1. The Church in the Mission of God8
The Church in the Mission of God

2. Introduction What is the church? How is the church to function?
The Bible answers are usually vague on practices and heavy on doctrine

3. The Church and God’s Grand Story
The church is God’s Kingdom community
It portrays Kingdom life
It proclaims the story of God’s power
calling out a people for himself,
forgiving them, and
pouring out his spirit on them
The giving of the Spirit at Pentecost
Parallels the giving of the law to Moses
Fulfills that law
Formed a new international community of the Kingdom

4. The Church and the Kingdom of God
“The Kingdom of God is where God rules in glory”
The Kingdom is greater than the church; more extensive
The Kingdom is to be expressed by the church
The Kingdom is not here in all its fullness, that awaits Christ’s return

5. The Church and its Worship
The mandate to worship goes beyond specific events
The church is a community who have experienced God’s redemption and declare His worth-ship.
The focus of worship is God, not the community itself.
Worship is an end in itself, not to be coopted by other purposes, however noble
We exist to bring the world back to its proper object of worship: Yahweh

6. The Church and its Prophetic call
Devoted to the one God
Worshipping from genuine devotion
Creating a community that embraces the poor

7. The Church and its Mission
The church is not an “add-on.” Rather, individual believers live out their life as part of the Body of Christ
The extreme individualism of the West can warp our understanding of Christian community
The business bias of the West can turn the church into an organization with self-serving and utilitarian goals
The Biblical notion of church includes testimony, fellowship, and service

8. The Church and its Mission
A three-fold description of the church
Martyria – testimony: giving a faithful testimony of God’s acts, even to the point of death
Koinonia – the fellowship of the body, centered in Christ and his indwelling Spirit
Diakonia – service first as Christ’s servants, and secondly at His Spirit’s direction to a hurting world
The church has become internationalized and indigenous; no longer tied to the West.

9. Conclusion
The church is God’s kingdom community, the vehicle for his mission to all the nations
To be a true church, a community must give up its own agenda and live for God’s mission to the nations