Why is it that so many churches today are waning - are sick - are stale - have burnt out leaders - have arguments and lengthy problems about things not even related to what we are to be about? Is it satan at his finest? I think maybe so. But even more than that, what have we been doing about it? I am no theologian. I am a simple woman of God who sees things from a very simple view point. I have both heard and seen the issues the church faces and wondered what is to be done about it.

    I am reading a book assigned in one of my classes for missionary training. It is entitled “God's Missionary People” written by Charles Van Engen. It poses a very interesting thought; that we, as the beloved church of God, have lost our purpose. We have forgotten what it is that we are to be about.

    In the beginning, God set out to create a people unto Himself. Sin came in and separated that creation from God. The rest of the Bible is all about God's mission: providing a way for people to come back to Him. In every story of the Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament, you can see God's mission at work. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He set up His church and sent the apostles on a mission that was really just another way of fulfilling God's mission. He sent them to spread the news of the gospel. So, in all reality, the church is missionary at its very core. Van Engen states it well when he says, “The church of Jesus Christ may find its fullest expression in relation to the world from within the Kingdom of God only if it lives out its nature as a missionary people.”  Many people see the church and mission as separate entities. But this is where we have it so wrong. God's mission is what the church needs to be all about.

    I am not going to go into 'three points' that if applied will help the church become more mission minded. There are so many things to be said about that, but that is not my place. It is up to each congregation to decide what this looks like for them. All I want is for us, the church of Jesus, to remember what it is that we are to do, why we do it, and to do it!  That is not to say that it won't cost something. Yes, there will be a price to pay for stepping out of comfort zones and actually doing something to bring people back to God. Why do you think they call it growing pains?

    Ephesians 4:30 says, “Do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The Holy Spirit is eagerly pushing for the church to move outward. But so many of us like our little hub of people. We don't want to get out of our padded pew and get uncomfortable in saving people. We are all about our own mission rather than God's and this is stifling the Holy Spirit. When you stifle the Holy Spirit, you stifle freedom. If we give up our padded pews, our fine buildings, our things that are God's anyway, we will find such amazing freedom and we will be available to win people for Jesus. 

    All I want is for us to realize that we are a part of something that God started at the beginning of time; His plan to draw all people to Himself. So that there will be “every tongue, tribe and nation” praising God one day around the throne. That is what we are living for. Let us be people who faithfully are fulfilling God's mission.