If you asked 20 believers, “How would you define missions?” chances are, you’d get 20 different answers.
In a Barna study of Christians and pastors, believers varied widely in their views of missions. About a third of believers said missions is proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ wherever you are. About 17% said missions is the calling to proclaim the gospel to a specific people group or region. Another 15% said it’s the holistic transformation of people’s lives by caring for their physical, social, and spiritual needs.
The same study showed pastors and believers disagree on who is called to missions. Whereas 85% of pastors believe missions is a mandate for all believers, only 46% of all Christians believe the same thing.
Clearly, believers struggle to pinpoint a common definition for missions, even though missions is crucial to the Christian faith.
This disconnect reveals both a challenge and an opportunity for believers to understand how the Bible defines missions and what that means for Christians today.
How the Bible Talks About Missions
First, what does the word “mission” mean? “Mission” comes from the Latin word missio, which means the act of sending or to send. So at its core, a mission is a task with which a person or group of people is charged and sent out to accomplish.
What has God charged believers to do? After defeating the grave, Jesus told His disciples to “‘go and make disciples of all nations … (Matthew 28:19).’” Then, before ascending to Heaven, He told them, “‘… you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).’”
The word “nations” in Matthew 28 comes from the Greek word ethne, which means peoples or ethnic people groups. Today, there are somewhere between 10,000 and 16,000 people groups in the world. Of those, as many as 7,000 have no access to the gospel.
Jesus does not want disciples just from the areas where He traveled during His earthly ministry. He wants people “from every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7:9)” to worship Him. To do that, He wants His followers to go to them. In John’s account of the resurrection, Jesus said, “‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you (John 20:21).’” Jesus is sending His disciples to make more disciples.
John Piper, a prolific pastor and founder of Desiring God, said, “Missions is a cross-cultural endeavor to help people experience God as their treasure above all treasures.”
Does that mean we should only focus on international missions? Notice the first place Jesus told the disciples to be witnesses: Jerusalem. They were in Jerusalem when He gave this command, and He told them to stay there until they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). Jesus wanted His disciples to witness to the people closest to them and people far from them. So, believers should be faithful witnesses wherever they live, whether that’s in a city with hundreds of churches or a village with no churches. But they should also be willing and ready to go wherever the Father sends them. Jesus told His followers to ask the Lord to send laborers into the harvest field (Matthew 9:38). Who knows whether that laborer could be you?
Who is Missions For?
God’s mission is to send His people into the harvest field to be His witnesses and make disciples of all nations. But who is this mission for?
David Platt, the Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church, said, “God has created us, crafted us, saved us, blessed us, ultimately for the spread of His glory in the world.”
Consider the roles believers are assigned in Scripture. We are ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), official representatives and messengers of God. All believers are called to be ready to give a defense (1 Peter 3:15) and proclaim the excellencies of the Lord (1 Peter 2:9). We were created to glorify God among the nations.
This does not mean every believer is called to be a missionary. Some are called to go to the nations and proclaim the name of Jesus (aka missionaries). Some are called to financially support the people and organizations seeking to reach all peoples. Some are called to pray fervently for the lost, for the laborers, and for the Holy Spirit to move among unreached people. Some are called to do all of these things.
Regardless of your unique role, everyone who belongs to Jesus is called to participate in His Great Commission. As John Piper said, “Go, send, or disobey.”
The Variety of Missions
Missions is about making God’s name known among the nations and calling all peoples to worship Him. What that looks like in practice can vary. In some places, caring for a person’s physical needs leads to caring for their spiritual needs.
If you want to heal diseases in underdeveloped nations, do that with the end goal of telling them about the ultimate Healer and Physician. If you want to save women and children from human trafficking, do that with the end goal of telling them who can save their souls for eternity. If you want to care for orphans, do that with the end goal of telling them about the Father who wants to adopt them forever.
Whatever you do, tell the world about Jesus because only in knowing and loving Jesus is eternal life found.
“‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. … I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. … I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.’” –John 17:3, 6, 22–23
Go to the Nations
The Great Commission is for every believer. Because this is true, we’re committed to empowering the global Church to reach the unreached. Through short-term teams and missionary deployments for a year or more, we train and send people just like you to take the gospel where it’s never been.
