What does the mission statement mean?

How we seek to accomplish this mission is reflected in the strategies, goals, objectives, and tactics that from time to time The Mission Society pursues. Our primary conviction is that all the “People of God” are called to follow Jesus in His mission. We are unwavering in our devotion to the task of calling God’s people to be faithful and obedient to that Mission.

"The Mission Society exists to mobilize and deploy..."
Our purpose is to awaken and activate God’s people for mission and to provide ways and methods for persons and groups to engage in cross-cultural service. Since the founding of The Mission Society, this has meant recruiting, training, and deploying individuals whom God was calling into the work of cross-cultural workers. In more recent years, programs designed to challenge churches around the world to embrace God’s mission and be effectively and strategically engaged in local and global outreach have been added. Through these and by any means, we seek to fulfill our purpose of all who follow Jesus to be obedient to the Great Commandment and Great Commission.

"… the Body of Christ globally..."
While the Body of Christ is often perceived in organizational terms, in reality, it is fundamentally organic in its nature. Most frequently thought of as the local church, the Body of Christ also includes campus ministries, Bible study groups, cell groups meeting in homes, and a multitude of other forms of groupings of ”followers of Jesus.” In fact, wherever two or more followers of Jesus come together for worship and service, they are the Body of Christ. It is they - the followers of Jesus - whom The Mission Society invites to follow Jesus in His mission, which indeed is the mission of God.

The Body of Christ has grown exponentially in the southern hemisphere and the East (the “majority world”) during the last century. In recent years, this growth has been accompanied by a proliferation of non-western mission movements. The Mission Society seeks to encourage and foster these indigenous movements by coming alongside the Body of Christ in other parts of the world for the purpose of encouraging, resourcing, and mobilizing their participation in God’s Mission.

"… to join Jesus in His mission..."
In recent years there has been a renewed emphasis on the ”Mission of God.” This return to biblical orthodoxy is correcting the false understanding that the origin of missions was through the human effort of what we could do for God. In fact, mission is not a program of the Church (the Body of Christ); the Church is a program of God’s Mission! Or as a Ghanaian bishop recently stated at one of our conferences, “God does not have a mission for God’s Church; God has a Church for God’s mission.” Holy Scripture declares that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (II Cor. 5:19). The gospel writer affirmed that Jesus came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus’ often repeated call to people was, “Follow me” (Matt. 4:19; Mk. 1:17; Lk. 5:27; John 1:43). We affirm the Holy Trinity when we speak of either “The Mission of God” or “Jesus’ Mission” and understand they are not distinct missions but one. One cannot truly follow Jesus without joining Jesus in His mission. The same affirmative response to His gracious invitation that ushers people into the Body of Christ also thrusts them into the midst of Jesus’ mission.

“… especially among the least reached peoples.”
From Genesis to Revelation the Biblical witness is clear that God’s heart is extended to “all the nations” (Gen. 12:3; Ps. 67:2, 4; Is. 49:6; Mt. 28:19). The multitude gathered around the throne is described in Revelation as being “from every nation and tribe and people and language” (Rev. 7:9). When asked about the timing of His return, Jesus declared to His disciples that it would be only after the “gospel of the Kingdom” had been preached “in all the world” as a witness “to every nation” (Mt. 24:14). Tragically, two millennia later, nearly a thousand “people groups” representing nearly two billion people still have had little or no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we therefore join Jesus in His Mission, we place a special emphasis on engaging persons and groups who have had the least opportunity to hear and respond to the Good News. Focusing especially on these “least reached peoples” obligates us to develop new relationships, new strategies, and new resources to more effectively engage them. We have learned that our lives and our witness must be conducted in an incarnational manner that reflects radical Biblical contextualization, so that every tongue, tribe, and nation (ethne) will have the most favorable opportunity to respond to the gospel of Jesus.