Have you ever heard of the term Missio Dei? It’s Latin for ‘Mission of God’; and that my friends, is one of THE most vital concepts we can grasp in our faith journey.
When we hear the term, ‘mission’, or, ‘missions’, maybe the picture that comes to mind is going on a mission trip to a foreign country where relief is given and/or the gospel is preached (all good and amazing things of course!!).
What if I was to tell you though, that this understanding of the word merely scratches the surface for what mission is and involves in your faith? Because it does. There is more; much, much more.
You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ is missional in its very nature. You simply cannot have Christianity without ‘mission’ - just as you cannot have ‘Missio Dei’ without God.
The mission of God exists, first and foremost, because of God. It originates with Him. It is this mission, the Mission of God, that we are all called to be on.
So what exactly is the Mission of God I hear you asking? Great question!
In a nutshell, God’s mission is, was and has always been this: People.
Yep. People. His people. Every single human. The beings He created in His image. His children that He desperately loves; the ones that He originally created to walk with Him in close companionship. The restoration of that original design is His desire. It’s why the mission (and ministry) started and exists in the first place. After the fall, and all that follows, is about the restoration of our original design. He has been on this mission ever since the fall, going as far as sacrificing His Son to make that reconciliation possible between Himself and His people. Now, He’s handed the baton to us.
This is what we are partakers of. This is the mission mandate we have been given - to continue what He started in and through Jesus. We have been given this ministry, Paul says, the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18). Just as we are co-heirs in Christ and co-labourers, we are also co-missionaries in, with and through Him. Remember the great commission recorded in Matthew 28? It isn’t called the great commission (CO-MISSION) for no reason (Matt 28). We really are all on a common mission, the same one Jesus was on, and now WE have been sent to continue the mission. We, the church, are a ‘sent’ people. This is important to note because we need to realize that we ‘go’ because we are sent. We don’t ‘go’ on our own back, in our own strength or on our own accord. We were sent, Jesus said “go” and that is why we go.
The mission is for every single one of us to participate in. It is not a ministry or a mission that is limited to the educated, the ordained, the perfected or the rich. Nor is it a mission that is limited to a building or to a service. It supersedes these things and exists at all times, in all places, in all people, for all time. The service and the building just help facilitate the mission in one of the MANY ways it can be outworked
This means, YOU, my friend, ARE ON MISSION!! And YOU, my friend, are in ministry. This understanding will change your world, both your inner world and outer world. I call living with this understanding, adopting a ‘missional mindset’. It’s a mindset that outworks continually out of an understanding of Missio Dei as the centrepiece of our lives.
Here are just some of the reasons having a missional mindset is so important to your faith and to faith at large:
1) ADOPTING A MISSIONAL MINDSET KEEPS US GROUNDED, IN OUR LANE, AND FROM BEING TAKEN OUT
A missional mindset understands that we are all on a common mission, living for one cause, and therefore there is no comparison and no competition. Period. A missional mindset has Kingdom perspective; constantly thinking in terms of the Kingdom of God at large. NOT “who’s who in the zoo.”
This Kingdom perspective says: every single one of us is on a common mission TOGETHER. Each one on mission in different ways and in different unique places and spheres. It understands that the arm is not the leg, and the eye is not the mouth, yet all are equally important (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Just because one is seen (say, the hands), and one is not (like, blood cells), it does not make it any less vital, valuable, or needed.
The opposite to this kind of thinking is small, narrow minded thinking that lives as though we are all in competition with one another. It says something like: if someone else is doing something I am or want to (and probably better), or, nobody sees what I do, then I have no value, no purpose, no place, no influence. It’s a lie from the pits of hell. Don’t believe it for one second. That is not Kingdom thinking. That’s not a missional mindset. You ALWAYS have a vital part to play. In God’s Kingdom you have a place, a place only you can fill, that is valuable and NEEDED. You are needed in this mission! Don’t let the latter thinking take you out. No one can reach the people you can reach. No one thinks the way you do, speaks the way you do, sees the way you do. Some of the most influential, darkness wrecking ministry happens in homes, alone, on knees, in intercession or behind closed doors in seemingly unimportant conversations or random acts of kindness. Never negate the small and the unseen.
2) ADOPTING A MISSIONAL MINDSET KEEPS OUR FOCUS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AND ON THE RIGHT THINGS
A missional mindset causes us to keep our focus outward, beyond ourselves, and on to what matters most. And in God’s eyes, that is people; particularly the one that is lost (Luke 15).
It remembers that we are a ‘sent’ people, called to go out. Therefore it is not inward, waiting only for people to come to us, it goes to them also. It lives among the hurting, the broken, the needy. It breathes among them hope, restoration and future. It causes us to live interwoven in our communities, not merely a passerby within it. It is more concerned with what God is doing in the world and how we can participate than it is about how good we look to our fellow Christians. This missional mindset constantly pulls our focus back to His Kingdom, His heart, and how we are to participate within it.
On this point, there’s one lyric I particularly LOVE from Kanye West’s album ‘Jesus is King’, it encapsulates this concept so well. He says in the song ‘God is’: “This is a mission not a show”. Um, Wow!. Yes! Here’s a man, who has gotten a profound and important revelation early on in his faith walk. That is what this is ALL about… mission. God’s mission. When we adopt a missional-mindset, this becomes our mantra in a way. In all things we do, it’s about the mission, nothing else. Keeping the main thing, the main thing.
And finally..
3) ADOPTING A MISSIONAL MINDSET ENSURES OUR IDENTITY REMAINS IN CHRIST AND NOTHING ELSE
3) ADOPTING A MISSIONAL MINDSET ENSURES OUR IDENTITY REMAINS IN CHRIST AND NOTHING ELSE
Adopting a missional mindset helps us remember time and time again that this is all bigger than us, in fact, it’s not really about us at all. It keeps us from building anything for ourselves or around ourselves. Our ministry or our platform. It brings us out of “my ministry” thinking, to “God’s ministry” thinking. It understands that I’ve already been given a ministry and that’s to outwork God’s ministry and mission in the unique way I can both in the mundane and in the grand. Ah… what a relief that is. I don’t need to strive for some aloof ‘thing’ that means I’m succeeding. I live in the mission every day. And it’s His not mine.
When we live from this missional understanding, it means we can know that no matter what season of life we are in, the mission remains, and I can STILL participate in that mission. I am still VALUABLE in the mission. Identity isn’t shaken because it’s never tied to a certain position or role. It understands that even as a stay at home mum, or full-time accountant, or uni student part-time coffee shop worker - I can do damage to darkness and do what Christ has asked. Seasons, roles, titles, positions… these things ebb and flow, start and end. Missio Dei, the mission of God, that lasts.
To close….The point is this: We all, as God’s people, are on mission. A mission that starts and ends with God and His love. I truly believe we must ALL adopt a missional mindset if we are going to see darkness defeated and people free back in reconciliation with the Father. My advice is this: Never… EVER, forget that you are on mission. Everyday. Every minute of every day. In your special way that only you can to the people only you know.
So be on mission. Whatever you do, wherever you are - be on mission. The gospel was never meant to be spectated, only ever participated. Will you co-mission with Christ today, and every day? I pray so.
With Love,
Ps. My disclaimer here is this: Please remember that the first and greatest commandment to us is to love God with all our hearts, souls and minds (Matt. 22:37). Mission won’t (and shouldn’t) come naturally out of striving. It must be an overflow from a heart in love with God, desperate for others to also know and receive that love. Love first. Always.
