Over the last few months, we have re-introduced the Handbook that stands at the heart of our missionary community. We have recently arrived at the final chapter, and are nearing the document’s concluding paragraphs. This final chapter is all about Jesus. Jesus stands at the heart of God’s mission in the world. God accomplishes his expansive, gracious, redemptive purposes for the world… through Jesus.
Our role, as it turns out, is a “commissioned” role.
If you have participated in the life of our community for any length of time at all, you may have observed a “commissioning.” We gather around a sister or brother, or perhaps an entire family, pray a few prayers, say a few words of encouragement, dedicate our friends to some task or calling, and send them into the world. They are “commissioned.”
“Commissioned” and “commissioning” derive from a biblical set of images and precedents. Abraham is commissioned (Genesis 12:1-3), as is Moses (Exodus 3:10), as is Paul (Acts 26:16), as are the disciples (Matthew 10:5), as are we (Matthew 28:19). The mission of heaven is under way. We are enlisted in its pursuit. That mission becomes our mission: we are co-missioned.
A commissioned role is an inherently derivative role. The commissioned derive their mission from the mission of Another. They are “co-missioned” in the calling and task of a Greater Partner. They are written into a story greater than their own. They do not invent their calling. As with all significant spiritual realities, they receive it by grace through faith.
Our Handbook derives a few implications from this basic spiritual truth.
The commissioned do not set the agenda: they receive an agenda set in heaven (¶215). They are reconcilers – because reconciliation is heaven’s agenda (2 Corinthians 5:18). They are proclaimers – because heaven has a word of hope to share (2 Corinthians 5:20). They are servants – because heaven has reached into our world to serve (Mark 10:45). They love because they were loved first (1 John 4:19).
The commissioned do not decide their missional priorities: they receive priorities established in heaven (¶219). They learn that God is like a shepherd – who heads to the hills, scours the horizon, and searches without tiring to find a single lost sheep (Luke 15:4). They learn that God is like a housewife – who pulls out a broom, turns up the rugs, and sweeps all through the house to the corners to find a single lost coin (Luke 15:8). The commissioned care for the lost – because heaven cares. They prioritize the unreached – because heaven is moving always to reach them.
The commissioned do not establish the roster of their fellow workers (¶221). The commissioned are not gatekeepers: they do not decide who may be a part of the effort and who may not. They are simply fellow servants, with an entire ragtag collection of sisters and brothers who are commissioned as they are – though their selection may surprise them. “We are sisters and brothers of one family, redeemed by one Savior, and called to one cause” (¶221).
The commissioned do not judge one’s suitability for participation in the mission of God – not even their own (¶210, and passim). They may be reticent to speak (think Moses). They may be proud or aggressive (think Paul). They may be young and inexperienced (think Timothy). They may be old, ill, poor, dull, or in other ways unimpressive (think the entire unimpressive congregation of Corinth – cf. 1 Corinthians 1:25-27). The commissioned do not commission themselves, after all; they are commissioned by design of a Heavenly Commissioner. They are shoemakers (William Carey), convicts (Lars Skrefsrud), tribals (Navin Doman), bluebloods (C.T. Studd), women (Amy Carmichael), men (Bartolomé de las Casas) – and children, too. They are people like you and me.
The commissioned do not decide whether the mission of God will pertain to them: even this is not their prerogative. “We believe that God has called all Christians everywhere to involvement in his mission in the world” (¶71). It is not as if one may decide, “I will be involved in mission,” while another may conclude, “The mission of God is not for me.” The mission of God is not a “menu item” – some kind of option or selection from which one may choose, as if from a drop-down list at the top of one’s computer screen. The commissioned do not “choose” mission, in any case; they are themselves chosen. “You did not choose me,” Jesus said, “but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…” (John 15:16).
We are “commissioned to [Christ’s] service,” our Handbook asserts succintly (¶215). All Christians are, in fact. “Our relationship with Jesus Christ makes us participants in his wonderful mission” (¶215).
This, my friends, is our high & noble calling. It’s a commission that belongs to all of us. (Or much better put, we belong to it.)