Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God
by Dustin Willis and Aaron Coe
Life on Mission is a great introduction to missional living. The book is divided into four sections:
- The Big Picture – an overview
- Gospel Foundations – which stresses the priority of understanding, believing, living by, and preaching the true Gospel
- Mission Practices – four areas of practice
- Ministry Steps – practical applications
The authors’ introduction mentions that the book is aimed at the rank and file of the Body of Christ, everyday Christians who are called to be disciple makers.
We realized that within our community a large event or new program wouldn’t bring consistent transformation, but believers banding together to take responsibility for their dot on the map would. [3. Kindle Locations 196-198)]
In the sections below, I chose to mainly insert quotes from the book. This should give you an idea of what is covered. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that I have read many similar books and what I picked for quotes are what struck me as interesting and important. Another reader may be impacted differently; so, I recommend that you to read the book for yourself.
Section One: The Big Picture
Chapter One: The Everyday Missionary
Therefore, the mission of God requires that believers leverage their lives for His glory. The Great Commission is not for a select few; it is for the entirety of the church. The movement of God’s mission sweeps across everyday, ordinary lives to draw in business people, soccer moms, grandmothers, neighbors, students, lawyers, teachers, baristas, contractors, white collar, blue collar, or no collar at all. Regular people like you and me united by the one who lifts the curse of the fall. Filled with His spirit, laying down our lives, denying ourselves for the mission of God and the good of others. This is the invitation. [4. Kindle Locations 261-265]
Everyday missionaries are those who practice life on mission where God has placed them, whether that be at an office complex, a developing country, or a college campus. It is incumbent on every believer to have an “all hands on deck” mentality in order for the mission to reach its fullest potential. [5. Kindle Locations 268-270]
Life on mission is about intersecting gospel intentionality into our everyday routines. [6. Kindle Location 294]
Living life on mission should be driven not out of guilty obligation, but rather out of embracing the identity and purpose given to us in Christ. [7. Kindle Locations 298-299]
The authors assert that many people who are dodging their responsibility to obey the Great Commission fall into one of three camps.
- The “I’m not a professional” camp
- The “I’m too busy pondering” camp
- The “Why are we doing this? camp
About the second, he writes about a fictional Chris.
Chris is passionate about learning as much about God as he can. He feels that knowledge about God will be his secret to his future ministry success. He loves going to seminars, reading books, and studying theology. He loves to talk about spiritual things with other believers, but his involvement in actual ministry is minimal. He goes to church, of course, but to say he is on mission with God would be a lie. He has no intentional relationships and hasn’t had a conversation with a nonbeliever in months. Though he goes “deep” in theology, he has forgotten to apply any of it to his life. [8. Kindle Locations 306-310]
In keeping with the purpose of the book, the authors state that the church must embrace simplicity if it is going to be effective.
We recognize that mission and discipleship have been overly programmed and made excessively complicated, and we have no desire to do either of those. In the Scriptures, we do not see a syllabus for a program, but rather a gospel-rich missionary process. [9. Kindle Locations 328-329]
Our mission is driven by the truth of the gospel and defined by the mission of God. God’s mission is to take what is broken and redeem it—not simply to make it better but to make it new. And the exciting part is that God Himself invites us to follow Him into a broken world as we live LIFE ON MISSION! [10. Kindle Locations 342-344]
Chapter Two: The Current Reality
Our role as everyday missionaries is to introduce people to Jesus, actively be part of their journey to become like Christ, and teach them to repeat the process with others. This is the desired reality, but before we move forward we must honestly examine the current reality of the mission field known as North America. [11. Kindle Locations 352-355]
Declining numbers and evangelical regression can lead to frustration and mission paralysis for the church. We must remember that our God is still God and His desire for movement through His church can trump any current realities. [12. Kindle Locations 415-417]
Chapter Three: The Mission of God
As we are changed and freed, we are compelled to be where He is—right in the middle of the greatest rescue mission ever given. How crazy is it that we are invited into this mission? Not only are we reconciled to God, but we are also drafted to be missionaries alongside Him, spreading the same good news that rescued us from our self-made destruction. [13. Kindle Location 474-477]
Chapter Four: Kingdom Realignment
Why don’t we embrace God’s mission? Because, frankly, we have our own mission. We have our own way of calling the shots. We decide what’s meaningful or worthwhile and order our lives accordingly. Some people’s life mission is to pursue entertainment and comfort. For others it’s security or wealth. For others it may be rising up the corporate ladder or being the most respected mom in the neighborhood. We like to be the boss of our own lives. [14. Kindle Locations 499-502]
Repent, because the kingdom already has a King, and you and I are not it. If we are ever going to get swept up into God’s kingdom, we will have to let go of our own. Our own ways of seeing and approaching our lives will have to be radically reoriented. [15. Kindle Locations 507-510]
Section Two: Gospel Foundations
Chapter Five: The Gospel
The more we grasp what Jesus has done for us and in us, the more we will be compelled by grace to clearly communicate Jesus to those around us. [15. Kindle Locations 701-702]
The gospel is the heart of the Bible. Everything in Scripture is either preparation for the gospel, presentation of the gospel, or participation in the gospel.5 The summation of the Scriptures is the message of the gospel; therefore, the gospel should transform every fabric of our lives. It reaches every facet of our being and leaves nothing untouched. Jesus doesn’t make us halfway new, He makes us fully new. [16. Kindle Locations 861-864]
Chapter Six: Spiritual Maturity
A big view of God is the starting point for mission. [17. Kindle Location 935]
Theology professor Keith Whitfield supports this idea: “We will not be able to recover a vision and passion for missions until we recover the grandeur that God made us to know and worship Him and make Him known throughout the whole earth.” [18. Kindle Locations 948-950]
Many of us live under the weight of failure because our success metrics are derived from the wrong source. Understanding God is in control of all things will work as a great starting point toward freedom from those metrics and, ultimately, grow us toward maturity. And a sign of that maturity is accepting that God is sovereign over your mission. There is not one ounce of it that He has not orchestrated. [19. Kindle Locations 968-971]
Chapter Seven: Biblical Community
When my wife and I (Dustin) moved to Atlanta, God blessed us with an incredible avenue for mission, also known as our neighborhood. We regularly invite our neighbors plus families in our church community group to cookouts in our front yard. We are intentional about inviting our community group because (1) we want to encourage other Christians to engage with their neighbors; (2) we know that some people may have greater connection with our neighbors than we do; (3) we desire to display Jesus through our group to our neighbors. [20. Kindle Locations 1157-1160]
Chapter Eight: Intentional Discipleship
The life of the church and the mission of the church are inexorably bound within the all-encompassing reality of discipleship. Growth and discipleship cannot happen apart from Christian community, and your church’s mission to make disciples can only be truly accomplished in the context of a community centered on the gospel. There are no “professional Christians” or “disciple-making specialists” who do all the work. Anyone in need of sanctification (everyone) must submit to discipleship under Christ within the context of biblical community, and anyone submitted to discipleship under Christ will obediently apply their gifts and personality to make disciples of friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. No exceptions. [21. Kindle Locations 1223-1229]
And just as we are continually transformed by Christ’s shaping us in biblical community, we continually seek for others to be reconciled to God and transformed just as we are—this is disciple-making. [22. Kindle Locations 1253-1255]
Jesus was a great model for disciple-making. His ministry strategy was to pick twelve people and spend a ton of time with them. He didn’t give them a manual or send them to a conference; He just did life with them. [23. Kindle Locations 1263-1265]
Section Three: Mission Practices
Chapter Nine: Identify
People who live on mission are always on the move toward others. They don’t wait for the world to come to them, they seek and find the people who have needs. [24. Kindle Locations 1342-1343]
Your life on mission will require that you “go to the other side” for people. The people who need your help are not necessarily going to show up on your doorstep, so you have to identify them where they are and move toward them. [25. Kindle Locations 1347-1349]
When we combine our natural rhythms or passions with the gospel and use them to build relationships, powerful things can happen. Our passions or placement (where we live, where we go) can help us identify opportunities for sharing the gospel. [26. Kindle Locations 1428-1430]
Jesus’ social economy is completely the opposite. It’s about descending, not ascending. It’s not about looking to see what you can get from others, but identifying how you can give to others. It’s about pressing out toward the margins—to the people who need love and friendship. [27. Kindle Locations 1451-1453]
The powerhouse of a great move of God starts with prayer. The fuel of our mission is prayer. One of the best activities you can do as an everyday missionary is to walk or ride through your neighborhood and ask God to show you what He sees. [28. Kindle Locations 1465-1466]
Chapter Ten: Invest
[We must] understand that those who have been made right with God through Jesus will disadvantage themselves for the advantage of others. [29. Kindle Locations 1515-1516]
Over and over throughout the Gospels, we see that while Jesus consistently poured His life into the people closest to Him, He sacrificially served all those whom His life intersected. [30. Kindle Locations 1519-1520]
Being on mission is not always about going to a specific place—it’s about being intentional where you are. That’s investment. And investment is always intentional. It’s a lifestyle choice. [31. Kindle Locations 1538-1539]
If you’re having trouble figuring out how to invest in those around you, try this simple tool: Ask people how you can pray for them. When you’re building relationship with neighbors, coworkers, or friends, simply say, “Hey, this may seem weird to you, but I’m a Christian so I pray for people. Is there anything I can pray for you about?” Even non-Christians will oftentimes gladly accept prayer and respond to this question with genuine things that are going on in their lives. Many times this question leads to great conversations and a deeper relationship. [32. Kindle Locations 1575-1579]
Chapter Eleven: Invite
God Himself is on a rescue mission as He invites people into right relationship with Him. Joining God in His mission will require that we become willing to extend the invitation to others. [33. Kindle Locations 1627-1629]
Chapter Twelve: Increase
A simple way to see a movement of new believers is to raise up the new disciples in strong biblical foundations and to send them out to repeat the missionary process of identifying, investing, inviting, and increasing. The previous statement is not a job description for a pastor but rather the intent given to every believer of the gospel. [34. Kindle Locations 1782-1784]
The practical step of increase is all about starting the process again by sending people to identify, invest, and invite their friends and family into new communities. [35.Kindle Locations 1828-1830]
Intentionality in increasing the number of people living on mission is central to seeing the kingdom impacted. This will not happen by itself, and we need to equip and develop people as much as possible. [36. Kindle Locations 1843-1844]
Section Four: Ministry Steps
Chapter Thirteen: Pitfalls and Plans
In this chapter the authors list several pitfalls to avoid in launching into mission. The appendix contains a six-week study guide if any leader wishes to take a small group through the book as an exercise in developing a missional understanding and practice.
