I’m finishing up preparations for tomorrow (covering why world missions is essential in just 5 minutes is not an easy task). Digging through notes from seminary, I found something pretty amazing. It was from a class that didn’t particularly stand out at the time as earth-shattering, called “Biblical Foundations for Missions” by Chuck Van Engen. At the time, he was working on a preliminary definition of mission, of God’s mission in the world. I’d love to see if he has a final version now, because reading this again, I am moved. This speaks mightily of how we holistically join what Jesus is doing in the world:
Mission is the intentional crossing of barriers
from Church to non-church
to proclaim by word and deed
the coming of the Kingdom of God
in Jesus Christ,
through the Church’s participation
in God’s mission of reconciling people
to God, to themselves, to each other, and to the world,
and gathering them into the Church
through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ
by the work of the Holy Spirit
with a view to the transformation of the world
as a sign of the coming of the Kingdom of God
in Jesus Christ.
Oh yeah! I’d like to join that…