3. Laying the Groundwork:
Key Terms
• Missions: the specific task of making disciples of
all nations
• Mission: everything the church does that points
toward the kingdom of God
• Missio Dei: a comprehensive term encompassing
everything God does in relation to the kingdom
and everything the church is sent to do on earth
(McIntosh 2000)
• Missiology: the formal, academic study of mission
(Moreau 2001a)
5. Missions, Mission
and Missio Dei
Missions:
Evangelism, Discipleship,
and Church Planting
Mission:
What the Church Does
for God in the World
Missio Dei:
All That God Does
to Build the Kingdom
6. A Theological Approach
to Mission
• Question 1: How Does Mission Theology
Fit into Theology as a Whole?
• Question 2: What is the Foundation for
Our Theology of Mission?
• Question 3: What Guiding Theme
Provides the Orientation to
Our Mission Theology?
• Question 4: What Motifs Are Important
to Mission Theology?
8. Mission
The Fit of Mission Theology
Fall/Sin
Creation Mandate
Theology of
Humanity
Theology of
God
Theology of
Created
Order
BibleChurch
Salvation
Creation/
Sustaining
W
ork
9. Question 2:
What is the Foundation for Our Theology of Mission?
• The Bible alone contains God’s self-revelation.
• It alone has the authority to guide us through the
complex questions that face each new generation.
• It alone provides the general principles on which a
theology of mission must be built and the specific
instructions given to the church by God that
inform our view of mission today.
10. Question 3:
What Guiding Theme Provides the Orientation
to Our Mission Theology?
• God’s glory and our reflection of his glory
through worship are the guiding themes for our
mission theology.
• Those themes find their focus in the tasks that the
church is commissioned by God to perform.
• Being sent by God,
• we are to call people to be reconciled to and come
worship the King of kings
• while at the same time growing in our own ability to
worship him by living lives that best reflect his glory.
11. Guiding Theme: Three
Concentric Elements
1. Calling those who do not know Christ
through the activities of evangelism and
church planting
2. Growing in our capacity to live God-
glorifying lives through the processes of
discipleship and church growth
3. Reflecting God’s glory to a needy world
through living lives of salt and light
15. Question 4:
What Motifs Are Important to Mission Theology?
• Motif One: The Kingdom of God
• Motif Two: Jesus
• Motif Three: The Holy Spirit
• Motif Four: The Church
• Motif Five: Shalom
• Motif Six: The Return of Jesus
16. Biblical Revelation
Reflecting God’s Glory
through Worship
Motifs in Mission Theology
Return
of Jesus
Shalom
Church
HolySpirit
Jesus
Kingdom
of God
17. Motif:
The Kingdom of God
• Paradoxes that describe the kingdom:
• It is in the world but not of it (John 18:36).
• It belongs to the little ones, but those in it are greater
than the greatest ones (Matt. 11:11; 18:1–4).
• It comes as a free gift but demands all we have (Luke
12:30–33), and only the truly righteous will enter it
(Matt. 5:20).
• It is God's very reign but works in hidden ways
(Matt. 13:33).
• It is already present (Luke 17:21) yet still coming in the
future (Matt. 6:10).
• It does not consist of talk (1 Cor. 4:20), but it must be
proclaimed (Luke 4:43).
18. Motif:
The Kingdom of God (cont.)
• Mission and kingdom are inextricably intertwined.
• The paradoxes of the kingdom are the paradoxes of
mission as well.
• Mission is successful when God’s rules are followed, which can
appear topsy-turvy even to the missionaries themselves.
• Enemies of the kingdom are not conquered by force, but by loving
concern.
• Mission, starting small, has become a large force in today’s world.
• Mission is the empowerment of the weak for tasks impossible even
for the strong.
• It will make its ultimate mark on the world even if people refuse to
respond to the call of Christ.
• It belongs to the poor and the persecuted.
19. Motif: Jesus
• The Creator of the world has indeed presented the
complete solution to the human predicament. As
such it is supreme; it is unique; and it is absolute.
So we have the audacity in this pluralistic age to
say that Jesus as He is portrayed in the Bible is not
only unique but also supreme. He is our message
to the world. A Hindu once asked Dr. E. Stanley
Jones, “What has Christianity to offer that our
religion has not?” He replied, “Jesus Christ.”
(Fernando 1995, 262)
20. Motif: Jesus (cont.)
• Jesus permeates all three levels of our missional
foundation:
• It is he who both calls people to himself and enjoins
them to go and make disciples.
• Discipleship and growth, both individual and corporate,
come through obeying all that he taught and through
teaching others to do likewise.
• His example of salt-and-light living inspires Christians
to keep their focus Godward as they live lives that
cause people to glorify the King of kings.
21. Motif:
The Holy Spirit
• He is the agent who empowers Christians for mission and
makes mission work possible for the church (see Luke
24:45–49 and Acts 1:8).
• He reverses Babel at Pentecost, confirming Jesus’ teaching
that the kingdom of God is not limited by language or
ethnicity (Acts 2:1–11).
• He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment
(John 16:8–11).
• He ripens fields for harvest (Peters 1972, 80), convicting
those who do not know Christ and wooing them to commit
themselves into his care (Rev. 22:17).
22. Motif:
The Holy Spirit (cont.)
• He guides the church in all truth (John 16:13) and
in its missionary labors (e.g., Acts 16:7).
• He works inside the human heart, empowering
Christians for witness (Acts 1:8), motivating them
to witness and giving them words to say (Matt.
10:17–20).
• The Spirit also gifts the church for the purpose of
growth both in numbers (Acts 2:14–41) and in
maturity toward Christlikeness (Eph. 4:7–13).
23. Motif:
The Holy Spirit (cont.)
• He convicts those in the world of sin and woos
them to come to Christ.
• He empowers Christ’s followers to witness and
acts as the change agent in the lives of those who
have committed themselves to following Jesus.
• He prays for Christians with groanings too deep
for words, guiding them in making wise decisions
about the best way to live salty lives that shine the
light of God into dark situations.
24. Motif: The Church
• A local church is a group of gathered
believers (e.g., Acts 5:11; 11:26; 1 Cor.
11:18; 14:19, 28, 35).
• The universal church is the whole body of
believers, including
• those still in the world (1 Cor. 10:32; 11:22;
12:28; Eph. 4:11–16), and
• those in heaven (Eph. 1:22–23; 3:10, 21; 5:23–
25, 27, 32; Col. 1:18, 24).
25. Motif: The Church (cont.)
• Submits to Christ in three relationships:
1. In relation to God, the church is to send forth
praise and glory to God for his merciful
dealings with people (Eph. 3:20–21) and to
make his wisdom known even in the heavenly
realms (Eph. 3:10–11).
26. Motif: The Church (cont.)
2. In relation to itself,
• Edification: God gifts and appoints people in the
church (1 Cor. 12:28). They lead the church in its
responsibilities to build up the saints (1 Cor. 14:12,
26; Heb. 10:24), equip them for service (Eph.
4:11–16), and care for its own who are in need
(Acts 12:5; James 1:27; 1 Tim. 5:1–16).
• Purification: The church is to allow Christ to
cleanse it so as to be a spotless bride (Eph. 5:25b–
27), morally (1 Cor. 5; Matt. 18:15–18) and
doctrinally (Acts 15:22–29; 2 Tim. 2:16–18).
27. Motif: The Church (cont.)
3. In relation to the world, the church is
to call the peoples of the world to
repentance by proclaiming the
kingdom (Matt. 28:16–20).
28. Motif: Shalom
• Shalom involves these dimensions of
community and individual peace:
• Spiritual (salvation)
• Physical (healing)
• Psychological (wholeness)
• Social (justice and freedom from war)
29. Motif: Shalom (cont.)
• Shalom is not dependent on circumstances; we can
be peaceful even when all around us is not.
• Shalom is seen clearly in spiritual warfare:
Christians have been set free and are called to
participate in the kingdom conflict of setting
others free through calling them to bond to Christ
(Matt. 28:18–20; John 8:31–37).
30. Motif:
The Return of Jesus
• Eschatology relates on each core level of
mission thinking.
• Evangelism is God’s response to the fact that
people apart from Christ are destined to spend
eternity separated from God in hell.
• The Christian’s personal involvement in
evangelism is an indication that he or she takes
seriously both God’s concern for humankind as
well as the predicament of people separated
from Christ.
31. Motif:
The Return of Jesus (cont.)
• The certainty of Christ’s return
• provides Christians with hope, enabling them to
persevere in their own growth as followers of Christ;
• spurs the church on, providing security in the
knowledge that it is the bride of Christ and the wedding
awaits;
• motivates Christians to expose the world’s darkness;
and
• motivates Christians to be preservers in a lost world.
