Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

Praise for Life on Mission

Willis and Coe give an inspiring and hopeful look into the world of everyday mission. They clearly lay out before us the challenge to reach North America and offer the gospel-centered, biblical approach to how God is going to build His church through the efforts of ordinary people.

MATT CARTER, pastor of preaching, Austin Stone Community Church and coauthor of The Real Win

Being on mission needs to be rerouted. It has been focused on methods and models more than shaped by the gospel, God’s mission, and the person of Jesus. Read Life on Mission and find yourself being more driven to focus your life and mission on these.

ERIC M. MASON, pastor of Epiphany Fellowship and author of Manhood Restored and Beat God to the Punch

God calls and equips His people to serve in very specific contexts related to how He uniquely gifts them. Work is worship, and I realized that early in my NFL kicking career. Done in a God-honoring fashion, work screams to a dark, hurting world there is a Creator God who intends for His children to live a full, abundant life. This book challenges me to stay living on mission and to know that I am His handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do very specific great works He has prepared in advance for me to do. We are all missionaries and Aaron helps me remember God will accomplish immeasurably more in and through me than I could ever ask or imagine when I live life on mission.

TODD PETERSON, NFL placekicker 1993–2006 Chairman, Pro Athletes Outreach

We must be intentional, passionate, and strategic in mobilizing the church on mission. I am convinced that Life on Mission can help us accomplish this, resulting in accelerating our commitment to reaching our region, North America, and the world.

RONNIE FLOYD, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Cross Church, Northwest Arkansas

A compelling book that connects mission to worship and shows how one cannot really believe the gospel and not be moved into mission. This book does more than describe mission; it compels action.

J. D. GREEAR, pastor of The Summit Church and author of Gospel: Recovering the Power That Made Christianity Revolutionary

The Great Commission is not for a select, elite few. It is for the whole body of Christ. Life on Mission makes that argument and then shows us in practical, concrete ways how to join God in His mission to make His Name famous among all peoples near and far. We all have a choice, an opportunity, to be on mission no matter who we are, where we live, or what we do. So read this book with much profit. Read it and then get to work as God’s missionary in the mission field He has placed you.

DANIEL L. AKIN, president, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

We are all called as leaders to be on mission as agents of the gospel, not just those in full-time ministry. Life on Mission defines what this looks like, how you can get there, and the good news that we all need—our lives are meant to be on mission for God! Take your next step to being on mission wherever God has placed you. Read this book!

BRAD LOMENICK, author, The Catalyst Leader and former president and key visionary, Catalyst

Aaron Coe is one of the most dynamic leaders in contemporary evangelicalism. This book is a theologically rooted and practically applied primer on how to join Jesus in his mission. I can think of no one with more personal credibility to challenge us in this way. This book can change your perspective, and maybe even your life.

RUSSELL D. MOORE, president, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Dustin Willis hits a simple message that profoundly changed my life. Focus on God’s agenda while you live life and you will begin to see that people all around you are lost and in need of a Savior. This book shows us the need to pray for people in our workplace, the grocery line, soccer fields, and even in our own family. Willis and Coe provide a simple framework to love these people in a natural and friendly way that brings glory to God. This book is must-read for those that want to have purpose in their work and play.

STEVE VON FANGE, vice president information systems, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of SC

The evangelical church in North America was not built on professional mission workers and physical church buildings. It was the Holy Spirit’s use of everyday Christians living on mission, knowing their context, and seeing opportunities to start ministries and churches that fueled the spread of the gospel. This book goes a long way in helping equip God’s people for the work of everyday mission and ministry.

TREVIN WAX, managing editor of The Gospel Project, author of Gospel-Centered Teaching, Counterfeit Gospels, and Holy Subversion.

© 2014 by

THE NORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Edited by Ginger Kolbaba

Interior design: Erik M. Peterson

Cover design: Faceout Studio and Marcus Williamson

Cover images: Shutterstock #94785715 / #160438778 / #150875567 / #39895024

All websites and phone numbers listed herein are accurate at the time of publication but may change in the future or cease to exist. The listing of website references and resources does not imply publisher endorsement of the site’s entire contents. Groups and organizations are listed for informational purposes, and listing does not imply publisher endorsement of their activities.

Some names within the text have been changed to protect the individuals’ privacy.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Willis, Dustin.

  Life on mission : gospel, mission, ministry / Dustin Willis, Aaron Coe, with the Send Network Team.

       pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references.

  ISBN 978-0-8024-1221-8

  1. Missions—Textbooks. 2. Witness bearing (Christianity)—Textbooks.

3. Evangelistic work—Textbooks. I. Title.

  BV2090.W54 2014

  266--dc23

                                                                                                            2014008812

We hope you enjoy this book from Moody Publishers. Our goal is to provide high-quality, thought-provoking books and products that connect truth to your real needs and challenges. For more information on other books and products written and produced from a biblical perspective, go to www.moodypublishers.com or write to:

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DEDICATION

To the thousands of missionaries who are working hard every day to make Jesus known in North America, many of whom are doing so without great fanfare and much financial reward.

One hundred percent of the royalties from this book will go directly toward supporting missionaries in North America through Send North America.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY DAVID PLATT

INTRODUCTION

THE BIG PICTURE

CHAPTER 1: Everyday Missionary

CHAPTER 2: The Current Reality

CHAPTER 3: The Mission of God

CHAPTER 4: Kingdom Realignment

GOSPEL FOUNDATIONS

CHAPTER 5: The Gospel

CHAPTER 6: Spiritual Maturity

CHAPTER 7: Biblical Community

CHAPTER 8: Intentional Discipleship

MISSION PRACTICES

CHAPTER 9: Identify

CHAPTER 10: Invest

CHAPTER 11: Invite

CHAPTER 12: Increase

MINISTRY STEPS

CHAPTER 13: Pitfalls and Plans

APPENDIX: LEADER’S GUIDE: SIX-WEEK STUDY

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Friend,

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The Moody Publishers Team

As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.

—JESUS (John 20:21)

FOREWORD

Ordinary people with extraordinary power preaching, praying, giving, and suffering for the spread of the gospel.

This is the picture of the early church that we see on the pages of the New Testament. A small band of twelve men responded to a life-changing invitation: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). In the days to come, they watched Jesus, listened to Him, and learned from Him how to love, teach, and serve others the same way that He did. Then came the moment when they saw Him die on a cross for their sins, only to rise from the dead three days later. Soon thereafter, He gathered them on a mountainside and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:18–20). Just like Jesus had said from the beginning, these followers would now become fishers of men. His authoritative commission would become their consuming ambition.

Not long thereafter, they gathered together with a small group of others, about 120 in all, and they waited. True to His promise, Jesus sent His Spirit to every one of them, and immediately they began proclaiming the gospel. In the days to come, they scattered from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth, and within one generation, they grew to over four hundred times the size they were when they started.

How did this happen?

The spread of the gospel in the book of Acts took place primarily because ordinary people empowered by an extraordinary presence were proclaiming the gospel everywhere they went. To be sure, God did appoint well-known apostles like Peter, John, and Paul for certain positions of leadership in the church. Yet it was anonymous Christians (i.e., not the apostles) who first took the gospel to Judea and Samaria, and it was unnamed believers who founded the church at Antioch, which became a base for mission to the Gentile world. It was unidentified followers of Jesus who spread the gospel throughout all of Asia. Disciples were made and churches were multiplied in places the apostles never went. The good news of Jesus spread not just through gifted preachers, but through everyday people whose lives had been transformed by the power of Christ. They were going from house to house and in marketplaces and shops along streets and travel routes, leading people to faith in Jesus on a daily basis.

This is how the gospel penetrated the world during the first century: through self-denying, Spirit-empowered disciples of Jesus who were making disciples of Jesus. Followers of Jesus were fishing for men. Disciples were making disciples. Christians were not known for casual association with Christ and His church; instead, they were known for complete abandonment to Christ and His cause. The great commission was not a choice for them to consider but a command for them to obey. And though they faced untold trials and unthinkable persecution, they experienced unimaginable joy as they joined with Jesus in the advancement of His kingdom.

I want to be part of a movement like that. I want to be part of a people who really believe that we have the Spirit of God in each of us for the spread of the gospel through all of us. I want to be a part of a people who are gladly sacrificing the pleasures, pursuits, and possessions of this world because we are living for treasure in the