To engage in mission is a powerful and wonderful gift. Although sometimes
relegated to small committees composed of the willing, when a
church fully embraces the power of mission, it tends to inspire, build,
and deepen not only the congregation but the entire community. Participating
in mission goes beyond accomplishing a checklist of things
Christians vaguely feel God wants them to do. To participate in mission
is to participate in the missio Dei; literally, the mission of God. In the work
of mission God allows us to be partners with God in the work of building
God’s reign on earth, as it is in heaven. We may only achieve glimpses
of God’s reign in our world, but there is no more powerful privilege and
responsibility than to partner in God’s own work.
We sometimes define participation in the mission of God too narrowly
when speaking about mission in our churches. When bathed in
the light of God’s mission, what we mean by mission must go beyond
simply “we who have much, giving to those who have little.” Mission
instead becomes living into the image of God. We reach out to others
because God first reached out to us. Let us examine how central is this
theme of living with others.
