John 1:14 ‘The word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood’.
“For Christ’s love compels us” – 2 Corinthians 5:13–15 (NLT)

In preparation for this series I was reminded of the story of an Australian couple who went to Bangladesh as missionaries. When Stuart and Margaret arrived in the country they were informed, by the missionaries already there, that the Muslim people were impossible to reach with the Gospel message…

Transition: At the heart of Stuart’s sense of mission was not what is often referred to as the mission mandate Matthew 28:19–20 (NLT) ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” That is our mandate…

Leslie Newbigin – the Gospel in a pluralist society – says, ‘the mission of the church is rooted in the Gospel (good news) itself’ ie. not just in obedience to a command, making mission a burden not a joy.

Rather for Stuart and Margaret it was the Gospel (good news) itself revealed in Jesus Christ: John 1:14 ‘The word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood’.

And it is at the heart of our reflections over the coming month.

Before we can consider what it is to support missions somewhere else, we must understand what it is to be committed to being missionaries in our own land, in our own communities, in our own families.

God wants people, churches, congregations to think like and behave like missionaries.