If what it means to be missional is to participate in God’s redemptive activity in the world (or the restoration of creation and freedom for humanity from every oppressive situation) and this mission has its origins from the heart of God then what are the aspects of the nature of mission itself?

I choose to live as though there are three integrative aspects to the mission of God.

The first aspect of the nature of God’s mission is the biblical text.  This is one place that we seek to understand and know God.  The biblical text is where the story of God, self, others and the world converges to reveal God’s desire for peace (or salvation and justice).

The second aspect of the nature of God’s mission is the people of God.  The church is the agency that God uses to remind the world that God has not forgotten them.  The church is the new society that tells the biblical story that is completed in Jesus – the gospel.

The third aspect of the nature of God’s mission is culture.  Where does the church proclaim and perform the gospel?  The gospel is to be lived out in the midst of the cultural context that we find ourselves in.  To be missional, therefore, is to work for the salvation and justice of humanity and the restoration of all of creation, wherever God has planted you.

In what ways do you find the integration of these aspects encouraging?  What stories do you have in which these three aspects of the nature of God’s mission have proven to be imperative?