Mission

<<task, assignment>>

Jesus knew what a terrible ordeal awaited Him – a cruel death, taking the evil sin of the world and its consequences upon Himself, and total separation from God – yet He knew this was humanity’s only hope, and when He prayed, “Please take this cup away”, He expressed His true feelings to God but also reaffirmed His commitment to the mission He had – providing salvation (Lk 22:41,42). This included preaching the good news to humanity, and destroying the hold that Satan had over people by evidencing the power of God (Mk 1:38; Lk 4:18, 7:22; 1 Jn 3:8). Satan doesn’t willingly surrender any territory so there must be ongoing enforcement of Christ’s dominion. We must choose to walk in victory, resisting Satan and his temptation to sin and live independently of God.

As followers of Christ we share in His mission and are to be witnesses by intentionally reaching out to those who do not know Him. This is to be in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19,20; Mk 16:15-18; Act 1:8; 1 Cor 2:4). Be focused on your God-given mission (specific calling) and make all things serve that end, without becoming

Mission is not an optional extra – it is our core responsibility

entangled in things that detract from it, remembering God is always to remain a higher priority than any service we do.

Mission requires that we be good students of both the gospel message and the culture we wish to express the gospel in, so we are both Biblical in our content and culturally relevant for we are obligated to give the non-believers a valid, powerful demonstration of the gospel of Christ. We are His representatives to present God and the good news to humanity, who, unless they repent will be doomed to hell. While the local, indigenous people are by far the best suited to evangelise and establish churches among their own people they need training and resourcing.

The mission field is not primarily a place. It is anyone who is presently not a believer, whether in our family, locality, work environment, next door or in distant lands, and all believers should be proactive in sharing their faith through action and lifestyle, besides

See what God is doing and join in

words as appropriate.

Mission organisations have developed to provide training, co-ordinate resources and support missionaries in various types of service or parts of the world.

A faith mission does not provide or guarantee financial support for its missionaries but they rely on God to provide through prayer and other believers.