“It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission- God’s mission.”
I had the chance to share this quote by Christopher Wright in a number of churches this year as I was invited to speak about Baptist Mission Australia around SA and NT. It is thought provoking and, perhaps a little startling as we ponder its meaning.
Is this how we see the church? Is this how we understand its role in God’s kingdom work, in the world, in the communities we live in?
God’s missional heart is evident throughout scripture in his desire for those who live as prodigals to return to him. God’s chosen nation, Israel, was to live out God’s missional calling as “a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6b)
Now as we enter the season of Advent and prepare to celebrate and reflect on the birth of our Saviour, I pray that we are overwhelmed by the missional heart of God taking human shape in the form of Jesus, walking with, and teaching the leaders of the first church how to engage their missional hearts.
May the church today ponder deeply the love of God in action in the manger and long to work out its missional calling as it was formed to do. May the missional heart of God that met us and invited us to His abundant life be the desire and continued work of the church until Jesus returns to call us into eternity.
Have a blessed, missional Christmas,
