Imago Dei Anglican Church – Jon Kenerson
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MISSIONS: PRAYER, COMMUNITY, AND JUSTICE
I.
WHAT IS MISSIONS
A.
The Holy Spirit is preparing and already releasing the greatest revival, awakening, and
missions’ movement the world has ever seen.
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could
count…who are they, and where did they come from?”…“These are they who
have come out of the great tribulation” (Rev. 7:9-14)
B.
Korea alone sends out as many new missionaries each year as all of the countries of
the West combined. China is committed to sending 100,000 missionaries into
Muslim countries to complete the trek of the gospel around the globe. They go to
seminary and take classes like New Testament Survey and How to Escape from
Prison (Back to Jerusalem by Paul Hattaway).
C.
Missions is eschatological (related to the end of the age). Jesus decided that his return
to rule and reign over the nations of this world is dependent on missions. He will not
return until every people group has heard that he’s coming back.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations (peoples, cultures, tribes), and then the end will
come. (Matt. 24:24)
D.
Missions is not just something that other people do in other countries. Missions is
for every believer wherever you find yourself. We are sent not primarily from our
earthy hometown out, but from our future heavenly home back to present day earth
– we are citizens of another kingdom (Heb. 11:13-16).
Read Acts 1:8 and put your name in there.
But (insert your name here) will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on
you; and you will be my witnesses in Orono, and in all Maine and New
England, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
E.
Why are we missional? Because God is missional. Missio Dei – “mission of God”.
"Mission is not primarily an activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a
missionary God." - David J. Bosch. Luke 15 demonstrates that God is on a mission
with three parables about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
F.
But experience demonstrates that missions requires more than just going and telling.
I’ve seen missionaries head out into the field, burn out and return. Missions needs to
have a solid foundation (prayer) and support (community) and banner (justice).
G.
Missions is based on the Great Commission. This has all the main principles of
missions we need – every phrase is a building block.
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Imago Dei Anglican Church – Jon Kenerson
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And Jesus came up and spoke to them (community), saying, “All authority
has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe (justice, obedience,
holiness) all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always (prayer),
even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)
The Missional Triad
Jesus’ Directive
Command and Focus
Our primarily position
1st Command
Love God
Receive
2nd Command
Love Neighbor
Share
Imago Dei Community
Enjoy God
Love Neighbor
Dynamic Prayer
Vibrant Community
Tools
II.
Great Commission
Love the World
Give
Join with Jesus in the
restoration of all things
True Justice
PRAYER: THE LIFE OF MISSIONS
A.
Mission flows out of connection to the missional God, the life giver.
“Abide (live, remain, stay rooted, rest) in me, and I in you…Apart from me you can
do nothing.” John 15:5
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2
III.
B.
Jesus began mission with prayer. Prior to the commencement of his ministry Jesus
went out into the desert to connect with the Father (Luke 4:1-12). The desert is the
fasted and prayerful lifestyle, forsaking legitimate pleasures to position ourselves to
receive Grace. Immediately after his return from prayer – Jesus began his mission
(Luke 4:16-21).
C.
The historic prayer movement is intimately connected to missions. Pentecost and the
Jerusalem revival; Bangor Abbey and the re-evangelization of Europe; Herrnhut,
Germany and the Moravian missions movement; Haystack Prayer Meeting in
Williamstown, Massachusetts and the American Foreign Missions Movement are just
some examples.
COMMUNITY: THE WAY OF MISSIONS
“And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they
had…And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:44,47
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Imago Dei Anglican Church – Jon Kenerson
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A.
In his book The Celtic Way of Evangelism George Hunter describes the characteristics
of the Celtic monastic communities as distinct from traditional Eastern monasteries.
These were communities of families who lived in intentional community with a daily
and annual rhythm of life. They farmed, worked, rested, ate, prayed, lived together.
A Comparison of The Two Types of Communities
Traditional Eastern Monasteries
Celtic Monastic Communities
Segregate men and women
Integrate whole families
Escape the world
Reach the world
Save their own souls
Save other’s souls
Located in isolation
Located in near towns and travel lanes
Primarily priests
Primarily laity
Quiet and serene
Industrious and active
Gather others in
Send their own out
Emphasize God’s transcendence
Emphasize God’s immanence (closeness)
(loftiness)
Cerebral and “left brained”
Creative and “right” brained
Avoid material, focus on spiritual
Embrace the created goods as vehicles to
the spiritual life
Focus on “ultimate” issues: origin,
Focus on “immediate” issues: uncertainty
purpose, destiny.
of near future, present crises, past
unknowns.
IV.
JUSTICE: THE TRUTH OF MISSIONS
A.
Justice is God making the wrong (does not line up with the nature of God) things
right. Wrong actions, wrong thinking, wrong beliefs, wrong attitudes, wrong systems,
wrong situations, wrong laws, wrong practices.
B.
Missions must be holistic. A gospel that only addresses the “ultimate” issues is not
good news to people suffering with “mid-level” or "immediate" issues such as, drug
addictions, house foreclosure, terminal illness, broken families, oppressive jobs,
chronic pain, mental illness, unexpected death of loved ones, etc. Missions is not
simply proclamation (preaching and teaching) it is also demonstration (healing and
delivering).
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching …preaching the good news of the
kingdom, AND healing every disease and sickness among the people…
people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering
severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed,
and he healed them.” Matthew 4:23-24
See also Matt. 8:16; 9:35; 10:1,7-8; Mark 6:56, Luke 9:11; 10:8-9
C.
Isaiah 58 demonstrates that success in missions is dependent on first seeking justice.
The kind of justice we seek is in line with Matthew 25:31-46.
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Imago Dei Anglican Church – Jon Kenerson
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“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and
untie the cords of the yoke (oppression), …to share your food … to provide the poor
wanderer with shelter … to clothe the naked, and not to turn away from your own
flesh and blood? THEN your light (scope of influence in ministry, Matt. 5:16) will
break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your
righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear
guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will
say: Here am I. Isaiah 58:6-9
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you
clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit
me…Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least (the poor, oppressed,
weak, helpless, defenseless) of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Matthew 25:35-40
V.
SUMMARY
Missions is partnering with the Father heart of God who sent his Son Jesus to reach the lost
in the power of the Holy Spirit. This mission is fueled and sustained by a lifestyle of prayer,
is accomplished through the vehicle of Acts 2 communities, and is focused on Isaiah
58/Matthew 25 acts of justice that proclaim and demonstrate the good news of Christ’s
transformative power to answer the “ultimate” questions of existence and the “immediate”
questions of how to live life with God now.
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