Mere Missions

20 • M ere M issions : M oving F orward to M ultiply

half his eyebrow, tattoo “666” in that spot, give himself the street name “Satan”, and attempt to kill his grandma? Or ministering to a young girl, whose pimp yanked the earrings out of her lobes, beat her, threw her into cactus patch, and left her for dead? Nothing has changed since King David wrote this about his beloved city of Jerusalem over four thousand years ago. The destructive forces at work in the world are real, relentless, reckless and show no partiality to age, gender, class or ethnicity. In addition, these forces war against the Kingdom of God, and all of humanity is born into the middle of these two kingdoms that are in conflict. It was C. S. Lewis who wrote, “Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” This book is about the “great campaign of sabotage” that we have been called, actually mandated, to participate in. In a sense, we become Kingdom Saboteurs in “enemy-occupied-territory.” Or as the title of my book states it, “ Mere Missions: Moving Forward to Multiply .” For the Church to best move forward in missions its critical to have a clear understanding of the three important mandates God has communicated in Scripture and to whom they are communicated to. The first mandate was given to everyone as a member of the human race. It is philanthropic and humanitarian service rendered by people to people on the human level. We were given the responsibility and joy to develop a wholesome culture in which to live and thrive, that is built upon fellowship with our Creator, to love others as we love ourselves, and to upkeep our world. This mandate is given to us under the banner of being a member of humanity and not the banner of being a member of the Church. When sin entered our world, it made the responsibility an impossibility. All the systems that make up a healthy culture –