"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried." --G. K. Chesterton

“The (inward) life of the church is its (outward) mission, and the mission of the church is its life.” –Johnathan Wilson-1

“To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love.” ‐‐Missiologist David Bosch-2

“The missionary movement of which we are part has its source in the Triune God Himself.”-3

“… the church’s expression in and for the world should be modeled on God’s triune expression of His own mission (missio Dei) in the world through history as reflected in the biblical witness.” –John Corrie-4

“Christian mission is rooted in the nature of God Himself. The Bible reveals Him as a missionary God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), who creates a missionary people, and is working toward a missionary consummation.” –John Stott-5

“Mission [is] understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It [is] thus put in the context of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine of the missio dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit [is] expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.” ‐‐David Bosch-6

“Mission is not merely an activity of the church, rather, mission is the result of God’s initiative, rooted in God’s purposes to restore and heal creation.”-7

“Our missionary activities are only authentic insofar as they reflect participation in the mission of God.” –David Bosch-8

The United States is currently the fifth largest mission field in the world.-9

More than 25 Million people in the United States have never heard the Gospel.-10

“The Christian mission is thus to act out in the whole life of the whole world the confession that Jesus is Lord of all.” –Lesslie Newbigin-11

“In its mission, the church witnesses to the fullness of the promise of God’s reign and participates in the ongoing struggle between that reign and the powers of darkness and evil.”-12

The church is: The people of God, called to God, and sent by God, for the glory of God, to meet the needs of the world with God.-13

“Evangelical theology, from my perspective, insists that the church has a fundamentally spiritual mission; yet this is a mission that is realized not in withdrawal or detachment from the afflictions and the conflicts of humanity but in the very midst of these afflictions.” –Donald Bloesch-14

“Among young outsiders, 84% say they personally know at least one committed Christian. Yet only 15% thought the lifestyles of those Christ followers were significantly different from the norm.”-15

"Clear Christology will inform our best missiology, which in turn will leads to the most fruitful ecclesiology."-16

“Do you imagine that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to worldlings and telling them that they “may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their personal Savior” while they are wedded to their idols and their hearts are still in love with sin? If I do so, I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. ” - A.W. Pink

1 Jonathan R. Wilson, Why Church Matters: Worship, Ministry, and Mission in Practice (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2006), 5.

2 David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY.: Orbis, 1991), 390.

3 International Missionary Council of 1952, quoted in Seamands 160.

4 John Corrie, ed., Dictionary of Mission Theology (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Books, 2007), 397.

5 John Stott, The Contemporary Christian: Applying God’s Word to Today’s World, 325.

6 David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY.: Orbis, 1991), 390. Quoted in Darrel L. Gruder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 5.

7 Darrel L. Gruder, ed., Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 4.

8 David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY.: Orbis, 1991), 391.

9 Ralph Moore, How to Multiply Your Church: The Most Effective Way to Grow (Ventura, Ca.: Regal, 2009), 58.

10 Ralph Moore, How to Multiply Your Church: The Most Effective Way to Grow (Ventura, Ca.: Regal, 2009), 43.

11 Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 17.

12 Scherer 1987:84 as quoted in David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY.: Orbis, 1991), 391.

13 Britt Merrrick, “Mission” (Missio Christi, 2009).

14 Donald G. Bloesch, The Church: Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, Mission (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Books), 34.

15 David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity… and Why it Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), 48.

16 Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st-Century Church (Peabody, Mass.: Henrickson) 209.)