Mesquite Missional Community
The Riddel's Home
BLESS
Blessing the City
As a church, we want to be characterized by blessing the city. Blessing is meant to convey a continuous, ongoing commitment to the welfare of the city we live in.
Mission
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me [gospel], even so I am sending you [mission]." (John 20:21)
We believe that any understanding of the gospel that does not lead to mission is not truly an understanding of the gospel. The gospel is about the redemption of God's creation through Jesus. This gospel, the mission of God, originates with God and is central in the life of the church.
Two Aspects of Mission
We believe that there are two aspects of mission, which we as a church are called to: gospel proclamation and gospel incarnation.
Throughout the West, the church has typically emphasized one aspect to the exclusion of another. This is often the case with conservative and liberal churches.
| Conservatives | Liberals |
| Focus on personal sin. | Focus on corporate sin. |
| Therefore mission focuses on gospel proclamation (i.e. call for individual repentance). | Therefore mission focuses on gospel incarnation (i.e. call for social justice). |
| Conservative churches typically are characterized by preaching Jesus. | Liberal churches are typcially characterized by showing Jesus. |
| Billy Graham | Mother Theresa |
Mission cannot be reduced to either proclamation or incarnation anymore than the gospel can be reduced to either Jesus' death or Jesus' life.
It is both the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus that save us and it is both gospel proclamation and incarnation that characterize mission.
Sin & Suffering
Gospel proclamation liberates from sin.
Gospel incarnation liberates from suffering.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21)
Just as Jesus was sent to liberate from sin and liberate from suffering, even so we have been sent to proclaim the gospel in order to liberate from sin and incarnate the gospel in order to liberate from suffering.
A Missional Church
Through gospel proclamation, I am liberated from my sin. Through gospel incarnation I am liberated from my suffering. Having been liberated from my own sin and suffering, I now liberate because I have been liberated. This is the essence of the gospel and the cycle of mission.
As a church, it is our desire to be characterized as neither conservative nor liberal, but as missional. We want to be like Jesus and care for both the physical and spiritual needs of our city. This is done through holistic church planting and local partnerships with others who share a desire for blessing the city.
