Foundation Topic

What Is Missions?

Jesus calls every one of his followers to tell others about what he has done for us and call others to turn from their sin and believe in him (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus will not return until the whole world has heard the message about his life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of our sins. Although Jesus calls every Christian to make disciples, God calls some people—missionaries—to bring the message of Jesus to other countries and continents. Missions is bringing the gospel to nations that have never heard it before.

Short Content

What Is Missions?

What comes to mind when you hear the word “missions” or “missionary?”

Maybe you imagine a man in khaki shorts trekking through a dense rainforest to bring medical supplies to the natives, or a woman kneeling on the ground feeding bread to several starving children. You’re on the right track, but there’s so much more to the picture! 

What Is Biblical Missions?

Missions is more than providing medical help or nourishment. It’s more than healthcare, social reform, and poverty alleviation. So, what exactly is missions and why do Christians do it? 

Biblically, missions refers to bringing the good news of Jesus to those who haven’t heard of him. 

Mathew 28:18-20 says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’” (NIV). 

We get the idea of missions from the Bible—from Jesus’ commission right here in Matthew 28 to all his followers. According to Jesus’ instruction, our mission as followers of Jesus is to make disciples by inviting people to be followers of Jesus, baptizing them, and teaching them to be obedient to God’s Word. 

Medical help and feeding starving children are both activities God delights in and tells us to take part in. However, if our service isn’t coupled with telling the good news about Jesus, then it isn’t biblical missions—it’s charity.  

This may come as a surprise to you since many churches have soup kitchens, clothing and food drives, and disaster relief trips that fall under outreach programs or missions. These are all great things for a church to do. A church should be caring for the orphans, widows, and needy (James 1:27). However, if they do not share Jesus, then what difference does the church’s soup kitchen make compared to any other organization's soup kitchen? 

God's commission to us shows us the gravity of our call. People are eternal souls that need God’s forgiveness and deliverance from the judgment due their sin. Therefore, Jesus commanded us to be involved in his mission work—bringing lost souls to know God.

Where Is the Mission Field?

Most people associate missions with leaving for another city, country, or continent. This is because, technically speaking, we refer to those who have crossed cultural, ethnic, or geographic lines in order to share about Jesus as missionaries.

However, mission work includes more than rain forest hikes and transcontinental experiences in faraway places. There is what many call a mission field right on your doorstep. Just because you are not a missionary by occupation, does not mean you don’t live on a mission field. We can fall into the trap of thinking that we aren’t “doing mission work” until we have left our homes and sacrificed comfort, health, security, family, and friends. 

The mission field doesn't only exist “in the great unknown,” because the mission field is not a place; it’s people who need to hear the good news of Jesus.

Our greatest need, and the need Jesus came to meet, is to be saved from sin and reconciled to God. The mission field is the geographical location where people need to hear the good news about Jesus—and people need to hear about Jesus everywhere.

The mission field spans the whole planet, from our own homes to the ends of the earth. Surely somebody lives in your town, or on your street, or next door who has not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior—you’ve got a mission field right there.

However, God may call you or your family to a specific corner of the world to a specific group of people. It may include moving, learning a new language, dressing differently, and even some hiking in khaki shorts! But in the words of my grandfather, “You either have a mission field, or you are one.”

Still, God does have a special call on some people’s lives to take them to new places to spread his name. Consider asking the Lord if he would want you to be a missionary in this way.

Have You Ever Thought About Being a Missionary?

This command of God to share the good news about Jesus is ultimately a pathway to joy. God by nature loves to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10), and now that we who believe in Jesus have a loving relationship with God, he wants us to join in his work (Acts 1:8), to share in the joy of seeing lost people rescued from sin and brought into the love of God (Luke 16:7).  

In his love, God uses ordinary people to reach others with his living Word. He gave us what we need to share the good news about him. He gave us the Holy Spirit and the Bible (Mark 13:11; 2 Peter 1:3). We are not the ones who change people’s hearts. But we are the ones God chooses to send to our neighbors, town, country, and world.  

Look down your street. Is there somebody who needs to hear the good news about Jesus? You can join Jesus’ mission today by pursuing that person and sharing the gospel with them.

Then, look at the world. Are there people that arouse your compassion? Is there a place where you see a physical need your skillset could meet, where Jesus might want to send you to proclaim his name?

Pray and ask the Lord whether he wants you to go. Commit to praying for those who have gone to other countries for his name. Consider giving financially to missionaries you know to be faithful bearers of God’s Word.

If you love Jesus, even if you’re not a missionary, you have missions work to do and a mission field wherever Christ has called you. Let’s get to work!    

by Bibles.net 

OPEN YOUR BIBLE

Theme Verse

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 

Acts 1:8 NIV

What Is Our Mission?
Article: 4 Min

God’s Mission Accomplished

by Bibles.net
Quote
We must be
global Christians
with a
global vision
because our
God is a global God.
John Stott
Messages: 62 Min

The Chief End of Missions

by John Piper

Infographic

Meet 24 Famous Missionaries

Click here to discover a few men and women who delighted to bring the good news about Jesus to foreign lands. We've gathered some powerful quotes from them to inspire you to live on mission for Jesus!

Image

And he said
to them,
"Go into all
the world
and proclaim the gospel
to the whole
creation.”

Mark 16:15 ESV
Am I Called To Be a Missionary?
Messages: 45 Min

Being on Mission

by Dave Patty

Quote

Christ alone can
save the world,
but Christ cannot
save the world alone.

Article: 10 Min

Let’s Rethink Our Language of Calling

by Greg Handley at IMB

Verse
Acts 13:47 ESV

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Verse
Jeremiah 1:7-8 ESV

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” 

Messages: 48 Min

The Greatest Missions
Letter Ever Written

by John Piper

Quote

We face a
humanity that is
too precious to neglect.
We know a
remedy for the ills
of the world
too wonderful to withhold.
We have a Christ
too glorious to hide.
We have an
adventure that is
too thrilling to miss.

Theodore Williams
Quote

The Privilege of Missions

For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter?

Away with the word sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.

Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us.

I never made a sacrifice.

by David Livingstone | Source
Messages: 20 Min

Consider Redirecting
the Course of Your Life

by Britt Merrick

Image

And the gospel
must first be
proclaimed
to all nations.

Mark 13:10 ESV
Verse
Romans 10:13-14 ESV

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Article: 12 Min

You Can’t Love
Missions Without
Loving the Local Church

Here are four insights to help people with the decision of whether to go be a missionary or stay and be a faithful member of a local church.

by Caleb Greggsen at 9Marks

Messages: 40 Min

The Great Commission

by Paul Washer

Quote

The Spirit of Christ
is the spirit of missions,
and the nearer
we get to him
the more intensely
missionary
we must become.

Henry Martyn
Verse
Luke 10:2 ESV

And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” 

Article: 10 Min

The Role of Prayer
and Missions in Salvation

by John Piper at Crossway

Verse
1 Chronicles 16:23-24 ESV

Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!

Messages: 50 Min

Come Together for
the Unreached

by David Platt

Quote

What Motivates Someone to Be a Missionary?

Why is it that some Christians cross land and sea, continents and cultures, as missionaries? What on earth impels them? It is not in order to commend a civilization, an institution or an ideology, but rather a person, Jesus Christ, whom they believe to be unique.

by John Stott | Source
How To Support Missionaries?
Article: 7 Min

16 Ways to Pray for Missionaries

by David Platt at IMB

Quote

If you are ever
inclined to pray
for a missionary,
do it at once,
wherever you are.

Article: 10 Min

7 Things to Pray for Missionaries

by Evan Burns at Southern Equip

Videos

Books
Books
Books: Missionary Biographies