Mission: Measuring Its Extend.

Quite often, we think, talk and teach about mission with great passion. We define it as being the “heart of God”, what in God’s mind is the main focus for humanity. But the question is: do we understand the full extend of that focus ? In this post we shall explore the diversity of New Testament vocabulary that refers to the mission of the Church on earth. We shall also present some faces of mission that need more consideration today.

Many perceive mission as the task of preaching or proclaiming the good news of salvation through Jesus-Christ to all mankind ( Mark 16: 15, Matthew 24: 14), while some with the desire for more precision, point to Matthew 28: 19-20 insisting that Mission is all about makingdisciples of all nations. Does the Bible actually limit Mission to preaching or proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples ? Actually, Scripture points out dozens of words and expressions referring to the missionary task God has given he Church for a lost world. Though he acknowledges the value of the verbs “to evangelize”, “to preach and to proclaim” in defining that task, David J. Hesselgrave brings out a list of New Testament terms that point to that same Mission

1. Syncheō (confound)–Acts 9: 22
2. Symbibazō (prove)– Acts 9: 22
3. Diēgeomai (describe)–Acts 9: 27
4. Sysēteō (argue)– Acts 9: 29
5. Laleō (talk)– Acts 9: 29
6. Dialegomai (Reason with)– Acts 18: 4
7. Peithō (persuade)–Acts 18: 4
8. Noutgeteō (admonish, warn)– Acts 20: 31
9. Katēcheō (inform, instruct)–Acts 21: 21, 24
10. Deomai (beg, beseech)– 2 Cor. 5: 20
11. Elenchō (reprove)– 2 Tim. 4: 2
12. Epitimaō (rebuke)– 2 Tim. 4: 2
13. Parakaleō (exhort, urge)- 1 Peter 2: 11¹¹

To go further, let’s look at Jesus’ ministry in a more detailed way. He did not only preach and teach. Beside preaching and teaching, he practically met the basic existential needs of the poor, the oppressed, the sick etc. He often addressed societal issues , fighting against injustice. The gospel is a message that affects the total man and Mission is the vehicle that carries it to the world through a diversity of approaches. The dissociation of the spiritual from the physical, the lack of concern for socio-political and economical issues by individual Christians and the Church at large, denotes a shortsightedness about God’s kingdom on earth. In the Lord’s prayer, it is stated: ” Your kingdom come, your will be donne on earth as it is done in heaven” (Matthew 6: 10). It is important for the Church to understand that this portion of the prayer is an actual call for God’s dominion on earth, on the lives and affairs of human beings and nations. Yes of course, this starts by the conversion of individual souls. But it goes right deep into the way those souls think, relate with others, do business, politics etc.

In conclusion, mission is about joining God in establishing his dominion in the lives and affairs of Men. To achive that aim, we preach the Good news of salvation through Christ ; we teach, encourage, rebuke, persuade, argue biblically; we defend the poor and the oppressed; we take care of the widow, the orphan and the sick; we bring the light of Christ in the way we do business and politics. For us to understand the full length of the Church apostolic task, we probably also need to measure the extend of Man’s fall and its consequences.

1. David J. Hesselgrave, Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally ( Grand Rapids , Michigan, Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 25 ↩︎