On Mission

God wants us to join Him in His mission of restoring all things to the way they ought to be. God is calling us to live missionally. Now this word may sound a little bizarre at first: It kind of sounds like missionary, mission trip, and missile. But in order to really unpack what we mean when we say missional, we must go back to the root of the word. The root of the word means to go somewhere with the purpose of accomplishing something.

We are saying that we must adopt a lifestyle that is about going someplace for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task. To narrow it down a bit, we mean that our lives must be dedicated to the purpose of going to places where our lives will intersect with the lives of people who do not know Jesus for the purpose of introducing them to Jesus by living out the life of Christ before them. In short, it means that we adopt the same mindset that a missionary in a foreign country might have, but do so without leaving our current location. We live like missionaries to the world around: in our job, at our school, with our families, etc. We live every day with the purpose of living like Jesus so that we can share Jesus with people who do not yet know Him.

Going on a mission trip to some poor country sounds pretty important. And it is. But the real work, the real work for God’s mission of restoring all things to Himself happens here … in the Dallas area, where we live every day. This is hard work and this is what God is calling us to do: to live with the mindset of a full-time missionary sent out to our very own cities, workplaces, schools, and homes.

Imagine if you showed up at the next MERGE gathering and you heard a talk about giving your life up to full-time missionary work. He tells you that, if you sign up, you will be assigned to a city to live as a missionary for many, many years. The Holy Spirit is really working on your heart. You are really convicted that being a full-time missionary is what God wants from you. So even though it means it will cost you your money, your time, your energy, your everything, you commit. Then imagine that a week later, Rob comes to you and says, “We are so glad that you signed up to be a full-time missionary. All of your money, time, energy, friendships, your every decision will be geared towards proclaiming the Good News of Jesus to the city you are being assigned to.” You reply, “Great. I know all that. I am excited. What city am I going to?” Then Rob says, “The Dallas Metroplex. We really feel like you can make a big impact there!” At first you are disappointed. Then you realize that you can do all the same missionary stuff, but do it in Dallas. And, as a matter of fact, you can do it without leaving your job, your school, your family, your city, etc. All you have to change is your identity.

This is what it means to be missional. It is not about doing more. It is about changing your identity. It does not mean giving evangelistic efforts a bigger piece of your proverbial pie. It means giving the whole pie, with all of it’s existing categories, to a missionary God.