Next week Rev Mike Raiter will be teaching a one-week intensive on ‘Local church, global mission’, looking at how the global issues of the 21st century should affect the work of our local churches. We caught up with him to get a taste of what’s to come next week…
Do you think the word ‘mission’ gets overused?
Mission is one of those rubbery words that can be made to describe anything the church does. So we say that “my mission is to relocate asylum seekers”, or “my mission is leading my home group”. But mission is about being sent, and sent for a specific purpose: to preach the Lord Jesus. Anything which doesn’t have the proclamation of the gospel of Christ as its ultimate goal is not mission. It may be commendable, worthwhile and good, even Jesus-inspired, but it’s not mission.
Some people think global mission isn’t a priority, saying “We have enough problems in our own country, we should focus on those first”. What’s your response?
Of course, we should focus on our own communities. God has put us in the place where we live to serve him there. But if God’s purposes are for all nations, then this must be our commitment too. If there are still billions who don’t know Christ, and there are many churches that are immature and without strong teaching, and we have the resources to do something about it, then our responsibility is clear.
Are local churches generally good at thinking globally? Why should they be?
I’d say that most local churches aren’t good at thinking globally or locally! Many churches are in little more than ‘maintenance mode’. A healthy church has a robust balance between the local and the global in its ministry, its praying, its giving and its sending.
What’s the point in this intensive, why should people come?
John Piper says that mission is not the church’s first task: worship is. Mission exists because worship doesn’t. This intensive will ensure that our passions are in tune with God’s heartbeat. Christians need to be crystal clear on what our great task is here on earth. This intensive will inform and, hopefully, excite us to be a part of this work.
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