

The Great Comforter
The Great Commission comes equipped with the Great Comforter. This promise is fulfilled by the provision of the Holy Spirit—the missionary Spirit sent to witness to the coming of the Kingdom of God (John 13-17; Acts 2:17). Lesslie Newbigin again offers some succinct instruction for us here. “Mission first of all belongs to the Spirit who is sent by Jesus and the church is taken up into that work…Mission flows in the following way: the Father sends the Son; the Son sends the Church and equips it with the Spirit to enable it to carry out its mission…God does not cease to participate in the missionary enterprise with the sending of Jesus. He does not initiate mission with the sending of Jesus and then leave the missionary work to be carried on by a human institution that followed the pattern of Christ without the help of the Spirit.” Newbigin continues, “The active agent of mission is a power that rules, guides, and goes before the church: the free, sovereign, living power of the Spirit of God. Mission is not just something that the church does; it is something that is done by the Spirit, who is Himself the witness.”
A church on can effectively reflect the power of the Gospel (Romans 1:6) as it depends on the Spirit of God to empower the body for evangelism, discipleship, and Gospel proclamation rather than depending on big events or buildings or programs or methods utilized elsewhere to draw unbelievers to an event. The Apostle Paul explained to the church situated in the pagan, sinful city of Thessalonica that this “Gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thes. 1:5; cf. 1 Peter 1:12). Paul was saying, “I did the speaking, but it was not I. I was used by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work He intended.”
Some churches put their emphasis on the studying of the Word. While important that we feed our souls, these are typically the intellectual theologians that spend great hours reading and studying in often arguing the finer points of doctrine resulting in pride of knowledge but rarely conversions. Other churches put a majority of their emphasis on the Holy Spirit and are often more interested in an experience than the authoritative Word. The Holy Spirit uses the Word and the Spirit of truth for understanding. A missional church proclaims the truth with boldness through dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:29-33).
7. Missional churches utilize relationships and sacrificial love as the expressions of love to others in their journey toward faith. (Matt. 5:13-16, John 15:12-17, 1 John 4:19-21)
“Christ wants to create ‘a people,’ not merely isolated individuals who believe in Him.” A disciple is a Spirit-empowered follower of Jesus who is united with a Gospel community on mission for all peoples for the glory of God. A recent book by Dan Kimball entitled, “They Like Jesus but Not the Church” is illustrative of our culture’s skepticism with churches and Christians. The culture is not seeing Jesus in the church, and frankly, Christians are not seeing Jesus in the church and are not motivated to engage in authentic Gospel community because they have little reference for it outside of the Bible’s descriptions (Acts 2:42-45; 4:31-35).
God is a missionary God, and God’s primary missionary method is His covenant people. Mankind was made in the image of the triune God. God created us in that image as persons-in-community to be the means by which He would reveal His glory. As a result of sin, we grasp for isolation from God and His church. When the local church allows this proclivity for seclusion, these image bearers of God fall short of His glory.
The missional church moves out across the nations as a movement of people empowered and sent by Jesus while drawing people through its common life as a God-glorifying movement of believers and unbelievers alike back to Jesus. Steve Timmis writes, “Our identity as human beings is found in community. Our identity as Christians is found in Christ’s new community. And our mission takes place through communities of light.”
What community looks like is unique in every setting, just as every family is unique because there are a lot of variables and moving parts. But the family/community works out the details of their common mission because they are equally committed to each other and to their mission as Christ followers. Those in community do not act in isolation, but rather sacrifice their schedules, time, money, conveniences, and individuality to serve the need. It is foreign to us that the believers in the first church sold their possessions and with singleness of heart gave to those in need. This deep unity and collaboration among the first church ignited the Gospel proclamation that turned the world upside down.
The book of Acts describes the Christian community in multiple ways that may lead to even greater deeds than are described in this canonical record.
- Self-sacrifice
- Commitment to relationships
- Pursuit of unity among the community of believers
- Goal of a common mission
- Deep love
8. The goal of a missional church is to walk in community with others as Jesus pursues them in His own way and timing. (1 Cor. 9:20-23)
This Gospel community includes believers and unbelievers. Jesus was criticized for including non-believers in community.
“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Matt. 11:19)
Judas was a part of the disciples even as Jesus spoke about letting the tares grow up with the wheat (Matt. 13:24-30; cf. 1 Cor. 2:19). He spoke to the woman at the well when no one else would dare (John 4). Our interaction with unbelievers is not for the saving of mankind or for the building up of our church, but rather for the glory of God.
The witness of Jesus to the lost woman of Samaria can be summarized in the following way and provides for us a basis for our friendship with sinners.
- Intentional – He was compelled to go through Samaria when others walked miles out of the way to avoid it (John 4:4).
- Conversational – He addressed a common need: water (4:7).
- Respectful – Contrary to culture, this male Jew spoke kindly to this disgraceful woman (4:7).
- Directional – He directed the conversation away from her perceived issue back to the Gospel (4:10-15; 19-24).
- Convictional – He adequately addressed her sin without rubbing her nose in it (4:16-18).
- Confrontational – He confronted her with the truth of who He was (4:26).
- Missional – He met her on her turf and brought the Gospel to bear in her life, and she became the missional evangelist in Samaria (4:28-30).
- Attitudinal – To the broken people, He showed compassion. To the religious people, He demonstrated unacceptance of their self-righteousness. To those who followed Him, He expected nothing less than absolute surrender.
Look over the list of eight ways Jesus approached this woman and examine your heart to see if you interact with lost people in a similar manner.
9. A missional church is a hands-on training ground for missionary training. (Acts 4:13, 31-35)
His mission is nothing short of the redemption of peoples and cultures, the renewal of all creation for His own glory. God’s great, burdensome, and glorious mission is the renewal of all creation! God, in His mercy, has invited us to participate inHis mission.
The community of believers provides opportunities, and they practice hospitality for living out the Gospel in word and deed with one another. Church leaders must set the pace for pursuing the mission of Jesus. As Jack Miller noted, churches become “religious cushions” that tranquilize the guilt-ridden person with the religious warmth of its liturgy. Jack said the contributors of these religious cushion churches are the following:
- Quiet acceptance of churchly dullness as normative
- Fear of extinction
- Extreme sensitivity to the negative opinions
- Demand for comfort – a nice church with a nice pastor preaching a nice sermon about a nice Jesus
- Unrestrained Gossip
Members of a missional church are expected to serve on the frontlines of the mission. The missionary emphasis of the body overtakes the self-serving individual, and they either hide, escape, or they get trained in living life as a missionary across the street, across the seas, and across the socio-economic, ethnic, religious, and political boundaries.
10. Godly, biblically qualified elders lead a missional church. (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1; Eph. 4)
While most descriptions of a missional church do not include this characteristic, I don’t think it is possible to maintain a missional emphasis without what Jack Miller calls “pacesetting pastors” who continually remind the body of the mission for which Jesus has called us and the Holy Spirit has empowered us to pursue until the return of Jesus.
Titus was commissioned by Paul to establish the churches with qualified elders in Crete to rebuke false teachers, teach sound doctrine, establish godly homes, preach the Gospel of grace, do good works, confront rebellion, and multiply followers of Jesus. The key to straightening out the crooked churches in Crete was the establishing of qualified elders to guide the rest of the body toward the Gospel.
Elders are to be above reproach in every area of their life. The Gospel will never take root in the body until it takes root in the leaders’ lives. Spurgeon writes, “Brothers, I beseech you, keep the old Gospel, and let your souls be filled with it, and then may you be set on fire with it!” A church will never be missional until its elders live missional lives in front of their followers.
The real value of an elder in a missional church is the equipping of non-vocational leaders to lead and share responsibility for the mission and for the discipling of new believers (Eph. 4:11-12). Reproducing churches unleash the whole body to exercise their gifts (1 Cor. 12:8-10) and encourage them to lead others on mission to proclaim the Gospel in new ways and new places in the community. New believers are incorporated quickly in the mission and receive on-the-job training through an organic mentorship rather than top-down control.
Missional or Biblical?
Looking over the description of a missional church, one understands this word to be equated with the pattern set forth in the Bible. The church established by the Apostles was a church on mission. It was missional. It seems that the evangelical church just needed a new word like missional to describe the “Biblical church.”