Skip to main content

Evangelism (Evangelogy): The Elements of Mission

The Elements of Mission
Mission is bigger than evangelism. The full mission of God in our view involves the restoration of all that has gone wrong through the Fall. It presupposes a rich vision of God creating this world out of love that would be free from evil in which all would be whole. Society would be based on goodness, love, peace and joy. The creation itself would be stable and cared for by those who people the world. God and people would live together in glorious harmony and peace would prevail at every level of the world. The mission then is the putting right of what has gone wrong. Central to this is the good news of God's intervention in Jesus to restore people's relationship with God, with each other and with the world.

That being the case, within this broad vision of mission:
Believers are called by God to work with others to make Jesus Christ known through:
-                    the empowerment of the Spirit and obedience to His leading[1]
-                    unlimited unconditional love and sacrificial service[2]
-                    lavish response to material need[3]
-                    relentless communication of the good news of Jesus (see above)[4]
-                    the formation of a Christ-centred renewed humanity[5]
-                    the nurture and teaching of people in the Christian faith[6]
-                    seeking to transform all of human society for good[7]
-                    building God’s world through gifts and vocational calling[8]
-                    care for God’s creation[9]



[1] See especially Acts 1:8.
[2] See especially John 3:16; 2 Cor 5:14; Phil
[3] See especially Luke 4:18-20; Matt 25:31-46; Gal 2:10; 1 John 3:16-17; James 2:14-17; Luke 6:20-36; Mark 6:37.
[4] See especially Luke 24:46-49; Mark 13:10; Acts 1:8; Rom 1:16; 10:14-17; Eph 6:15, 17; Col 4:5-6; 1 Pet 3:15-16; 2 Tim 4:1-5.
[5] See especially Matt 16:18; 1 Cor 3:4-6; Eph 4:10-20.
[6] See especially 1 Cor 14:1-19; 1 Pet 5:1-5; Eph 4:11-16; Jude 20.
[7] See especially the ministry of Jesus which involves transformation of whole people and the restoration of community; see also Acts 16-19: note how the gospel penetrates to people’s salvation and beyond.
[8] See especially Gen 2:15; Col 3:23; 1 Cor 12-14; Rom 12:4-8; Eph 4:11-12.
[9] See especially Gen 1:28; 2:15.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Reasons Why A.J. Miller is NOT Jesus!

Note: Forgive me for the long blog, but this one really got me going! Last Sunday night on TV One's Sunday aired the report A.J. The Messiah. The program was the story of A.J. Miller in Queensland in Australia, who, unlike most of us, genuinely believes that he is Jesus. Miller appears at one level to be a normal Aussie bloke, in his early thirties, longish brown hair, unshaven, good looking, articulate and charismatic. Yet, unlike anyone I know but in the manner of other Messiah-claimants, he says without inhibition, "I am actually Jesus." He claims to remember vividly his former life and death including his experience of crucifixion. The memories supposedly began when he was 2 years old and realised later that he was Jesus around 33. In the program he writes on a white-board, "I am Jesus. Deal with it"—to applause from his congregation. He has disciples, some of whom claim to have been with him 2000 years ago including Mary Magdalene who is his "soul-ma

Tribute to Stuart Lange

For anyone who is interested, I have attached my tribute to Rev Stuart Lange here. He is a legend! It was fun to roast him.... A Tribute to Stuart Lange, No Longer Vice Principal Community of Laidlaw… But still church history lecturer… so not a good bye, but my way of Saying Thanks to you for your years as VP Community… Stuart Lange, not Langey; or Longey; or not langgggg.. but Lange! Or, as I like to put it, S.lang… Slang… for good reason. Stuart Lange, history prof, a man who truly embodies his subject; the quintessential historical prof… Slightly eccentric, crooked smile, hooked and bent nose… you know he has a crook elbow too, took the dog for a walk, hit the chain, smashed the elbow… Of course the dog was unharmed… No Surprise, a lover of animals, each year looking after the animals at the Massey Christmas drive through, donkeys, lamas… etc… Then there is his Einsteinlich hair… kind of a wild man of Southland look… in fact… Stuart Lange A face a cartoonist would die for! The ne

Evangelical Presbyterians’ Statement On Same Sex Marriage

I am involved in a group called Presbyterian Affirm. It is an evangelical group within the NZ Presbyterian Church which seeks to promote the gospel and the renewal of churches. A group of us under the leadership of Stuart Lange have worked to put together a statement on same-sex marriage. Our hope is that the government will not pass the legislation, believing that the legislation is not necessary and strays from God’s ideals for humanity. Here is the recently released statement. I would appreciate your thoughts on it. PRESBYTERIAN GROUP OPPOSES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL Presbyterian AFFIRM, a widely-supported conservative network within the Presbyterian denomination, is speaking out against the Bill which would allow same-sex couples to marry, declaring its views in a “Statement on Marriage” (see below). Presbyterian AFFIRM believes that “marriage is a unique human institution and treasure” which has “always been about the pairing of a man and a woman”, and that re-definin