Everyone Sent
by Joe Johns
Over the past month, I’ve been sharing Fellowship’s 4 freshly expressed values. These values drive our mission together because they drove Jesus’ mission. We see Jesus living out these values throughout the Gospels.
Jesus Loved. Jesus Reconciled. Jesus Empowered. Jesus Sent.
If we are to reduce lostness in southeast Fort Wayne by 20% over the next decade by seeing the Gospel flourish in 10,000 men, women, and children who begin to follow Jesus…then we must value what Jesus valued.
In other words,
Jesus Loved. Jesus Reconciled. Jesus Empowered. Jesus Sent.
If we are to reduce lostness in southeast Fort Wayne by 20% over the next decade by seeing the Gospel flourish in 10,000 men, women, and children who begin to follow Jesus…then we must value what Jesus valued.
In other words,
Everyone Loved.
We all have worth as humans created by God.
Everyone Reconciled.
We all have sin needing Christ’s reconciliation.
Everyone Empowered.
We all have Holy Spirit power through prayer.
Everyone Sent.
We all have missionary identity and calling.
Today, we explore the fourth statement, Everyone Sent.
I love that Fellowship has the word missionary in our name. This fact means several different things. It means we are part of the Missionary Church, USA denomination. It also means that we have a history of sending and supporting missionaries across the globe. But to me, it has always meant more than just these important things.
Fundamentally, it means that every believer at Fellowship is a missionary.
Most of us tend to not see it this way. Often, we think of missionaries as people who are more godly than we are (or could ever be), who sell everything they own to move to a foreign mission field (or at least somewhere else), and who receive financial support to do so (from people like us!). Unhelpfully, we convince ourselves that a few believers are called to be missionary and the rest of us are called to be supporters of missionaries.
Neither are wrong, but both are incomplete according to Jesus.
Just as Jesus was sent, so he sends all his disciples to continue his Gospel mission (John 20:21). He calls all who follow him to “go” to and through the various geographies around them to the ends of the earth, making disciples who are transformed by the Gospel (Mt 28:16-20, Acts 1:8).
Being missionary is first about your identity, not locality. It’s primarily about who you are, not where you go.
There is more variety in being missionary than we ever dreamed.
We are all missionary. We all have a gospel calling and responsibility in the places God has currently sent us, namely, our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, or networks. The Church is sent—all of us! We are sent to the people in the places we live, work, play, and go. The priority is for us all to learn to live a missionary lifestyle where we are, so we are able to make disciples wherever in the world God would send us.
But how can we learn what we don’t think is ours to learn?
The short answer is we won’t--unless we begin to believe…Everyone Sent.
Everyone Sent reminds us that we are a missionary church because we are all everyday missionaries. We all have missionary identity and calling. We are all sent to particular groups of people for Gospel impact.
We may not all feel equipped and trained to do so yet. But we can be…if we see it as our identity.
What if each of us actually embraced our missionary identity and aimed to get better at living it in partnership with Jesus and each other? Jesus tells us the harvest is ready and waiting for us.
Are you harvest ready?
Everyone Sent!
I love that Fellowship has the word missionary in our name. This fact means several different things. It means we are part of the Missionary Church, USA denomination. It also means that we have a history of sending and supporting missionaries across the globe. But to me, it has always meant more than just these important things.
Fundamentally, it means that every believer at Fellowship is a missionary.
Most of us tend to not see it this way. Often, we think of missionaries as people who are more godly than we are (or could ever be), who sell everything they own to move to a foreign mission field (or at least somewhere else), and who receive financial support to do so (from people like us!). Unhelpfully, we convince ourselves that a few believers are called to be missionary and the rest of us are called to be supporters of missionaries.
Neither are wrong, but both are incomplete according to Jesus.
Just as Jesus was sent, so he sends all his disciples to continue his Gospel mission (John 20:21). He calls all who follow him to “go” to and through the various geographies around them to the ends of the earth, making disciples who are transformed by the Gospel (Mt 28:16-20, Acts 1:8).
Being missionary is first about your identity, not locality. It’s primarily about who you are, not where you go.
There is more variety in being missionary than we ever dreamed.
We are all missionary. We all have a gospel calling and responsibility in the places God has currently sent us, namely, our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, or networks. The Church is sent—all of us! We are sent to the people in the places we live, work, play, and go. The priority is for us all to learn to live a missionary lifestyle where we are, so we are able to make disciples wherever in the world God would send us.
But how can we learn what we don’t think is ours to learn?
The short answer is we won’t--unless we begin to believe…Everyone Sent.
Everyone Sent reminds us that we are a missionary church because we are all everyday missionaries. We all have missionary identity and calling. We are all sent to particular groups of people for Gospel impact.
We may not all feel equipped and trained to do so yet. But we can be…if we see it as our identity.
What if each of us actually embraced our missionary identity and aimed to get better at living it in partnership with Jesus and each other? Jesus tells us the harvest is ready and waiting for us.
Are you harvest ready?
Everyone Sent!
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