Not, “Come and hear,” but, “Go and tell”

Jesus never said, “Build it, and they will come.” He did not say, “Hang out a sign that says, ‘Come and hear our message.’” He did say, “Go and tell.” Missional needs to be the nature of every single church, not just a new word in our vocabulary.

There is some talk today about the current mission emphasis being only one more fad that will eventually pass. I suppose that might be true in some circles, but it should not be true of any. As Emil Bruner said, “The church exists by mission, just as fire exists by burning.” I believe that if a group of people are not engaging in mission, they are not a church. It doesn’t matter what the sign by the street may say, a church, by its very nature, is missional.

In fact, David Bosch is right on target. “Mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God.” The Bible tells us that God loved the world so very much He sent His one and only Son to seek and save that which was lost. Jesus tells us that in the same manner He was sent by the Father as a missionary to this world, He is sending us as missionaries to the world around us. “The church exists to organize God’s people on mission. Without mission, there is no church and we have no meaningful connection to one another.”25
Brad Bessent, Gospel Unleashed