Untitled Sermon (2)

One way to sum it up is to say that we can’t be truly missional without preserving a prominent place for the pursuit of the unreached. It doesn’t matter how much a church may say that she is being missional; she is not fully missional in the biblical sense if she is not pursuing mission at home (traditionally called evangelism) among her native reached people as well as being an engaged sender in support of missionaries to the unreached.

David Mathis

One way to sum it up is to say that we can’t be truly missional without preserving a prominent place for the pursuit of the unreached. It doesn’t matter how much a church may say that she is being missional; she is not fully missional in the biblical sense if she is not pursuing mission at home (traditionally called evangelism) among her native reached people as well as being an engaged sender in support of missionaries to the unreached.

The danger is that with the discussions about “being missional” and “every Christian being a missionary,” the pursuit of all the peoples by prioritizing the unreached can be obscured. The contributors to this book are eager for us both to live “on mission” among our native people and to preserve a place for the biblical category of reaching the unreached. The biblical theme is not merely that God reaches as many people as possible, but all the peoples. He intends to create worshipers of his Son from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The push for being missional captures something very important in the heart of God, but this is dangerous when it comes at the cost of something else essential in the heart of God: pursuing all the nations, not merely those who share our language and culture.

David Math

David Mathis