Understanding God’s Mission, Kingdom, and Covenant
God’s Mission: Redemption and Restoration
God’s mission originated from mankind’s rebellion through pride and willful disobedience, breaking the fellowship between God and man. Despite this, God, in His love, initiated a process of redemption to bring fallen humanity back to Himself. Mission is a coordinated set of activities to reach a specific goal. God’s Mission is to advance His Kingdom through the world by preaching the gospel, through creation, Jesus, His word, and the present.
Key Learnings About God’s Kingdom
We learn that everyone is valuable, created in God’s image, regardless of background, race, language, or sex. All can know God and represent Him.
Definitions: Covenant and Kingdom
Covenant: A promise agreement where two parties willingly agree to requirements to form a lasting relationship. Kingdom of God: The part of God’s creation that cooperates with His rule (authority, power, and scope).
Three Core Principles
- God’s manifest presence accompanies those who advance toward His kingdom goals according to His will.
- All true victories in the kingdom of God are done with the blessing of the nations in view.
- It is necessary to allocate kingdom tasks to God’s people and make them accountable for their completion.
Challenges to Church Evangelism
Two organizational factors hinder evangelism in local churches: church growth and missions. If workers are not developed and there is no financial support, the work remains unfinished. The church often overestimates individual capacity but underestimates the collective potential of the entire church.
The Significance of Babel
The languages we have today are not accidental barriers but examples of God’s redemptive judgments, created to restrain human wickedness until humanity could be redeemed.
Covenant and Responsibility
1) Noah’s Covenant Sign: God gave this sign not because He might forget His promise but because mankind might forget God. Instead of spreading out, Noah’s descendants stayed together. God changed their language, causing them to drift apart and fulfill His plan to repopulate the earth.
2) Responsibility: Israel was to serve as priests for all nations. In the New Testament, the church has a great calling to be a kingdom of priests for the nations.
Discipleship Stages
| Stage: | Example: | Goal: | Job: |
| Pre-Disciple | Unsaved Person | To Receive Salvation | “What will I do with Jesus?” To Receive Christ |
| Disciple | New Convert | To Be a Disciple | “How can I be like Jesus?” To Evangelize |
| Disciple Maker | Church Worker | To Make Disciples | “How can I help my disciples to be more like Jesus?”To Disciple New Converts |
| Leaders | Church Leader | To Develop Workers | “How can I help my workers to make disciples?”To train Church Workers |