Sometimes missions is treated as something a local church does on the side — relegated to a committee, assigned to a few individuals. This course shows the mission of the Church as a central theme within which every member has a role. As a Body under Jesus Christ as our Head, the global proclamation of His glory to every person in every part of the world is a primary reason the Church is still here. This is not a new idea. It is a central theme of Scripture — and it begins with a question that changes everything:

Is the Bible the basis of missions — or is God’s mission the basis of the Bible?

The seven foundations

  1. 01

    Person — Who is the God of mission?

    Before there was a mission, there was a Person. Everything — every call to go, every church planted, every tribe reached — flows from who God is. What you believe about God will shape everything: a low view of God produces low engagement with His mission; a high view of God produces people who cannot stay silent. The foundation of missions is not a program or a strategy. It is a Person — worth knowing, worth proclaiming, and worth everything it costs to make Him known. (Hebrews 1:3; Exodus 34:6; Isaiah 42:8; Jeremiah 9:23-24)

  2. 02

    Purpose — What is God doing, and why?

    God’s purpose was settled before the first star was lit. Every person on earth carries more value than anything in or on the earth, because every person was created to know God and be known by Him. Sin shattered that design, but God’s purpose did not fail — it adapted through provision in Jesus Christ. Missions is not the church’s idea added to God’s agenda; it is God’s own purpose, established before creation. (Ephesians 1:4-6; Isaiah 45:18-22; 1 John 3:8; Numbers 14:21; Revelation 21:3)

  3. 03

    Plan — How is God doing it?

    God does not improvise. The God who planned the coming of the Messiah in minute detail has planned the completion of His mission to every people group on earth. And His plan runs through the Church: He chose ordinary men and women who have heard and believed as the primary means of delivering His message. “How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Romans 10:14-15; Ephesians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 2 Peter 3:9)

  4. 04

    People — Who does God employ?

    God’s people are people of faith — not perfect people, not professionally trained people, but people captured by a magnificent Person who cannot keep quiet about it. The missionary’s first responsibility is not technique; it is knowing God. An ambassador cannot share what the ambassador does not know. The fire of missions is lit not by guilt, but by encounter. (Mark 12:30; Mark 8:35; 1 Peter 2:9)

  5. 05

    Process — How does God grow His messengers?

    Nobody becomes a mature, reproducing, Bible-grounded believer overnight. The process runs from foundation (knowing who God is, beginning in Genesis), through sanctification (putting off and putting on), community (growth happens in relationship), and equipping (Ephesians 4:12). Discipleship is not only preparation for the mission — discipleship, teaching obedience, is the mission. (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22-24; Hebrews 5:13-14; Hebrews 10:24-25)

  6. 06

    Unreached — Who has never had a chance to hear?

    The throne room of heaven will be filled with worshippers from every people group on earth — God has promised it. But today, more than 3 billion people live and will die with no meaningful access to the Gospel. Not because they rejected the Good News; because no one came to tell them. They are not unreachable. They are un-sent-to. The unreached are not a footnote in God’s mission; they are its frontier. (Revelation 5:9; 7:9; Romans 10:14-15)

  7. 07

    Response — What will you do?

    “One of my greatest concerns,” wrote David Platt, “is the subtly dangerous attempt we have to manufacture a heart for missions while missing a heart for Christ.” The answer to a world without the Gospel is not a better missions program; it is a deeper knowledge of a magnificent Person. Every believer is a participant: know Him, pray (Matthew 9:37-38), go, send, and stay rooted — making Him known wherever God has you. (John 17:3, 18)

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy… for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. — Revelation 5:9

The scope of the task

More than 3 billion people have no Gospel access, across roughly 7,000+ unreached people groups — while only about 1% of giving goes to the unreached. Figures are approximate and shift as research is updated; see live data at Joshua Project and PeopleGroups.org.

Tools for the journey