Whenever the Church wants to tackle a serious topic, it resorts to the ancient languages. Something on the order of when a doctor wants to impress you with the seriousness of whatever ails you and shifts into Latin to describe your condition. The same happens when lawyers rev up for a court challenge.

Missio Dei is one of those serious ecclesiastical terms. The easiest translation is, “The Mission of God.” But one might also translate it, “The sending of God.” For God is all about sending. The Father sent the Son into the world to redeem the world. He came as God's authorized agent, bearing the very likeness and nature of God. His sacrificial death on the cross provides the lens through which we most clearly are able to see the Father's heart (“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”). But God's sending didn't stop with Jesus. God also sent the Holy Spirit after Jesus returned to the Father. The Spirit would guide the disciples into the truth and cause them to remember all that Jesus had taught them. The Spirit would create saving faith in the hearts of those who heard the Gospel. The Spirit would empower those people to live in the image of Christ as “Christians.” But the Spirit would be active in sending, as well. The disciples were not to begin their mission until they had received the Holy Spirit. Jesus ties this sending with the Spirit when he said, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you,” and then breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit...”

We in the Church are all about God's mission, then, not our own. Congregational leaders do not sit down and say, “Well, what is our mission?” even though congregations did and still may write so-called “mission statements.” In His great mercy, God has given the Church a role to play in His mission. We are not called to be redeemers. We are not called to be sanctifiers. We are not called to compel people to faith. Our mission is not even to make the world a safer place for democracy. But God sends His Church into the world as proclaimers. Our mission is to announce that which God has already accomplished for the world on the cross and at the empty tomb. “We implore you, be reconciled to God.”

Now there are some interesting by-products of that sending where it has been blessed by God. It was the church that started hospitals, cared for widows, and changed the abortion cultures of the ancient world. It was the Church that elevated the status of women in the ancient world. Christians made great contributions to culture - music, arts, and sciences. But the Church has veered away from God's mission wherever and whenever it has mistaken those by-products for the goal of the mission - announcing the very reconciliation that led to those by-products.

Today some are no less guilty of muddying the Missio Dei. Some corrupt the mission by saying, “Our church needs new members to help pay the bills.” Not the mission of God! Others have said, “We need to reach out to minorities so we will be a more racially balanced organization.” Not the mission of God! Some think, “We need more members so we will have more political influence to promote justice in our community.” Not the mission of God. And the Mission of God is certainly not to have enough members so the church will stay open long enough for your funeral.

God sent His one and only Son into the world to establish the peace of which the angels sang over Bethlehem. Rejoice over the partnership He has established with us, His people, giving us the privilege of being light to the nations. For the Church, not the United States, is that city set on a hill. Freedom from the slavery of sin, not from foreign dominance, is what we announce. As you evaluate what your congregation does, why not ask, “Is what we are doing faithful to God's sending, or are we trying to short-cut the Gospel and offer a byproduct instead?”