Church Family,

“Everywhere, Every Day, Every Member on Mission”. Do you have it memorized yet? I shared this phrase a few weeks ago with our church family as I preached from John 4:31-38. As mentioned several times, my desire is to lead the church to make disciples who embrace a missionary urgency and mindset.

So what does it mean to be on mission? 1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect

The Church’s mission is take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. We want to make Christ known locally and globally. Your local mission field is where you live, work, and play. We are on mission when we walk-out the gospel with the intent to talk-out the gospel. In other words, our missionary-mindset manifests itself by our walk - living like Jesus where we live, work, and play. As we are seeking to live like Jesus, we are praying and looking for opportunities to talk about the gospel with others. That’s it – walking and talking. Everywhere and every day we are seeking to walk in a way that reflects the good news of Jesus Christ with the intent to talk to others about the good news of Jesus Christ.

What does walking-out the gospel look like? Living a holy life while being a friend of sinners. Loving our wives like Christ does the church. Disciplining our children with the goal of shepherding their hearts. Road-rage – not! Being the best employee or student you can be while remembering your identity is in Christ. Not repaying evil for evil. Serving in the community in the name of Christ. Keeping your cool at the ball-game. Using your gifts, talents, and passion to serve Christ.

What does talking-out the gospel sound like? St. Francis of Assisi is noted for saying, “Preach the gospel at all times – when necessary use words”. I disagree. Since faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17) words are necessary. St. Francis’ statement would be better worded, “Preach the gospel by how you live your life at all times – and whenever you can you must use words.” As you live like Christ on your mission field you are always praying for the people you interact with and looking for the opportunity to share gospel seeds when possible. Sometimes you will say a lot – sometimes you will say less. The main thing is that you obey the Spirit’s prompting and leave the results to the Lord.

My prayer for our church family is that each of us will increasingly understand that right where we live, work, and play is the mission field where God has placed us. As we understand this missionary calling more clearly, may it be seen in how we intentionally walk-out the gospel and talk-out the gospel on each of our unique mission fields. To God be the glory!

In Christ,

Pastor Steve