I’ll be getting back to community and small groups and house churches — as promised — but can’t deal with those issues without first dealing with mission. You see, one of the biggest mistakes made by church leaders — and theologians — is to overly compartmentalize our learning. That is, we tend to measure whether a small group, Bible class, or sermon series is effective in non-missional terms. Yes, we believe in mission. We just don’t put everything through the mission filter. And we should.
Now, “mission” and “missional” are quickly becoming over-used words and, worse yet, nearly meaningless. Everyone has a different definition. In fact, many take their own theologies, call them “missional,” and figure they’re doing what the experts advise. They aren’t.
Let’s talk about what being missional isn’t —
* Missionality isn’t a program. It may result in programs, but there should never, ever be a “missional ministry.” Rather, all ministries should be missional.
* Missionality isn’t the same as being evangelistic. Missional people are evangelistic — very evangelistic — but missionality is much bigger than evangelism.
* Missionality isn’t benevolence. Missional people do care about and serve the poor and needy, but being missional is both bigger than traditional benevolence and done differently.
* Missionality isn’t small groups. In fact, many advocates for being missional don’t even think in terms of small groups. But I think small groups ministry meshes very nicely with missionality. They are two facets of the same thing. They fit.
* Missionality isn’t a fad, a book, or a seminar topic. Well, there are plenty of those things with “missional” attached, but the only text you need is the Bible. If you find yourself referring to other resources, that’s not wrong. It’s just dangerous. A lot of the material is good, some is great, some is horrible.
* Missionality isn’t the same thing as kingdom theology — but they are inseparable. Anyone who teaches missional ideas apart from the story of the kingdom is teaching less than the whole thing.
* Missionality isn’t about the Gospels vs. Paul. Some think it is. But as is true of all truly scriptural ideas, if it’s right, it’s consistent with and derived from all the Bible. If your early training is nearly all Paul, then you may well need a heavy dose of the Gospels to get it, but it’s not to correct Paul. Paul, after all, knew Jesus better than the Bible bookstore book writers do, and his interpretations of Jesus’ teachings are correct. If our interpretations contradict Paul (or Jesus), then we’ve misunderstood.
* Missionality isn’t a New Testament doctrine. Well, it is, but it’s not just a New Testament doctrine. It starts in Genesis 1.
* Missionality isn’t about the mission of the church. Again, it really is, but it’s not just the church’s mission. It’s really about God’s mission — and our role in it. We start with God’s purposes and then we submit our purposes to God’s. Therefore, the best teaching on the subject starts with God — always a good place to start.
* Missionality isn’t about us changing the world. Not exactly. It’s about being faithful — by which means God may well choose to change the world. But the measure of success isn’t whether the world has been changed. It’s whether we’ve been faithful. Of course, God does some of his best work through faithful people, but he’s not limited to working through Christians. He accomplished part of his purposes through Nebuchadnezzar, you know.
(Jer 27:6 ESV) Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.
* Missionality isn’t about your congregation getting bigger. Being missional may do just that. Or it may shrink your congregation. As we saw in the Worldwide Church of God video, faithfulness sometimes means a much smaller church or a denomination with a lot less money.
* Missionality isn’t legalistic. Missionality doesn’t justify condescension. We all have a tendency to convert any doctrine into a list of do’s and don’t’s. But in fact, it’s not a new legalism. And there’s a tendency of some immature Christians who discover this way of looking at the world to feel superior to other Christians because of their “superior” works. And that very attitude can be devastating to a congregation. We need to simultaneously hold ourselves to a better, truer standard while not looking down on others for being less than spiritual than us. Indeed, they may be more spiritual than us but serving in ways that aren’t as obvious.
* Missionality isn’t individual. Of course, it dramatically impacts individuals, but God has given the church a mission to participate in. The mission is a community mission. That doesn’t mean we get be free riders. It does mean we can’t be truly missional alone. It has to be done in community, from within and as a part of the church. This is how the church lives and thus how its members live. (And therefore parachurch organizations can’t be truly missional apart from local congregations.)
* Missionality isn’t a spiritual discipline in the Foster/Willard sense. Those men focus largely on individual spiritual disciplines — things you can do all alone at home. Missionality isn’t like that. But it most certainly is a discipline — and a far more important one than many personal disciplines. Indeed, the personal disciplines — prayer, Bible study, meditation, and such — aren’t worth doing if they are separated from mission.
* Missionality isn’t done inside the four walls of the church building. Actually, it is. I just said that because so many others say that. (It’s a very fashionable thing to say.) It’s done wherever Christians are, and the last I checked, there are a lot of Christians inside church buildings. They just shouldn’t be missional only inside church buildings.
* Missionality isn’t about your congregation. It’s about the church.
* Missionality isn’t about your denomination. It’s about the church. It is, however, local. It’s not just local, but I think the doctrine, in practice, has to be locally implemented. That is, not many of us can do much on the scale of the church-universal. But any of us can work with all believers in our local community — regardless of denomination, race, ethnicity, etc.
Okay. I guess that’s enough of that. In the next post, I’ll try to give a quick-and-dirty introduction to this way of thinking starting, you know, in Genesis 1.
And, trust me, this is a different worldview. It’ll be easy for some and hard for others, because it requires throwing out some very precious, very deeply rooted assumptions about how to do church. In fact, I’m still sorting it all out.
It changes everything.
Constitutive Christian Practice – missional is one of them (along with others like worship, evangelism, prayer, etc).
It makes absolutely no sense to even think of Christianity not in missional terms. To do so is to imagine an omelet without eggs.
That is why it is so hard to articulate what a missional reality is as it really is defining the very existence of what it is to live life as a follower of the way of Christ – a little Christ – a Christian.
Incorporating specificity without being bounded by it, seen and developed in action but existing beyond the action and its goal-oriented perspective. Both the path and the goal, the only measure of the path – a beautiful circularity, but one that only calls us beyond the circularity to the reality beyond it that cannot be contained within it – the living Christ.
What does it then mean to live missionally? I would argue it means the same thing as living prayerfully, as living worshipfully, as living evangelistically. It means being a follower of the way of Christ, knowing that the very living Christ is only found in, on, and through this path, but never equating the living Christ to our experience of him on the path – he is always bigger, greater, beyond, and other. He is limitless, not us.
I have done some looking and I can't find "missionality" in any dictionary. It strikes me that someone wants to say something, but since they can't find the words, they invent one. I tend not to listen to such people.
Jay, I hope you can find some real words to describe what you are describing.
Alexander Haig was famous for inventing new words, or at least word endings so Jay is in good company.
For those having trouble with Jay's vocabulary, let me throw in a Biblical word that used to be used quite a bit for just what Jay is talking about. The word is discipleship or for those who need exact quotes, "go and make disciples." Jesus never did tell us to make churches, ministries, colleges, magazines or denominations. He said, '[You disciples] go and make disciples". I recall that he also said, "I will build my church". Many of our problems in gracious communication arise when we get our jobs confused with Jesus' job. I think that this happens as often as when we get our words confused.
The word, "discipleship" has fallen out of favor because it became associated with all the practices that Jay just warned us against. If a new word will help us regain a proper focus, then let's formulate a few new words. I can think of several overused and theologically packed word that could use a little new vocabulary, Now that I think about it, I believe that any English word new or not would have to be considered un-Biblical since the original words were penned in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. Perhaps what is really needed is a new ministry that reaches out to those who only speak Ancient Greek and/or 1611 English.
Steve, despite your enjoyable sarcasm, you hit on a major mission point; meeting people where they are. I like the Samaritian woman at Jacob's well.
She proclaimed Jesus a prophet because he knew her love life. No signs, no spectacular miracle, just who you are. She had a question, waiting for a prophet to answer; where do we worship?
Jesus gave her a very historical answer; the Jews have the knowledge but its about to change. Place will not matter, but quality of the worshippers will. Spirit and truth; like you can get these together! Just like then, you have those who search for knowledge and those who want to feel caught up with God in separate camps. Guess its hard to have a serious Bible study with rhe rock band, flashing lights, and theatrics!
Hope we can find a way to motivate the total human being:"all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength". What a mission, what a church that would be!
English is among the more dynamic languages. New words are springing up all of the time and it takes a while to get them into the new dictionary. I ask that we extend some grace to one another so our neawordnotyetinthedictionaryisms can be used to help us be slightly more communicable. Hope we've had our shots.
Dwayne, dictionaries (like language apart from dead languages) are not static. New words are added continuously as language evolves. Do you not recognise "missional"?
I think this is a very well done article. It focuses on how we think rather than what we do.
Thinking missional is a common phrase among our forward thinkers at church so I'm quite familiar with the stretched phraseology used here.
Many change leaders invent new words for both positive and negative reasons. A possible negative reason is to sugar coat and make a bad concept sound good. Positive reasons include making an old idea seem fresh. I assume this is Jay's motive. Another positive reason is to counteract a clichéd idea that may have developed a negative connotation in the past.
For example, the good biblical concept of "making disciples" has been tarnished by the Crossroads=>Boston=>ICOC associations with the term.
The comments remind me of the first time I heard the term "missional." It was used years ago by a preacher who had a habit of making up his own terminology, so naturally I thought he invented the word. Who knows? Maybe he did.
Social structure changes, technology changes, vocabulary should adapt also if it is to be an appropriate interface between Biblical truths translated into relevance for people's lives today. The meanings of old words change as well. Some congregations now have a problem with the working definition of "membership." Is this a statement of doctrinal acceptance or is it functionally a mailing list of people to get the bulletin? (by email, of course).
I don't find "internet" or "twitter" in my concordance, either. I thought "twitter" was something my mother said I was doing when wasting my time. Hmmm.
The problem I have with new words, however, is when new vocabulary is used as a substitute for action. We don't change the world for Christ, but we surely are "authentic" while we don't do it. I would rather see a definition of "missional" by seeing more people reached by the gospel of Christ than to see the word on some church's website as being a "vision objective."
Maybe we can drill down and unpack that one.
"Maybe we can drill down and unpack that one."
While we're talking about language, maybe we can include metaphors? "Drill down" is what we do to find water – or oil – or healthy enamel in a diseased tooth. "Unpack" is what I do with my suitcase when I have returned from a trip."
Actually, even though mixed that combination of metaphors is perfectly clear. The word "missional" should be clear as well (even though my spell check just flagged it). It simply means focused on mission – whether in our thinking or our action. It means doing away with the busy work and things we do because we have always done them to focus on the things that pertain to the mission of God in the world.
Part of the problem, of course, is that so many of us have little to no idea of what our real mission in the world is. So maybe finding God's purpose in our mission is a good first step.
Jay, I look forward to this series with anticipation!
All,
Certainly, the idea of becoming a "disciple" is profoundly biblical and essential. The difficulty in contemporary Christianity is that there is no agreement on the meaning of the term.
We recently had a discussion among the elders and staff over the use of "disciple" in our vision statement. Obviously, yes, we want our members to be disciples! But the word itself communicates very little to the average member. Indeed, we are all guilty of interpreting the word to fit our preconceptions.
To some, being a "disciple" means adhering to the rules of how to do worship and organize a church. To some, it means submission to church leadership (as in the ICOC). To some, it means daily Bible study, daily quiet times, and a committed prayer life. To some, it means becoming a great student of the scriptures. To some, it means evangelistic zeal.
Therefore, before we urge others to become "disciples," we have to add some content to the word.
The concept of being "missional" is broader than being a disciple — and once we sort out God's mission and our role in it, what it means to be a disciple should become clear.
"missional" is a word. It is the adjective form of "mission." A missional person is one who is on a mission. "missionality" however, well I just don't know what that is supposed to be.
The Mission of the church of Christ
As with most Biblical Topics, the mission of the Lord’s body (the church) has been neglected and misunderstood by the masses. Unfortunately, many of the people currently “leading” the church are completely unaware of what God expects them, as members of the church, to be doing for the cause of the kingdom of His dear Son. In Matthew. 16:18 Jesus promised to build his church. In Romans 1:16, Paul makes it clear that the Gospel is God’s power to save. Mark 16:15 shows God’s concern for all men and a desire that they all have the Gospel brought to them. And 1 Timothy 3:15 asserts that the church is “the pillar and the ground of the truth”.
Putting all these ideas together leaves one with the concept of the church being in the soul-saving business, which is precisely the same as the glorious mission of the Savior Himself (Luke 19:10). The fact that the New Testament church exist is not hard to prove ( Acts 2:47). Yet, many members of this wonderful institution are in the dark as to what the mission, or work , of the church is. No doubt much of the confusion currently being manifested in the programs and activities of some congregations is due to ignorance of what God’s will for the Body of Christ is. The question of “ What is the work of mission of the church? Is one of utmost importance.
Now, note some scriptural truths concerning the church and her work:
The Lord’s church is the called out body of baptized believers(Acts 2:37,38,41,47). The term church is used in the New Testament in two senses: (1) in the universal sense, which include all the saved from the world. (Mt. 16:18,Eph.5:23,25), (2) in the local sense, which includes all the saved in a certain locality, often called a congregation (Rom. 16:16, 1Cor. 1:2; Acts 9:31). The basic purpose of the church is to glory God (Eph. 5:27; 3:21) The church is to do the work of the Lord in the world.
What is the Church?
This is a very fundamental question, yet in answering it we begin to gain insight as to its nature and mission. The church was planned by God from the beginning. Paul affirms this in Ephesians 3:10-12.
To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
The church was not a mere afterthought of God, as men affirm, but rather the church was the eternally planned institution through which men have access to heaven. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build His church:
“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Later, in Matthew 26:28, He adds, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” In these passages Jesus promised to build His church and to shed His blood for the remission of Sins. This is important because in Acts 20:28, Paul inform us guided by the Holy Spirit: “ Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
Jesus made it clear that only His blood had the power to remit sins, while Paul affirmed members of the church are the ones for which Christ shed His blood. Therefore, remission of sins is only found in the blood-bought body, the church. No one can be forgiven (and thereby saved) outside of the church. This being true, it is impossible to overestimate the value of the church in the plan of God’s saving of mankind. How does the church carry out its glorious mission?
1) We must recognize (The Value of the Souls) The very fact that God made man in His image (Gen. 1:27) should indicate some worth of connection with man’s soul. Paul use the same reasoning among the Greeks in Athens: “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” (Acts 17:28). One of the lessons people need to hear today is that they are valuable. Far too many grope in the darkness of despair due to and under-inflated views of themselves. We are not “hairless monkeys,” the product of organic evolution, but rather creatures of God, created in His image.
The easiest way to determine the value of the human soul is to notice, first, that Jesus taught the worth of one soul is more than the combined wealth of the world (Mt. 16:26). And second, And second , take account of the price paid for the salvation of human souls. Once man sinned, God began to implement His plan for restoring the pinnacle of His creative work. As early as Genesis 3:15 (immediately following the fall), God began to speak to mankind prophesying the need for and the coming of a savior. For some fourth thousand years God stressed to man the wickedness of sin and the futility of human attempts to remove it. He selected and sustained the Jewish nation and implemented a sacrificial system to impress man with the consequences of Sin. However this system could not actually remit sins. Hebrews 10:4 points out, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” This being the case , God gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16) to die that we might have hope of live everlasting . Galatians 1:4 relates, “who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” The price that was paid for each of us was the death of the very Son of God. No greater gift could be given. Think of the love of God has for us that He would be given . Think of the love God has for us that He would let His Son die in our stead. In speaking of the price paid, the apostle Peter said: “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Paul adds, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20). The value of the human souls is one of the great motivation for the church to carry out her mission of seeking and saving the lost.
2) We must recognize The need to save Souls. The greatest problem the world must face is its sin problem. Once God’s law was violated in the garden, sin entered the world, and all mankind must struggle with it (Rom.5:12). In Romans 3:23, Paul affirms, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” This verse makes it clear that all men will eventually commit sin. This verse is not affirming that we inherit sin. Ezekiel 18:20 states:
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
We are responsible for our own actions, not those of our predecessors our descendant. 1 John 1:8-10 adds:
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
These verses make it abundantly clear that we have all sinned. In fact, most rational people do not have to be told that they have done wrong; they already know. Romans 6:23 tell us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Since we have all sinned, and since sinners are destined to die (spiritual death), then all men (without Jesus) are going to perish eternally (Mt. 25:41,46). This knowledge should motivate us to zealously and consistently strive to evangelize the lost. Taking God’s saving Word to the masses should be the most important objective in our lives.
3)We must recognize that God Desires All Men to Be Saved. God’s justice demanded that the wages of sin (death) be Carrie out. His love,grace and mercy moved Him to allow his Son to die in our place. John the immerse recognized this fact and upon seeing Jesus, testified of Him, saying, “…Behold ! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). And the same Spirit through Peter affirmed, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). The mere fact that our heavenly father desires to have all men be saved, should move us to reach out the lost. There is no Joy in heaven over one lost soul. (Luke 15:10).
4) We must recognize The Gospel As only God’s Saving Power
Millions of dollars and countless hours have been spent trying to come up with a way to “reach” people and fill church buildings. Gimmicks, Gadgets, games and grand dramatic presentations have been sponsored, yet sin remain. We need to once again stand up and speak with one voice of the saving power of the word of God. Paul understood this concept:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,[a] for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” (Rom. 1:16-17).
The greek word for power is dunamis, from which we get our English word “dynamite” The written word of God is mightier than human can comprehend. The Hebrews writer says:
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
This word will cut the heart of the honest seeker of truth and lead him/her to the way that leads to life. In Acts 20:32 Paul reiterates:
“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
The Word of God, and it alone , can build us up and secure us a place in heaven.
The Gospel is strong enough to save everyone; Jews or gentile, it matters not. All men are accountable to his majestic Word. Jesus said:
He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. (Jn. 12:48).
Men may ignore it, mock it, and ridicule it, but nonetheless, the written word of God will judge us all one day. Paul reaffirms this in Romans 2:16. “in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” Only the Gospel can save (1 Cor. 15:1-3;Rom. 10:13-17) and condemn if is rejected “who does not believe will be condemned” Mark 16:16. The church must once again recognize the power of the Gospel and declare it in its purity and simplicity to a lost and dying world.
5)We the church must recognize itself As the Upholder of the Truth
One of the constants remainders found in the New Testament is the teaching of the church being the defender of the Truth. In 1 Timothy 3:14-15, Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit taught us: “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” The church is the “Pillar and the ground of the truth” It is our obligation in front of God, yea privilege, to be the great defender of the truth on earth.
In Jude 3 , God told us through his word to contend earnestly for the faith. Far too many congregations, and individual members of the Lord’s body, have completely abandoned the idea of fighting for and upholding the message of the Messiah.
It is sad indeed to hear members say things like, “We don’t have to defend the Gospel,” or, “Let’s just hold up Jesus and not the church.” These type of statements indicate a complete ignorance or lack of concern for the mission of the church in the area of recognizing and defending the Lord’s precious precepts. If the church will not uphold the Truth, who will? No one else can. We should be honored that god entrusted us with the soul saving message. Jesus called us the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13,16) Paul spoke of us having the “treasure,” the Word, in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:6-7). If we do not take the message to the lost, no one will.
Therefore, The Mission of the Church Past, Present and Future Is the salvation of the soul. Consider what the above passages have proven: (1) soul are valuable; (2)these soulds need salvation; (3)God wants them all to be saved; (4)the gospel is the only power to save them; (5) The church is te pillar and ground of the Gospel – therefore, it is the mission of the church to save the souls of men, the soul of all men, our own included. We should strive with every fiber of our being to save everyone we know or meet. This work is not only committed only to preachers, elders and Bible class teachers, but to each and every individual member; not just the first century church, but to every congregation of every century and every generation (1 Cor.9:16) Each individual member should utilize every talent and opportunity that comes his or her way in carrying out the mission of the church.
The mission of the church of Christ as outlined in the New Testament is to seek lost souls. We accomplish this in three ways:
First, Evangelism by the church: is to proclaim the gospel of Christ to the world (Mark 16:15,Mt. 28:18-20). The gospel is the only power to save mankind (Rom. 1:16) and the church is to profess and teach the saving message of the gospel (Matt. 28: 18-20). The apostle Paul made clear concerning those who reject the gospel message, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." (II Cor. 4:3-5) in 2 Timothy 4:2 the inspired apostle Paul wrote” Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” We are to preach and teach when the world wishes to hear it as well as when they do not. We ought the Gospel of Christ to the world! (1 Cor. 9:16) “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! These are the marching orders we have been given by our Master and King. We can not be honorable servants of Jesus and ignore what He clearly commands .
2.- Edifying the saints
Second, the church must edify the brethren (building up fellow members of the body). After obeying the gospel, the believer is placed into fellowship with those of like precious faith. Unfortunately, many in the religious world often equate the Bible doctrine of edification with "entertainment". The two are not the same. Edification comes through two means, instruction “worship services and join bible studies” (Eph. 4:15) and example “right living” (Rom. 14:19). Christians should seek to live lives so that the beauty of our risen Saviour can be seen in them. The apostle Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” Every church is urged to encourage spiritual grow and development among all of her members (Mt. 28:20; Acts 14:22; Rom. 14:19, 2 Peter 3:18).
3.- The Third and final area wherein the church is authorized to labor is that benevolence or helping the needy and less fortunate (Acts 6:1-3; 2 Cor. 9:13; 1 Tim. 5:16)., the church practices benevolence unto all who are truly in need, Christian and non-Christian alike (Gal. 6:10). James wrote, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27) Benevolent care for those who are in need is essential if the church is to function as God designed.
The work of the church really is not three different items, but simply one- saving the soul of men. This is done in three different ways.
Our mission is the same as the Lord’s. The physician of old relates “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10). The same commission He gave the apostles still applies today. “…. Unto the end of the world.” This is the only reason the church exist – to get men from earth to judgment prepared to meet their God. Many has lost sight of this fact and have deluded themselves into supporting they are carrying it out, when in reality they have involved themselves in unauthorized practices. It is not the work of the church to entertain ourselves or to offer every kind of service imaginable to allure the world. Our duty is to uphold the Gospel in the saving of the soul of men.
I suspect a major issue is that becoming a disciple is "results oriented", a modern idea. Being missional is "process oriented", a post-modern thought.
That seems to fit with most of what I have read and indeed with my own practice – so long as we don't forget that there is an intended goal and focus for the process. For some the journey simply "is". It doesn't really have a goal or any but the most broad guidelines to follow. For us we walk the road with a clear idea of where we want to wind up and no few rules – both broad and quite restrictive in nature – to help us get there. This is why Christianity will both flourish within and be consistently misunderstood and opposed by postmodern culture.