We have been throwing around the term “mission” in our church for quite some time, i think now we are starting to realize that people are not quite sure what this term really means. the term has so much baggage to it because of the idea of foreign missions and missionaries and such.
We are using the term mission in a much different sense. David Bosch in his book (the new big reading project that i have started!), “Transforming Mission” writes:
We have to distinguish between mission (singular) and missions (plural). The first refers primarily to the missio Dei (God’s mission), that is, God’s self-revelation as the One who loves the world, God’s involvement in and with the world, that nature and activity of God, which embraces both the church and the world, and in which the church is privledged to participate. Missio Dei enunciates teh good news that God is a God-for-people….
I think that is a pretty straigh forward defination. To me, to be “missional” basically means to actively take part in the redemptive task of God in the world. (I like that Bosch makes the point that this is a privledge, that God chooses to use the church in this…)