The Goal of Mission

This is the third in a series of blog posts about Understanding our Mission. Click here to view Part 1.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John is given an apocalyptic glimpse into the heavenly throne room. The worship of God, who is seated on the throne, and of the Lamb culminates when a great multitude, from every nation, tribe, people, and language come together declaring, “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10b) What was begun a few chapters earlier, with God being worshiped by a few (the twelve elders), expanded to many (12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel), and finally includes all peoples. This is the aim of mission - that all peoples will worship God. Since all nations, tribes, peoples, and languages are not yet engaged in worshiping their Creator, the tasks of mission exist to bring about this goal. “The declaration that God is Creator of all is the seed for proclaiming God’s wish to be worshiped by all human beings.”(1)

John Piper has noted the following about the link between mission and worship:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.(2)

Piper is correct in noting that all peoples are not yet engaged in worshiping God. He is also correct that human missions will be no more. However, to say that mission will cease when all peoples worship God is to miss a key component of mission. Participation in the mission of God in the present age is participation in both worship and in God’s Triune sending nature. According to Lesslie Newbigin, mission is participation in the Triune life of God: proclaiming the Kingdom of the Father, sharing the life of the Son, and bearing the witness of the Spirit.(3) Such participation will not cease in the age to come. Mission, therefore, is not simply a means to worship, but it is a means of worship in the present age which will continue into the age to come.

1 Charles R. Gailey and Howard Culbertson, Discovering Missions (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2007), 12.
2 John Piper, “Let the Nations Be Glad!” in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 3rd ed., ed. Ralph Winter and Stephen Hawthorne (Pasadena, California: William Carey Library, 1999), 49.
3 Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 30-65.