Why Is the Christian Assembly on a Mission?
Sent church is definitely a popular saying that is anywhere you look these days. the idea that we are required to title bodies of Christ, missional, has always been somewhat odd to me. please, shouldnt all places of worship be missional in their very character? Shouldnt a church, at its very base, shoot to connect their culture and city with the message of Jesus as a missionary would in a another country? Isnt that what the places of worship is encouraged to do in the final charge of Christ in Matthew 28:19? Our own place of origin begs for this kind of church. Church in Austin is slowly gravitating to what Christ instructed in the Bible.
Christ gives the charge 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 personifies this concept as, right before Jesus Christ ascends to Heaven, He sends the disciples on a mission that would initiate right in their personal community. He begins with their origin of Jerusalem, and then enlarges the call to the far parts of the creation.
As Christians, we are not urged to isolation, but to be missional people who are aggressively going out and going to areas right where they are with the story of Christ. We have noticed this throughout history: God urges Abraham on a mission to leave his place of origin and his people and go to the city that God would show him (Gen. 12:1), God urges Moses on a exploration to restore an enslaved people and lead them to freedom (Exodus 3:8-10), God urges Jesus on a story to world to restore all things to Himself through the crucifixion (Colossians 1:20). And now God is sending us on a exploration to engage neighborhoods, cities, peoples, and even nations with the story of Christ(Matt. 28:19 Mark 6:7 Luke 10:1 John 20:21 Acts 1:8). If we resist this urge and continue to treat the churches like a private country club ” demanding that people resolve their performance, pay their money, and visit to our sanctuary God will continue His exploration without us.
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