Adult
• 4 Sessions of Learner’s Materials
• 4 Sessions of Teaching Materials
• 5 Handouts
1. Mark 9:38-48
2. Exodus 19:7-15
3. Matthew 1:1-17
4. 1 Corinthians 5:16-21
When we hear the word “mission,” we immediately think about crossing the globe to spread the Word of God, and we feel helpless. We find ourselves trapped in lives and schedules and commitments that are difficult to change, so we leave the “mission work” for those who do it vocationally.
Many have tried to define the sacred task of being a missionary. Carl Braaten, a Lutheran Theologian, for example, wrote, “Mission is understood as the function of the Kingdom of God in the world’s history.” W. O. Carver wrote that “Missions mean the extensive realization of God’s redemptive purpose in Christ by means of human messengers.” These claims certainly encompass what it is to be a “missional” Christian, but my favorite definition is one by friend and former professor of Christian Mission, Dr. Isam E. Ballenger: “Mission is participation in the Trinity. Thus, it cannot be ‘defined,’ for definitions will be insufficient; mission breaks the bounds of any limitation. Mission is thus not a program of the church but is fundamental to the nature of the church. It is the life of the church. It begins with doxology and flows from blessings received.”
We are all capable of missions at all points in our lives, wherever we may live. When we are in Christ, missions is not something we go somewhere else to do; it becomes a part of who we are.
by Susan Ballenger
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