At first glance, the statement sounds backward. Churches have mission statements, mission committees, and mission budgets. We naturally think the Church has a mission.
But the Bible tells a larger story. Before there was a Church, there was God—a God who creates, redeems, and restores.
What if we have things backward?
What if mission didn’t begin with the Church at all? What if mission began with God?
Take a moment and think about the grand story of Scripture. Long before there was an Abraham, an Israel, or a Church, there was God at work. God created the world. God sought Adam and Eve after they sinned. God called Abraham to bless the nations. God delivered Israel from bondage. God sent the prophets to call His people home.
God was on a mission long before the Church ever came into existence.
Then came the greatest act of God’s mission. The Father sent the Son. Later, the Father and the Son sent the Spirit. And through the power of the Spirit, the Triune God sent the Church.
When we start first with God, our perspective is changed. The Church doesn’t have a mission. God’s mission has a Church.
Now, instead of asking, “What is our mission?” perhaps we should first ask, “What is God doing?” Then we can ask the next question: “How do we faithfully join Him?”
To get some practical answers to those questions, we need to go back to the beginning. We realize the mission of God did not start with the Church, the Great Commission, or even the nation of Israel. It began with God Himself. From the opening pages of Scripture, we meet a God who creates, pursues, redeems, and restores. Mission is not simply something God does; it flows from who God is.
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Rupert Loyd Jr., a United States Navy veteran, has a Bachelor of Arts in history from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts, and a PhD in leadership from Union University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has over 40 years of pastoral experience in both urban and suburban churches, including multiethnic, multicongregational churches. Throughout his career he has maintained a presence in both the church and the academy. He pastored churches in Luna Pier and Taylor, both in Michigan; Miami, Florida; and Point Place and Toledo, both in Ohio. He taught at Miami Christian College and Trinity College, both in Miami, Florida; Union University in Cincinnati, Ohio; Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana; University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio; and Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio.
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