Mission of the Triune God

In an unpublished essay at www.Newbigin.net, Lesslie Newbigin writes:

We are not engaged in an enterprise of our own choosing or devising. We are invited to participate in an activity of God which is the central meaning of creation itself. We are invited to become, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, participants in the Son's loving obedience to the Father. All things have been created that they may be summed up in Christ the Son. All history is directed towards that end. All creation has this as its goal. The Spirit of God, who is also the Spirit of the Son, is given as the foretaste of that consummation, as the witness to it, and as the guide of the Church on the road towards it. The Church is not promised success; it is promised the peace of Christ in the midst of tribulation, and the witness of the Spirit given out of the Church's weakness and ignorance. For the future it has Christ's promise: it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. And for the present it has His assurance: Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Each branch of the Church has its own idea of what that mission should be. But these ideas quickly become proprietary and "parochial." Furthermore, organizational survival replaces this mission in practice.

The power to accomplish this mission does not come from the wealth, power or influence of the Church. It comes from the Holy Spirit. And this power works through the "weakness and ignorance" of the Church.
Christ won his victory through apparent defeat. If we are serious about following in the way of the cross, we will trust in him rather than in our own success.

Pastor Rod
"Helping You Beecome The Person God Created You to Be"