Mission: Where Compassion Meets Need

What springs to mind when you hear the term “mission”? There’s a good chance that the word is far more exciting than you think.

What comes to mind when you hear the word mission? A missionary overseas? A short-term trip? Cross-cultural outreach? Bible translation?

These are all valid expressions of mission — but they are just that: expressions. They don’t define what mission is.

Mission is our intentional response to the Great Commission — personally and collectively — rooted in Jesus’ purpose statement for His people, given in five different forms across the Gospels and Acts.

In one of those versions, Jesus said:

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

(John 20:21)

Whether you’re sent around the world or around the block, across the seas or across the street, whether you’re sent to another nation, your neighbourhood or a niche of society, we are a sent people. A missional people.

Let’s call this sense of purpose Missio Dei — Latin for “sending God,” or more fully, “the mission of God” — where Missio means “sending” and Dei means “God.”

After all, two-thirds of the word God is go!

To go — or to be sent — is to serve where your compassion meets the world’s need as you see it. Mission, then, is your intentional partnership with the Father to meet that need.

Before we wrap up this definition of mission, here are two closing thoughts we’ll pick up in subsequent articles. First, Missio Dei is broader than proclamation alone. It includes justice, reconciliation, healing, social services and cultural engagement. Good-deeds evangelism encompasses both demonstration and proclamation (Matthew 5:13–16). Second, Missio Dei is not a solo venture. We are better, stronger and more effective together.

So, where does your compassion intersect with the world’s pain?

Through the **Dayspring Project,** Craig equips individuals, small groups, youth groups, young adult ministries, churches, schools and organisations to become missional in an increasingly post-Christian world.