God is a sending God. Sending people is what he does. Not only does God send people, he too is sent. When the world that he created went astray, rather than destroying it, he send people to redeem it. Sending is simply a part of how God redeems what was lost in the Garden.
Through the ages the church has used the Latin phrase missio dei—best translated to English as “mission of God”—to describe this dynamic. The word “mission” means “sent”. To talk about the mission of God is to talk about the sending of God.
Throughout the Scriptures we see God sending people. God sent Abraham away from his fathers house to start a family. God sent angels to Abraham. God sent Moses to the people of Israel to rescue them from Egyptian slavery. God sent Joshua to conquer and colonize the Promised Land. God sent the judges to rescue the Israelites from foreign oppression. God sent Samuel to anoint David King. God sent prophets to call his people to repentance. God sent Saul to the Gentiles. God sent Cornelius to Peter. God sent Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch. The list goes on and on.
Yes, God sends, but he is also sent. God the Father sent God the Son (Jesus) into the world. God the Son and God the Father also sent God the Holy Spirit into the world (John 14:16).
God sends people.
The wonderful news of the Gospel is that when people become Christians they join in holy fellowship with God and other believers. In Paul’s language, people become members of God’s family when they become Christians. We must keep in mind that when we become members of God’s family that it is a family that sends. There is not a single member of the family of God that has not sent or been sent somewhere or to someone. God the Father sends, God the Son sends and is sent and the Holy Spirit is sent. This means that we can be 100% sure that joining that holy family means being sent or sending.
There is not a single member of the family of God that has not sent or been sent somewhere or to someone
Church families, pastors, Christians, are we sending and being sent? God is on a mission, are we with him? To whom are you sent? Who are you sending? Churches, are you sending out missionaries? Are you yourselves being sent as missionaries?
I believe every church that God raises up is for a particular purpose—to reach an unreached group. For whom has God raised you up? To whom is is calling you and your church to minister? Churches who purposes is to simply continue their existence have missed the mark. God does not raise up worshipping bodies of believers to just exist. He raises up churches as armies to send into a dark world.
