Missions..or not?

God has been bombarding me with opportunities to think about what missions is recently. I'm in one of John Piper's "Let the Nations Be Glad" video studies with the ladies at my church. Using scripture, Piper short and sweetly defines missions as

1. Culture Crossing

2. Language Learning

3. People Pursuing

So when I went to New Orleans in high school it was actually an... evangelism trip?

Mind. Blowing.

Another speaker I recently listened to, Steve Burchett with Jim Eliff's ministry in Kansas City, went through Acts 13 and Acts 14, or "the first missionary journey". He used this passage to conclude that missions is

1. Church Planting

2. Done by men

3. After you plant, appoint elders, establish truth, you leave and move on to the next place, but stay available.

That makes women on the field and anyone who is abroad, but not planting churches, helpers and workers - as they called John Mark in the passage.

Mind. Blown.

What do you think?

I was temped to say "I DON'T KNOW!!" and move on, but how would that help me grow? I still don't have a conclusion, but I'd encourage you to study the bible for yourself and spend some time thinking on this. Why is it important? In today's day, lots of people say, "Well I'm a missionary, I told my neighbor about God last week." or, "Everybody is a missionary," or, "I support missionaries so I'm good". What's the problem?

We need to define missions because it puts the pressure back on the local church body to evangelize. The church needs to be sharing the gospel at home, in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools. Ask yourself, when was the last time I shared the gospel with an unbeliever?

Comment and let me know what you think missions is and why!

These are definitely condensed versions of what are the result of a lot of study on these men's part. To order Piper's book, go here for an older addition for just $0.01!