essay questions. I was trying to figure out what to do the blog about this week, I was answering a question that dealt with what my definition of mission is, and to reflect on the Great Commandments and the Great Commission. This is how my answer stands so far, but sure it will change before the application is sent to wherever it is that it goes.

Essentially, what mission means is to change the world, a little bit, or a lot at a time for the glory of God. By change the world, I don’t mean things like recycling soda cans and carpooling to work, but to spread the love of Christ to as many people as possible.

Mission is supposed to be an active thing. Christ commands all of us in Matthew 28:19-20 to go out 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 that I have commanded you. The key thing to point out here is that He says go out. Mission is reaching out to others, and not just waiting for people to enter into the doors of your church, you have to go out and get them.

You do no good getting people into church if that is your purpose, and once they are butts in seats, you leave them as that. The Great Commandments “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” and “love your neighbor as yourself” provide a clear picture of what mission is supposed to be. If your idea is only to get someone into your church, then you will only tell them about the things that your church offers that you think they will like. For example, “my church has an awesome band” or “my church has Starbucks coffee and a variety of pastries” or “my pastor is a really nice guy.” While none of these things are bad in and of themselves, they do nothing to show love for your neighbor. What is happening is that instead of glorifying God, you are glorifying yourself, because you got these people to come to church. If every week this person goes to church, but if they are never fed the Gospel and only donuts from their worship experience, then the Great Commandments, and thus mission, have not been met.

Mission is achieved when you continue to minister to people even after they have started going to your church, another church, or have not made a decision yet.  Even after a person has given themselves to Christ, they still need Christian leadership and teaching. If you leave them be after their conversion, they are likely to turn to heretics and false teachers that will undo everything that God has done in their lives. Mission is when God leads you to love others for His glory, and not for your own. This should be the basic model for the individual and for the local church. God uses everybody to further his mission, since it is something that no person could do on his or her own. That is why the local church comes into play. People need to work together in order to accomplish the mission laid out by Christ Himself.