Motive and Language

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Involving All of God's People in all of God's Mission, Part 2

Words have meaning. Well, unless you are into the verbal gymnastics of the postmodern extreme. Dirt does not mean water, chalk does not mean cheese, and alkaline battery does not mean maple tree. It is because words have meaning that we should take care in how we use them when speaking on the mission of God, and it is because words have meaning that we should use intentional language to involve all of God's people in all of God's mission.

Words build and words destroy. Words cast vision and words halt progress. And words have the ability to lead toward a preferred future.

In church life, some words have become so codified that they may as well form a second Decalogue. Come forward, Bow your heads and close your eyes and the like are pregnant with both intended and unintended meaning. If we are to involve all of God's people in all of God's mission, we need to ensure that our articulations match our intentions.

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As we do this, I believe a church seeking to involve each member in God's mission--a component of any missional church--will intentionally include the motive of God's glory to be expressed among the nations. It is impossible to separate the mission of God from the glory of God since His glory is the goal of His mission. God's glory among every tongue tribe and nation can and should be a theme for every church. Habakkuk reminds us, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD's glory, as the waters cover the sea" (2:14, HCSB).

So emphatic is God about His glory being displayed throughout the earth, that I don't think a church should call itself missional unless it is seeking to serve locally, plant nationally, and engage an unreached people group globally. Without a global vision, there will always be a missing focus resulting in a church out of balance. Rather than saying "all Christians are missionaries," I prefer to say, "All Christians ought to be on God's global mission."