Equipped For God’s Mission

As a local church pastor, I recognise that not all believers understand or embrace their mission.

Serving one another, as we are instructed to do (1 Peter 4:10–11; Romans 12:3–8; Galatians 5:13), within the church community is one of the best ways to cultivate that understanding, and to develop vision and purpose around God’s unique call for each of our lives.

In many ways, the church has recognized the importance of assembling for the right reasons (Hebrews 10:24–25; Acts 2:42). However, if pastors neglect to equip believers for their unique calling from God and instead confine them to aspire only to roles within church walls, the church may appear vibrant and successful but will lack believers who are actively pursuing their God-given mission (Ephesians 2:10).

This is what we too often see in the contemporary church: the body of Christ being overly inward-focused and missing the opportunity of our greater purpose: to go out and share the gospel, as we are commanded to do (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 1:8; Mark 16:15).

There is much good to acknowledge in the culture of the church today, yet there are also important questions we must consider if we are to return to mission. Here are a few:

Have the bright lights of the modern church era blinded us to what truly matters to God? (Micah 6:8)

Are we producing in excess (i.e. resources, music) for the saved soul, while offering less for the lost, and mistaking it for mission? (Luke 19:10)

Are we sending people on annual global mission trips while failing to equip them for the daily local mission of reaching those living next door? (Mark 5:19; Luke 10:2)

Has the church become believers who would rather gather to worship in the dark than be equipped to go out into a world that desperately needs us to be the light? (Matthew 5:14–16; Philippians 2:15; John 8:12)

The overarching answer is this: the church is not meant to gather as a retreat from mission, but to encounter the living God, whose love compels us into mission (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Every true encounter with Jesus leads us outward in obedience and witness:

Isaiah encountered the holiness of God and cried out, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). The Samaritan woman encountered Jesus at the well and immediately went to tell her whole town (John 4:28–30). When the disciples encountered the risen Christ, they declared, “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Pastors, we are entrusted with the responsibility of equipping the saints to recognise and respond to the call of God on their lives (Ephesians 4:11–12), not simply to gather people to enthusiastically maintain organisational standards and systems.

Likewise, we as believers have each been filled with the Holy Spirit and entrusted with spiritual gifts, enabling us to serve the body of Christ and to live as God’s ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–20; 1 Corinthians 12:4–7).

Together, as we pursue this call, the church will move beyond the counterproductive of being overly inward-focused and will reach outward into neighbourhoods, workplaces, cities, and nations (Acts 13:47).

It is time for Christ’s church to assemble with a willingness to go beyond what is comfortable and allow God’s love to so transform us that we are compelled to go out into all nations and neighbourhoods to proclaim the gospel (Matthew 24:14; Romans 1:16).