Theologian Dr Chris Wright spoke (in-person and on-line) at an event hosted by the Irish Bible Institute together with the Langham Partnership and the Irish Mission Agencies Partnership (iMAP) in March. Here’s a summary of what he had to say":

Sometimes when I am talking about mission I feel like a mosquito on a beech full of sunbathers. It is difficult to know where to start. So often we start with ourselvdes. What is our mission? But when we start with human-centred understanding, we often end up disagreeing. I think we need to start with the concept of the mission of God. What is God doing? One of the shortest and clearest explanations is in Eph 1:9 – 10. God has made know to us the mystery of His will bringing unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ; bringing this whole creation that has been so broken and marred by sin to be a new creation through Christ and under Christ, through the cross and resurrection. God’s plan takes us from Genesis to Revelation.

The Mission of God

We are committed to world mission, because it is central to our understanding of God, the Bible, the Church, human history and the ultimate future. The whole Bible reveals the mission of God to bring all things in heaven and earth into unity under Christ, reconciling them through the blood of his cross. In fulfilling his mission, God will transform the creation broken by sin and evil into the new creation in which there is no more sin or curse. God will fulfil his promise to Abraham to bless all nations on the earth, through the gospel of Jesus, the Messiah, the seed of Abraham. God will transform the fractured world of nations that are scattered under the judgment of God into the new humanity that will be redeemed by the blood of Christ from every tribe, nation, tongue and language, and will be gathered to worship our God and Saviour. God will destroy the reign of death, corruption and violence when Christ returns to establish his eternal reign of life, justice and peace.Then God, Immanuel, will dwell with us, and the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Cape Town Commitment I.10

The Whole Bible in Seven Acts

I like to describe the story of scripture like this:

Creation
Rebellion
Promise
Christ and the Gospel
NT mission
Final Judgement
New Creation.

Another way of expressing God’s mission is to look at the five marks of mission:

Evangelism (Proclamation)
Teaching (Discipleship)
Compassion
Justice
Creation Care

Some will say, “But doesn’t the Great Commission just tell us to go and evangelise?” It doesn’t just say that! Each of these five marks is connected to the Great Commission when the Lordship of Christ is at the centre.

Jesus begins with His Lordship: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore…” We build the Church because Jesus is Lord of the Church. We serve society because Jesus is the Lord of all. We care for Creation because Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth - “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”

The Great Commission addresses the church, the society and creation. All three are broken and suffering. All three are included in the redemptive purposes of God.

We can group these five into three:

Evangelism and Teaching - building the church.

Compassion and Justice - serving society (the Abrahamic calling to be a blessing to the nations)

Creation Care - fulfilling our creation mandate from Genesis 1

Building the Church

Go and make disciples, baptising and teaching them.

Evangelism: Jesus is Lord. I surrender to His lordship and I am commanded to bring others under His lordship. Evangelism is “gospelling.” It is the announcing of something that is good news because something has happened. It is the announcement of an event. Evangelion was not a Christian word. It was the word used to declare something that Caesar had done.

When Mark says we have good news, it is good news about Jesus. It is announcing that this God who created the world, has acted to save the world through His son Jesus of Nazareth. He comes as messiah and king but He dies on the cross. He has been raised and He is coming back. It is good news for those who accept what God has done for our salvation. When people respond to that. When people do that, they can be baptised into relationship with God the Father who loves them, God the Son who died for them and God the Holy Spirit who empowers them to live .

We should not use this word “Gospel” as a formula… the Gospel is the good news about what God has done and evangelism is announcing this good news.

When I say the Gospel is central, I’m not using that word ‘centrality’ in the sense that it makes everything else peripheral. I mean central in the way a hub is at the centre of a wheel… it holds everything together. A hub turns a hoop into a wheel - with all the spokes connected to the centre The gospel is the power of God for salvation. That power has to be communicated through the hub but it also needs to be connected to the road… (the rubber hits the road).

Teaching and discipleship are also a vital part of mission. Teaching within the church is obeying the great commission - Jesus commands His disciples to teach others to obey everything that He has commanded. This means that theological education is an integral part of missional work.

Serving Society

Compassion and Justice: Jesus tells his disciples to teach others to observe everything He has commanded them.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice. Matthew 5:6

Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice (righteousness) Matthew 6:33

Matthew 23:23 – the pharisees were neglecting the weighty / “heavy” aspects of the law – justice and mercy.

You are the light of the world – Jesus said let your light shine so people will see your good deeds and those lives of mercy and justice will result in glory to your Father. Where did that idea come from? In Isaiah 58 God says, “This is the religion I want… then your light will break forth like the dawn and your righteousness will go before you.” God commands the Israelites to be a light to the nation as a people committed to His standards of righteousness and justice. When you look at the early church, you find that they hold a strong commitment both to the preaching of the death and resurrection of Jesus but also that they were one in heart and mind (spiritual unity) which they translated into economic generosity. That is a bit of Deuternomy 15:4 There need be no poor people among you.

Paul’s first missionary journey was famine relief. Acts 11

He says six times in Titus that we should be doing good works. We are not saved by that. But those how have been justified by faith must be eager to do good works. Obeying the commands of Jesus is part of the mission of Jesus - this means being active in works of justice and compassion.

Caring for Creation

So where do we see Creation Care in the Great Commission? It is implied in Jesus opening words, “All authority in heaven and earth.” Heaven and earth was the typical Jewish way of taking about all of creation. Here is Jesus saying now you know who I am, (once again they would have heard the echo of Deuteronomy 4:39) you need to acknowledge that Yahweh is God in heaven and earth. There is no other. Jesus is God of all creation. Wherever we go in this planet earth, we are walking on Christ’s turf.

In Colossians 1:15 – 20… the whole universe is reated by Christ ane for Christ and has been reconciled through the blodd of the cross. Rome made peace by the blood of the corss – the crucified anyone who got in the way. But God has made peace with the whole of Creation by the blood of the corss

We cannot separate the lordship of Christ in our lives without acknowledging that He is Lord of all Creation. Ecological action is a legitimate part of Christian mission because it is there throughout the scriptures. All creation is included in God’s plan of redemption through the cross and resurrection of Christ.

Isaiah 65:17-25 - new heavens and new earth
Psalm 96:10-13 - rejoicing in of all creation
Romans 8:18-21 - birthing of new creation
Colossians 1:20 - creation reconciled through the cross
2 Peter 3:10-13- purging, not obliteration
Revelation 21:1-4 - Our final destination! Not ‘heaven’, but new creation
Revelation 7:9, 21:24-26 - The glory of all human cultures, languages and civilisations – purged and purified – brought into the City of God.

Ecological concern and action are legitimate dimensions of Christian mission, for Christ’s sake, Lord of heaven and earth. We cannot claim to love God while abusing what belongs to Christ by right of creation, redemption and inheritance. We, as Christians, care for the earth and responsibly use its abundant resources not according to the rationale of the secular world, but for the Lord’s sake

God’s whol mission is for God’s who church. Mission is not a specialist activity for a few people. God has the church for his mission (not the other way around). Everything the church does is connection.

So What?

God’s whole mission is for God’s whole church
The whole church’s mission includes every church member. But we have different callings.
Every church member’s mission includes the whole of life. If Jesus is lord of heaven and earth then there is no place in which the great commission doesn’t apply.

The gospel becomes believable when people see Christians living what they believe. Sometime we have to struggle against those who bring the name of Christ into disrepute. We need a biblical realism a radical diagnosis of sin but also a biblical hope. Christians ought to be involved in every aspect of society that they can be. Where it is possible Christians should be seeking to be salt and light. Politics can become idolatrous when Christians imagine that the best way to win the world is the rule the world. We need a great deal of discernment.

The Great Story & the Great Commission