The Integral Mission of the Church

Last weekend (Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th of April) we in the Evangelical Baptist Seminary of South Peru at last had the privilege of having Pastor Pedro Arana present in Tacna. He was due to come last November but could not due to a regional strike which closed the airport. His theme was “The Integral Mission of the Church”, and if he confirmed us in our faith in the centrality of the Gospel in the life and proclamation of the church, he also challenged us as to our practices.

He began by speaking of the need to go to Scripture in order to define mission. There, he argued, we find that God is a missionary God, going out from himself to the human race. Thus he fulfils his eternal purpose by showing his love in Jesus Christ, his incarnate Son. In the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and intercession of Jesus Christ God enters into this world. Christ is also present in our preaching and in giving faith and repentance to men and women.

The Word of God is central in the life of the church. It gives existence and purpose to the church. It is our only standard of faith and practice. We must return to this historic Evangelical belief in an age when experience, tradition and even dreams are seen as norms in some churches. It is the Bible which defines the mission of the church.

The church worships God and thus glorifies him. But we must also respond to the signs of the times. We need to understand the times in which we are living, but we also must understand the Word of God in order to understand what God thinks of the present situation.

The church is God’s agent in mission. It is defined in Trinitarian terms. We are 1) the People of God, 2) the Body of Christ, and 3) the Community of the Spirit.

The mission of the Bible is not to teach us the events of the future nor to give us an economic or social plan for society. It is to instruct us in the way of salvation through faith in Christ and sanctification by the Spirit (II Tim 3: 14-17) and this will make us useful in society.

Mission in the Bible is defined in terms of the church and its testimony. We testify by all that we do as the People of God. God made this world and he also made us in his image. Everything we do is in this context. Our worship, fellowship, proclamation, service, stewardship and all that we do should be firmly based on the Word of God and reflect the God whom we serve in a world which needs to know him.

We were seriously challenged as to the place of the Word of God in the life of many Evangelical churches today. It does not have the central place it once did, and should still have. In Peru parts of the Roman Catholic Church are waking up to the need for Evangelism. Some are studying the Bible seriously and are even talking of justification by faith alone. If Evangelicals are sidetracked by other matters, could it be that God is raising up others to do his work with his Word. As Evangelicals we must not be complacent, but must repent of our failings and return to the centrality of the Word of God.

The course was well worthwhile. I personally would love to have Pastor Arana back again some time in the near future to continue to challenge us biblically.