The Church, the Neighborhood and the Nations (Stetzer)

And the final plenary session I want to make comments about was by Ed Stetzer. With all of the talk these days about the mission of God, the mission of the church, being missional etc I was eager to listen to his discussion on "The Church, the Neighborhood and the Nations"

He had 3 major points which build on one another.

1) We are sent (John 20:21)

Avery Willis says:
Mission = the total redemptive purpose of God to establish His kingdom
Missions = the activity of God's people, the Church, to proclaim and to demonstrate the kingdom of God in the world
Missionaries = are people set aside by God and the church to cross natural and cultural barriers with the gospel

The problem is these are all extra Biblical terms not found defined in the Bible.

I don't think these definitions are perfect. In fact, I'd like to see the scope of Missions narrowed to be cross-cultural proclamation of the gospel and another definition of Outreach to our own culture but I won't make a big deal about it. I would however disagree with Charles Spurgeon when he said that

"Every Christian is a missionary or an imposter" - Charles Spurgeon

See my previous post about Shooting Sacred Cows. The more people we call missionary the less we recognize that some people are called by God to cross cultures as ambassadors of Christ.

Stetzer continues:

God is a sending God:
a) Father sent the Son
b) Father sends the Spirit in Jesus' name
c) Jesus comes and establishes His kingdom
d) the Church is birthed to lived sent
e) the Son builds the Church by placing people in His kingdom
f) the Spirit empowers the Church to live sent

We're all sent. If you're a missionary in Africa, you're sent! If you live in Hamilton, you're sent! We're all sent, the only question is where and among whom.

We need to give more and go more!!! But we also need to live as those who are sent here and now... A lot of churches are missions-minded but not necessarily missional.

This is a good point. I would say that PMC started as a missional church in the early 1900s, then became a great missions-minded church and now is working to blend both. God help us!

2) We are sent TO ALL PEOPLE.

"panta ta ethne" is the Greek in Matthew 28
Some say Jesus was meaning ethnolinguistic groups. Well maybe....
In the most plain reading he meant the Gentiles. In the most plain reading he meant the non-Jews. But the disciples also saw much more. It's about making disciples everywhere.

There is a thread throughout Scripture about the topic "every, tongue, tribe and nation". From Genesis 11 to Revelation 7 and at many points in between

a) God scatters making nations (Gen 11)
b) God sends Israel to bring the nations up to Jerusalem (Ps 57:9, Isa 2:2). But the plan was not accomplished.
c) God had a sign and a plan for the nations (Acts 2:1). The Spirit gave them ability to speak languages. This is a sign that reverses the direction of God's mission from "up to Jerusalem" to "going out from Jerusalem"
d) God will be praised by men and women from every nation (Rev 7:9)

Then Stetzer closed this point with a great one liner

Don't let your church be a cul de sac on the Great Commission highway.

Stetzer's final point was

3) We are sent to all people WITH A MESSAGE

Luke 24:46

How am I going to do all these things?
- reach out missionally where I am?
- reach out to the nations?
- preach the gospel?

Only by the power of God (see Acts 1:8 "you will receive power")

He closes by saying something I pray the church I'm a part will be:

A missional, missions-minded, gospel-centered, Spirit empowered church!

God let me be a missional, missions-minded, gospel-centered, Spirit empowered man!