Introducing the Missional Church - 2

A missional church understands that mission is first a quality of God before it is a quality of the Church. God is a missionary. What does that mean? It means that God is in the process of restoring all he has made to its original blessedness. At the heart of this restoration is the Church -- God's elect people called to be a sign and foretaste of the future Kingdom of God. But the scope of God's mission -- the scope of his restoration process -- is all things. Near the end of Revelation Jesus declares, "Behold I make all things new." Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians, "If anyone is in Christ there is new creation." All of creation is being made new and God is at work on this project all the time.

The Church is both the result and the means of God's restoration process. The Church participates in God's mission - the missio dei -- by being the Church. Additionally, the Church joins the missio dei by looking to see where God is active in his world and joining him on mission. This is key. Mission is something God is always doing. The Church's job is join God in what he is doing in his world.