Nurture AND Mission

"And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come."  Matthew 24:14

Our local church has been working through a Sunday morning sermon series about the Practices of Faith. In recent months we’ve considered practices such as prayer, bible-reading, fasting, communion, study, testimony and more. This week I had the opportunity to speak about the topic of Mission as another essential faith-practice of God’s people.

The term missio Dei informs me that mission is God’s idea, first. The Designer of the universe is a missionary God – mission is an essential part of His character and purposes. It is God’s intention that mankind (as a vital part of his entire creation) be lovingly restored to a place of wholeness, of renewed identity, of meaning and hope and fullness of life; all within the context of relationship to God and one another.

God initiates mission, seen ultimately through the sending of His Son Jesus to dwell amongst people on earth. Whilst mission is God’s idea, first, God wants the church to join Him on mission. God includes His people in His missionary assignments, all across the world.

The place of nurture in mission.

It is my observation and strong conviction that seated in our regular Sunday church services are essentially TWO types of people - there are people who predominantly have a heart for nurture, and, there are those who predominantly have a heart for mission.

Christians with a heart for nurture want to shepherd, teach and support those people of faith in their midst – they are burdened to play their part in contributing to the maturing process of God’s people, seeing them raised up in the ways of Jesus.

People with a heart for mission are compelled to do whatever it takes to take and tell the good news of Jesus to those people who are yet to hear the message and know Jesus personally, beyond the ‘walls’ of the established church. 

Nurture and Mission - I think each of us as Christians tend to lean more towards one more than the other. I wonder which expression best describes your own heart, experience and passion?         

It is also my conviction that for any local church or ministry environment to be healthy and well integrated (alignment with God’s heart, God’s purposes, God’s rhythm of life) then it is important to explore and practice meaningful and active expressions of both types of ministry. I don't think it's a choice between nurture or mission, but rather, it's about persuing nurture and mission, together.

So, something that could be helpful for a local faith community to do sometime would be to firstly identify where people are individually at (heart for nurture?, heart for mission?), and secondly, identify where any existing expressions of ministry are at. Then, next, the church/ministry can determine to align the right people with the right ministry pursuits, including any new initiatives.

Wouldn't it be great if those Christians with a heart for nurture were empowered to be proactive in nurturing those directly involved in the hands-on expression of mission? In other words, people who love to nurture others can actively support those on-mission (locally or cross-culturally) through prayer, finances, encouragement and advocacy.

Furthermore, people with a heart for nurture could then be further championed to provide support, encouragement, modelling and instructiion for any new or young believers in the practises of faith, including those people introduced into the Family of God through any missional initiatives.

The bible tells me that our God is indeed a missionary God and that He has commissioned His people to be a blessing to all peoples, across His world. May God help us and our churches to be wise and creative in how we go about practising nurture and mission, together.

"Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”  Revelation 15:4