What activities and goals are properly included under the term “missions”?
- The mission of the church, according to the Bible, is to worship God and to love the world by calling it to that same worship.
- The goal of missions, in other words, is to produce worshippers of God by proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ:
- “‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’… how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom. 10:13, 14b).
- The climax of our labor is “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Rev. 7:9, 10).
- The primary activity of missions, then, is to preach the words of the gospel:
- “And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!…Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:15, 17).
- Our fear of God should lead us to “persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11);
- Our work is to “preach Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
- The complementary witness to that message is a holy life of good works (see Matt. 5:13-16; Gal. 6:10; 1 Peter 2:11-12).
