Sometimes the church can get confused about its mission, but Jesus makes clear what mission is all about. Tim Chester and Steve Timmis in
Total Church say it like this,
In the contemporary and often confused scene, ‘mission’ has become a non-specific and slippery term. But the words of Jesus that close Matthew’s Gospel provide us with a vital compass point. They make it clear that it is Jesus and his word that are the very heart of mission. He is the one to whom authority has been given; he is the one who commands his disciples to go’ his name is among those into which people are to be baptized; it is his teaching that people are to obey; he is the one who will be with them as they go. At the heart of world mission is Jesus and the gospel word. –page 99
They gone on to talk about the church’s role in mission, especially as it relates to gospel and community,
The church is God’s mission strategy. At the heart of God’s plan to bless the nations are the people of God. The church is formed by mission and for mission. By the word she proclaims and the corporate life she lives, men and women throughout the world are commanded to repent and invited to live. The gospel word and the gospel community are both indispensible to mission, because that has always been God’s strategy. –page 101
I pray that CrossWay is becoming this kind of missional church.
