PREFACE: AN URGENT CALL TO CHRISTIAN MISSION
by Daniel Vestal
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“All this is from God who reconciled us from self through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are, therefore, ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5: 18-20 NIV)
God is on a mission. And the incredible good news is that God invites us to participate in that mission. The Triune God chooses to include us in a grand and glorious mission. This is the Gospel.
The mission of God is one of continuing reconciliation and redemption. Its goal is the renewal of all things in Heaven and on Earth. In love God sends the Savior who in turn sends the Spirit who in turn sends us. There is a missional character to the nature of God, to the Biblical revelation, and to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are invited to participate in this reconciling and redeeming mission. We do this first by receiving the grace and love of God revealed through Jesus Christ, by nurturing our own life in the Spirit and by learning to live a life of prayer. We participate in God’s mission, not in isolation as individuals, but in communities of faith that both gather and scatter. We participate in this mission as we seek and serve the Kingdom of God, do justice and mercy, practice unconditional love for one another, make disciples of Jesus and incarnate the life and ministry of Jesus.
The premise of this book is that now is the time for individual Christians and churches to discern God’s mission in the world and discover their participation in it. The challenge in this book is that each of us, individuals and churches, respond to the call of God and become missional.
This book is written out of personal experience. It is confessional in nature reflecting a spiritual journey. It is also written as an invitation for others to join me on this journey. My purpose is to offer both a witness and an appeal.
This book is also written out of a community experience. That community is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Its values, habits of speech and ways of ministry have shaped me in the past 10 years. I have found a home in CBF, and I want others to join me and help build it for future generations.
This book can be read in a number of ways: from beginning to end, in the opposite direction, or in no particular order. But my sincere prayer is that it will be read reflectively with a willingness to respond and a readiness to act. My hope is that all who read will hear the voice of the Spirit calling and urging us to follow the One who said, “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.”
IT’S TIME! …