What exactly do we mean by misson?
Keith Powell ministers to a group of scattered churches on Exmoor. When one of his parishioners asked him ‘What are you doing here?’ he began to think about the answer. Had he been sent to do something or to be someone or a mixture of both?
I have recently moved to a new group of parishes, working in a benefice
with four churches spread over 60 square miles of moorland, and found
myself being challenged as to what renewal for mission might mean in
this new location.
As we have started to explore what new ways God might be calling us
into one of my parishioners asked me a straightforward and important
question: ‘What are you doing here?’ Good question!
My immediate response was ‘I am a missionary’. He
replied, ‘Do we need a mission?’ And I said
‘I think you do’.
What did I mean by mission? Had I been sent to do something, or sent to
be someone, or a mixture of both?
Had I been sent to do something, or to be someone, or a mixture of both?
When I first felt called to leave my farm and pursue full-time ministry, my heart felt moved to reach those who had not heard the good news of Jesus Christ, to reach out to the lost, the unloved, the marginalised and the neglected. I soon realised that I was called to share the love of God with simple acts of kindness. I was not called to do a mission to some poor, unsuspecting group of people but instead I was called to be with them on a mission.
I was helped in my thoughts by the following reflections:
1.Mission is not a recruitment project for God’s labour force. It is a liberation project from heavy burdens and hard yokes of other gods. (John Piper)
2. Missionary zeal does not grow out of intellectual beliefs nor out of theological arguments but out of love. (Roland Allen)
3. We cannot preach good news and be bad news. (Takmito Adegemo)
As we explore what it means to take the love of Christ, unconditionally, into our communities, it will be who we are in Christ that makes an impact, not our words or even our deeds. In this way the Church is not called to ‘do missions’ but to be a missionary movement in which sharing the love of God is as natural as breathing.
I have had the privilege of going on a mission to Eastern Zambia with a SOMA team. I felt totally inadequate about what I was being called to do. It was only when we arrived and began to live with the local people in remote areas, sharing their food, their hopes and their fears, their joys and their tears, that I realised I had been called to be -– to be with them on the journey. As we journeyed together they ministered to me, they taught me about rich treasures hidden in darkness, about simple pleasures and deep sorrows, about unexpected blessings and vibrant faith.
Jesus sent his disciples out to be who he had called them to be, had taught and shown them to be. As they went what happened? The love of God exploded, miracles occurred, the sick were healed, the dead raised, demons fled, deaf ears were open to good news and the Kingdom grew.
If God is bringing renewal in the power of the Holy Spirit then surely our mission is to walk alongside others, to hear their story, to sense their desperate need to be loved and to lead them into the arms of their heavenly Father, so that they too may know the love of the Father who sent His Son on a mission to the world He loved so much, so that all who believe in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life.
Renewal for mission in the power of the Holy Spirit means a renewal of our heart’s desire to be sent into the desert places of people’s lives, into the parched wilderness of restless communities. As we go, in faith and in love, we shall be transformed with our fellow pilgrims into the people He created us to be.
This country is once again ripe for mission, ready to be invaded by the love of God. The Lord tells us (Luke 10: v2) the harvest is so great but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord, who is in charge of the harvest, and ask Him to send out more workers into His fields or maybe as Isaiah said: ‘Lord I’ll go, send me’.
This country is once again ripe for mission, ready to be invaded by the love of God.
Isaiah 32: v2: ‘Each man will be like a shelter from the wind, and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert, and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.’
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The
Revd
Keith
Powell recently gave up full-time parish ministry to take up
a
part-time post on Exmoor in order to allow more time for mission in
this country. A former farmer, he is married to Jill and they have five
children. He is an Associate of ReSource and has just been appointed
Renewal Adviser for the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
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Illustration : By still waters, by John Reilly
