The Simplicity of Mission

Grant’s talk last night was great . . . or so I hear. Although I wasn’t able to be there in person, I did get to spend some time with him Saturday night listening to the preparation process and I’m excited to check-out the recording once it’s up on Facebook.

What struck me the most was the refreshing simplicity with which he talked about being on mission for Jesus.

Question: How do we do mission?

Answer: We do mission by being witnesses of “these things”— the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Messiah—through the power of the Holy Spirit (Lk. 24:44-48).

Practically speaking, this means three things:

1. We need to pray . . . for the Holy Spirit to use us.
2. We need to be present . . . in the places where God has sent us.
3. We need to be compassionate . . . especially when it hurts us.

There’s no deep, dark secret to effective mission. All it takes is pray, presence and compassion. Of course saying “all it takes” may be a bit deceptive. What it really takes is God—without whom the whole process would be impossible. But then again, the mission is his anyway, our job is to simply get in on what He’s already doing.