Saturday, January 13

The church is mission

There are the five parts of the Bible.

The God of the Old Testament is a missionary God, calling one family in order to bless all the families of the earth.

The Christ of the Gospels is a missionary Christ; he sent the church out to witness.

The Spirit of the Acts is a missionary Spirit; he drove the church out from Jerusalem to Rome.

The church of the epistles is a missionary church, a worldwide community with a worldwide vocation.

The end of the Revelation is a missionary End, a countless throng from every nation.

So I think we have to say the religion of the Bible is a missionary religion. The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable. Mission cannot be regarded as a regrettable lapse from tolerance or decency. Mission cannot be regarded as the hobby of a few fanatical eccentrics in the church. Mission lies at the heart of God and therefore at the very heart of the church.

A church without mission is no longer a church. It is contradicting an essential part of its identity. The church is mission.

--From 'The Whole Christian', "Proceedings of the International Conference of Christian Medical Students", ed. Lee Moy Ng (London: ICCMS and Christian Medical Fellowship, 1980), p. 46.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guy,

I am linking your post to my "It's Sunday Night - January 14th missions devotional post.

Asesor Homeschooling para Chile said...

Estoy de acuerdo. Nuestra religión es misionera.
Que Dios nos guíe en este Misión.

Saludos, hermano.
Bendiciones!

OC Hands said...

Guy,
We continue to be inspired by your posts, especially thoee where you share the results of your efforts to do church planting. With your permission (after the fact) I have posted your writing on "The Church In Your House" on our website, Voices of Praise.
Keep up the good work!
Milton and Nannette

OC Hands said...

For those who are not familiar with our website here is a link to our blog.
"Voices of Praise"

Anonymous said...

Well... I think it's a religion about love and I can show "irrefutable" evidence of that too. hehehe.

I would be blessed to hear your views on this post
http://achristian.wordpress.com/2006/05/22/how-do-we-love-others-a-parable-of-the-church-body/

Thanks for an AWESOME blog. Thank you for sharing you hard won experience.

Bless you,
Mark.

Anonymous said...

Here is a direct link, this may be easier: How do we love others - a parable of the church body

Bless you!
Mark.

J. Guy Muse said...

Milton,

You guys have a great site, keep up the good work sharing with us all the wonderful things God is doing around the world.

Mark,

Excellent post you refer us to. I think you have hit the nail on the head with love being the umbrella under which all the gifts, ministries within the Body of Christ should operate. Without love we are nothing and accomplish nothing in the Kingdom.