Suppose you are asked to choose one biblical text that you believe has done more than any other to inspire mission, what would it be? Chances are, you’ll choose Matthew 28:19 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
No question, this is one of the great missionary texts.
But the Great Commission does have its limitations. For example, it’s not the text I would choose if I was asked to sum up my theology of mission. For that, I think I would opt instead for 2 Corinthians 5:19, which declares that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us”.
There are five things I like about this missional statement:
1. Its scope – nothing less than the world is the object of God’s reconciling activity in Christ. Not just Christians, not just the elect, not just the lovable, not just human beings even, but the whole of Creation. Staggering!
2. It is God, not the Church, who is the primary agent of mission. Thus understood, the Great Commission only makes sense when it is placed in this larger context called the Missio Dei, the mission of God. Discipling is about equipping people to become active participants in the full scope of God’s redemptive purposes. That’s what following Jesus leads to.
3. It’s about reconciliation. It might be many other things too, but God’s core business is reconciliation. Reconciliation does not mean mere co-existence; it means a vital, restored relationship in which the disruptive effects of sin have been dealt with once and for all.
4. It’s complete in Christ. It’s not about church programmes, Christian activism or outreach committees, but about the one who “for our sake was made sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). John Calvin called it the “miraculous exchange”.
5. The core business of those who have been entrusted with this message of reconciliation (the Church) is simply to make it known. There is nothing so simple or as challenging as this, for the constant temptation is to either settle for less or to try to do more. You know the Church has settled for less when it becomes indistinguishable from other voluntary organisations; you know it’s trying to do more when it thinks everything depends on its own institutional survival and growth.
In light of the above, why not try the following mission audit in your church? It consists of a few simple questions:
What is the scope of mission in this church? How expansive is its vision? Who or what tends to be overlooked?
Who is the primary agent of mission here? What are the main indicators or signs of this being the case?
To what extent is the Gospel of reconciliation evident in the life and witness of this church? How well do the structures, processes, commitments and activities of the church serve this primary missional mandate?
How well do the people in this church understand themselves to be a reconciled and reconciling people, with all that that entails?
If you substitute the word “presbytery” for “church”, what happens then?
And if you substitute the name “Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand” for “presbytery”, what happens then?
When I do that, I see plenty of things to affirm. I also see plenty of scope for reform.