Is Mission the Missing Piece?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us …” —Hebrews 12:1

I don’t really consider myself a runner because, most of the time, when I “run,” I feel like a lumberer—awkward, clumsy, and slow. As I lumbered along over the past months and increased my mileage (or kilometers for my Canadian friends), I found myself missing something. My body was communicating clearly that it was “hitting the wall”—meaning it had severely run out of energy because my carbohydrate tank was empty. Lumbering on fumes is no fun (some of you may say the same about running itself).

This running reality made me wonder: How many churches feel the same way—like you are lumbering along, instead of running strongly the race marked out for you?  Maybe some reading this are “hitting the wall”—the church body you belong to is out of energy, and you feel like you have been running on fumes for years now.  Lumbering on fumes as a church is also no fun.

I want to invite you to ask the question: What is missing? For me, figuring out that I was not ingesting enough carbs in my diet took tracking the food I was eating and doing a lot of reading. But now, I declare (with an Italian accent): Bring on the pasta and breadsticks! For you, I invite you to pray and listen. I invite you to consider if God’s mission is missing as the heartbeat of your life and the life of your church. I invite that because I believe God’s mission is the carb the church needs to consume to run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  

I believe the church must live on a minimum diet of three things: LOVE, LIFE, and LIGHT.  

Love is vital to who we are as disciples of Jesus because it is vital to who God is. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (I John 4:16). This is us sitting beside, walking with, and standing up for others as Jesus did for so many, including us.  

Life is vital to who we are as disciples of Jesus because it is vital to who God is. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). This is us abiding with God through spiritual disciplines, like prayer, Bible reading, fasting, and celebration (to name a few).   

Light is vital to who we are as disciples of Jesus because it is vital to who God is. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12). This is us joining in God’s mission—being lights in a broken and often dark world.   

We can’t live well as disciples of Jesus if one of these is missing. Honestly, we will simply lumber along. Of this spiritual diet, is there anything missing? Often in my conversations with churches, I have found the missing piece to be mission. And again, mission is the carb of the church that allows us to persevere. Here is why I say that:  Romans 5:3 talks about how “suffering produces perseverance.” James talks about how “the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:3). God’s mission produces Christian suffering and the testing of faith. It did for Jesus—note the Garden of Gethsemane and the cross—and it will do the same for us. Like running, mission means sacrifice; mission means people may think you are crazy; mission means intentionality in lacing up your shoes to run the race. Unlike running, mission does not depend solely on you, but you are a vital part. 

Trust me, engaging in God’s mission may feel like you are lumbering—awkward, clumsy, and slow. I think that is more normal than not. Be a lumberer for the gospel. Build into your diet, as a person and as a church, the practice of mission. If you wonder what that means, please reach out ([email protected]). The Resonate team and I would love to consume the carb of mission together!           

Brad Meinders is Resonate Global Mission's North America Director of Regional Teams and Local Mission