Mission is a word that get's tossed around a lot. Does your company have a mission statement? Do you have a personal mission statement? Is your church missional?
Inside the church there is a whole other use of the word that talks about missionaries (As if they are the only people fulfilling the mission of Jesus), mission programs and mission trips. It all gets bundled up into some variation of the word mission.
Cutting through all the ways we talk about mission for a minute the bottom line is this, for followers of Jesus, mission comes from God. Period, end of story. The mission of our church and your personal mission/purpose in life is to be Jesus to a lost and broken world. The good news is that God has uniquely and powerfully (whether you believe it or not) equipped you to make a difference for Him. You, yes you, are an important tool in the hand of almighty God!
So what did Jesus do? Well he call people far from God to come home. He also put a lot of attention on helping his followers become like him. We call this discipleship or spiritual growth. Then he went around making our broken world a better place by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, helping the poor and empowering the weak. Pretty over whelming isn't it?
The truth is you personally can't do everything Jesus did. You and I are one small sliver of a giant thing we call the Body of Christ or the church. The church must do everything Jesus did but individually we have each been uniquely designed to play a small role in Jesus giant mission.
The good news is we are a part of a church that takes serious the mission of Jesus. We are partnered with churches around the world that are calling people home to God, growing people into fully functioning followers of Jesus and helping the least, last and lost. We use The Jesus Film, Compassionate Ministries (International, USA/Canada, District and Local) and a huge network of local churches all around the world.
This Sunday you are going to hear from our members of a recent mission trip. I hope you will enjoy the time and be encouraged about how you are doing good work all around the world even if you are not personally in some exotic location.
Most of all I pray that you will prayerfully consider going on a mission trip yourself. I know, lots of money, not much vacation time. I get that but I also know, it will change your life in ways I can't possibly explain.
Mission... It's a God thing.
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