by Wes Searcy

Words have meaning.

You may remember the self-proclaimed-better-than-you-little-man, Vizzini, in the movie The Princess Bride. Vizzini had a go-to word that he frequently spouted as if to amaze those around with his brilliance. “Inconceivable!” he would exclaim, as with disbelief he questioned the feats of anyone who threatened to upstage him. Standing atop The Cliffs of Insanity, dumbfounded that The Dread Pirate Roberts was still in pursuit, Vizzini lets out yet another, “Inconceivable!” Weary of Vizzini’s overuse of the word, Inigo Montoya looks down at the little man and says, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

What do we mean? Unfortunately, all to often the word "missions" is used in much the same way Vizzini uses the word, "inconceivable." Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.

In describing the 'why' and 'what' of NEXT Worldwide we might say, God's mission fuels the way we do missions. The word "mission" refers to the purpose and goals of the activity, where "missions" refers to the activity.

It would be presumptuous of me to approach this article as though I have the final word on the word, "mission" and its variations. However, I would like to humbly submit some thoughts as my desire for searching to represent God’s intent in his Word grows, as I get older – specifically as it relates to understanding how God’s mission should drive missions.

The passion to know, learn and teach about God’s mission as the basis for our mission (the mission of the church, and the mission of NEXT Worldwide) fanned into greater flame as I read Christopher J.H. Wright’s book, The Mission of God. Dr. Wright recalls when he started out teaching a course called 'The Biblical Basis of Mission' at All Nations Christian College in southeast England:

"As Christians, we need a biblical basis for everything we do. What then is 'the biblical basis for mission?' Roll out the texts. Add some that nobody else has thought of. Do some joined up theology. Add some motivational fervor. And the class is heartwarmingly appreciative. Now they have even more biblical support for what they already believe anyway, for these are All Nations students, after all. They only came to the college because they are committed to doing mission.

"This mild caricature is not in the least derogatory in intent. I believe passionately that mission is what we should be doing, and I believe the Bible endorses and mandates it. However, the more I taught that course, the more I used to introduce it by telling the students that I would like to rename it from: 'The Biblical Basis of Missions' to 'The Missional Basis of the Bible.' I wanted them to see not just that the Bible contains a number of texts which happen to provide a rationale for missionary endeavor but that the whole Bible is itself a 'missional' phenomenon."

Later in his book, Dr. Wright continues: "The mission of God is the commitment of God to make Himself known to His creation."

God is a missional God. He is a God of movement, initiative and purpose. He is not sitting by, hoping and waiting for us to make a move then reacting to our initiatives or issues. God is on mission.

Often quoted and worth repeating, the first paragraph in the first chapter of John Piper’s, Let the Nations Be Glad!, further underlines God’s mission and delineates between ‘mission’ and ‘missions:’

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, mission will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever."

At a staff retreat last year, I was wrestling with how I could express what was on my heart. All I could think is that I don’t want to look back 10 years from now and see that we had done a lot of activity under the banner of missions, and it not be in lock-step with God’s mission.

At NEXT Worldwide we are passionate about understanding, as much as we are able, God’s mission, and both teaching and doing missions that reflect God’s intent. In the book, Theology and Practice of Mission: God, the Church and the Nations, Bruce Riley Ashford writes, Theology disconnected from mission is not Christian theology at all.

This article would go on for pages if I noted every scripture that reflects the mission of God.  Let’s just take a very brief fly-over of the grand narrative of scripture.

From Genesis to Revelation, we see that God is declaring His glory and choosing to use His people to make Himself known to every nation. Just skip a stone across the scriptures and see God declaring his intent for making Himself known to every nation:

At Creation:

Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them and said to them,  ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth…"

To Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3 "The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you... I will bless you... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'"

Through the Prophets:

Habakkuk 2:14 “The glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the water cover the seas.”

To the disciples:

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

To the church (also our boots-on-the-ground mission today):

II Corinthians 5:18-20 – "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

God’s mission accomplished (the scene after Christ returns):

Revelation 7:9 "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb..."

Here at NEXT Worldwide, our deep desire is to use the word "mission" in the way God intended for it to be used. We have to be brutally honest with ourselves as we follow the Lord in developing how "missions" will be conducted as the years go by.

Pray for us. May God find us faithful.  

See how NEXT is engaging students in the mission of God >>