Five Steps to Help You Find Your Role in the Mission of God

The church has one mission. As Paul puts it in Romans 15:21, our job is to ensure that “… those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand” (ESV).

We all have a role in that mission. Whatever spiritual gifts and abilities you have, you are supposed to interpret them in light of the bigger picture of God’s purposes stated in his Word—to get the gospel to the ends of the earth.

John Piper says when it comes to the Great Commission, there are only three options: go, send, or disobey. Some of us are called to go, and others are called to send.

If you don’t know what that looks like in your life, here are a few steps you can take to get started in fulfilling your role in God’s global purposes.

Is Jesus' Mission your Mission?

Jesus is not after passive surrender. The cross was his instrument of world salvation, so to take it up means actively devoting your life to his mission.

So many Christians believe you must simply obey all the Ten Commandments and then go on with life as usual, unless God appears to you in a burning bush. But following Jesus means accepting his mission as your own and pursuing it wholeheartedly.

Missionary Identity

As Christians, I believe we should always be more driven by our missionary identity than we are by our national identity, our political identity, our environmental identity, our social identity, or even our church identity.

Kingdom Thinking and Church Planting

The person, work and ways of Jesus should determine our purpose and mission in the world, and then our mission to follow him should drive us to discover different approaches of being the church.

Bottom line: We must start with Jesus!

Should the church be more inclusive or exclusive?

One of the biggest challenges that Christians face today is reconciling the seemingly exclusive claims of Jesus with the postmodern cultural value of inclusivity.

Whether you are at a Starbucks or a law firm, a university campus or a preschool, inclusivity is what everyone seems to be striving for. It’s written in value statements. It’s expressed in public memos (sometimes after an employee Twitter gaff). And perhaps most importantly, it’s simply assumed to be an inherent good by most people in society.

The Immigration Crisis and the Great Commission

Nothing describes the state of global immigration better than the word “crisis.” More people are migrating today than at any other time in history. Migration occurs for many reasons. For some people, migration is a chance for new opportunities, education, or employment. For others, migration is driven by warfare or deep poverty. It would be foolish to think unrestricted immigration is always good. National borders exist to protect the integrity of a nation—including its security, culture, and its financial means.

10 things every Christian should know about Islam

Islam is a fast-growing religion, especially in the Western world. Christians increasingly need to be aware of Islam and, most importantly, how to engage its adherents with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here are 10 things I learned about Islam during my 20 years as a missionary in a Muslim-majority country.

In defense of short-term mission trips

One of the most curious things about the book of Acts is how Luke goes out of his way to show his readers the gospel spread around the world faster by laypeople than by apostles. Acts 8 begins, “They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” I can just imagine Peter and John saying, “Wow, Luke. Really appreciate you calling us out like that. ‘Everyone went around preaching the gospel except for us.’ Thanks for that.”

"I will give you a sheikh!"

Sheikh Hanif was a seasoned Muslim leader. He had studied the Qur’an for many years and was responsible for organizing Muslim communities and launching new mosques. One night he had an overwhelming dream in which a graceful man addressed him by name and introduced himself as Isa al Masih (Jesus the Messiah). He simply said he wanted Hanif to serve him and listen carefully. In the dream he showed Hanif a tree on a hill nearby and the face of a man. “Go now and wait under the tree by the road. Look for this man, for he is my servant. You will recognize him when you see him, and he will show you the true answers to all your questions about God."

12 practices of a new Jesus movement

“Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism under heaven,” missiologist C. Peter Wagner once said. But is this still true today? Global nomad and missionary Andrew Jones, who works with emerging ‘Jesus movements’ around the world, suggests it’s time to rethink our missions practice, and move from ‘church as a weekly meeting in a building or a house’ towards ‘more sustainable, holistic, and measurably transformational Kingdom solutions.’

Seven marks of new churches in the Muslim world

For more than seven years Jerry Trousdale studied disciple making movements in the Muslim world, especially in West-Africa. In that period more than 6,000 new Muslim-background churches were started in 18 countries, comprising 70 different Muslim people groups. Trousdale found that ‘church’ is being done in a specific way:

Miraculous movements in the Muslim world

Can God use ordinary people to launch miraculous movements? Certainly, says Jerry Trousdale, director of International Ministries for CityTeam International and author of ‘Miraculous Movements’, a book that captures the stories of 130 Muslim leaders and entire communities in Sub-Saharan Africa who have embraced Christ over the past few years. The key to this remarkable harvest was the return to biblical principles and approaches of discipleship: helping Muslims to discover and obey Jesus and make new disciples. Trousdale uses the term ‘disciple making movements’ rather than ‘church planting movements’ to describe what is happening.

Four Steps to Community Engagement

I've said many times before that if the 1950s were to make a comeback, there would be all too many churches who could go on without missing a beat. The good news is that they found a ministry strategy that works. The bad news is that the people they reach are now seventy years old.

What does a real Movement look like?

Three sparks every movement needs.
 
Actual movements are tricky things, but the word has never been more popular.

People keep referring to themselves as "a movement for global change" or "a church planting movement." If we're honest, however, that's usually not the case. You shouldn't even be the one declaring yourself a movement.

How to be on Mission in the City

What does the future hold for cities? Stephen Um shares five tips for a faithful gospel mission. Let’s consider just a sampling of the facts:

• 5.5 million people move into cities every month—that’s the equivalent of a new San Francisco Bay Area being created every 30 days. (UN-HABITAT)
• Right now, there are 23 megacities, with over 10 million citizens. By 2025, there will be 36 such cities. (UN)
• In 1900, only 14% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. The number was 30% in 1950. In 2011 the world became 51% urban. By 2050, the world will be nearly 70% urban. (PRB)

Study your city

If you intimately know whom you want to reach, then you will be better set up to engage people effectively with the gospel of Jesus.

An inability to interpret the signs of the times is to be guilty of what we might call . . .

. . . the “Great Omission.”

The "Insider Movement"

An astounding phenomenon, though not exclusive to ministry to Muslims, is overtaking much missionary work among Muslims.  A growing number of professing Christians involved in witness to Muslims are a part of what is called, “Insider Movements,” or the “Insider Movement.”

This controversial approach to ministry has resulted in many of its proponents to affirm that Muhammad was a prophet from God, the Quran is at least partially-inspired Scripture, and it is possible for Muslims to retain their Muslim identity as “Muslim followers of Christ.”

The Church Exists by Mission

"The Church exists by mission as a fire exists by burning." - Emil Brunner

From time to time, I talk to pastors and church leaders, especially those in the camp of reformed theology, that say things like, “We're a church that's all about discipleship,” or “We're just a church that's trying to go deep.” What I have found over the years is that, much of the time, this is an excuse for them not doing any type of evangelism. I have also found it misleading. I would contend you are not deep as a church or good at discipleship as a church, unless people are getting saved and baptized as a church.

Lessons Learned in the Fields

Recently I was asked to describe what I would do differently if I were to start church planting again. Here was my response.

20 Reasons We Don't See Harvest

1. We spend so much time with other believers we don't have time to invest in the lives of those who do not know Jesus.

2. We are afraid of being contaminated by having too much contact with the world.