“Missional Church” is definitely a buzz-phrase that is all over the place these days. The fact that we need to label a church, “missional”, has always been a little odd to me. I mean, shouldn’t all churches be missional in their very nature? Shouldn’t a church, at it’s very core, desire to engage their culture and community with the gospel as a missionary would in a foreign country? Isn’t that what the church is commanded to do in the great commission in Matthew 28:19?

We should be on mission because God is on mission himself. Since the beginning, God has been on mission… to bring glory to Himself and to fellowship with the people He created. For some reason, I’m not sure why, God has invited us to be on that mission with Him. We are given the opportunity to be a part of the magnificent story of God. We all may not go to Zimbabwe and live in a tent, but we are all called to be on mission for God in whatever location He has us.

Jesus gives the command in Acts 1:8 saying, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 exemplifies this idea as, right before Jesus Christ ascends to Heaven, He sends the disciples on a mission that would launch right in their own community. He begins with their hometown of Jerusalem, and then stretches the call to the uttermost parts of the earth.

If we work at the bank, then the bank is our mission field. If we go to school, then classes are our mission field. When we work out at the gym, go to church, or go to a movie (you get the idea), we are engaging with people in our mission field. If God is our utmost joy personally, then our only natural response should be a desire to be a radical representation of that joy to whomever we interact with.

As believers, we are not called to isolation, but to be missional people who are actively going out and meeting people right where they are with the gospel. We have seen this throughout history: God sends Abraham on a mission to leave his country and his people and go to the land that God would show him (Gen. 12:1), God sends Moses on a mission to rescue an enslaved people and lead them to freedom (Exodus 3:8-10), God sends Jesus on a mission to earth to reconcile all things to Himself through the cross (Colossians 1:20). And now… God is sending us on a mission to engage communities, cities, people groups, and even nations with the gospel (Matt. 28:19Mark 6:7 Luke 10:1 John 20:21 Acts 1:8). If we resist this call and continue to treat the church like a “members only” country club - demanding that people clean up their act, pay their dues, and come to our building… God will continue His mission without us. So the question is… Will we get on board or will we miss out?