• Our God is a Missionary God. The Father sent his Son Jesus. Jesus is the ideal missionary in becoming one of us. The Spirit is involved in convicting the world of sin and bringing the presence of God to us (and his filling believers involves launching them into His mission).
• The Bible’s message is missional. It does not simply contain verses about mission. It is the message of the Bible. Christopher Wright, ‘The Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation. The Bible is the drama of this God of purpose engaged in the mission of achieving this purpose universally, embracing past, present and future Israel and the nations, life, the universe and everything in it.’
• The heart of God is for all people of all cultures. As a Board we prayed “ . . .for our hearts to be broken by the things that break the heart of God” – Bob Pierce
• Mission is both ‘here and there;’ local and global. It is part of our regular jobs, home and life. It is what we do as a local church. It is equally what goes on at Rocket Park, our jobs and Calcutta.
• Cross-cultural ministry is both here and there. Globalisation has brought other cultures to us (eg students learning English at ESOL). Our approach needs to be here and there.
• There is a natural drift away from external focus to internal focus. There will always be a natural drift towards an internally looking church causing outreach and missions to be negatively affected. We have to be proactive to keep focus off ourselves.
• The gospel is holistic in approach. It has something to say to physical and social conditions – not just the state of our souls.
• God holds us accountable for what we do with those in need when we have the ability and resources to help.
• Mission is costly. Suffering and difficulty is never wasted. We need to share in the suffering of our brothers/sisters in our countries. The mission God has called us to is not ‘safe.’
• Partnership: There is much to learn from brothers and sisters outside our own country and cultural bias as part of our own discipleship.
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