By Dr. John David Smith, President of BMA Global 

The mission of Christ is the focal point of the New Testament. It is interesting to watch as a group of unknown tax collectors and fishermen “turn the world upside down” in obedience to the mission of Christ. The book of Acts covers thirty-three years, and in that timeframe the gospel advanced from Jerusalem to Rome, Paul and his missionary teams started over twenty churches, and those churches started other churches. Almost every New Testament epistle is a letter back to a brand new church or to someone who was leading a brand new church.  Hence, the opening line of this paragraph would be better stated as follows: The mission of Christ, in and through the church, is the focal point of the New Testament. 

Mission: To fulfill God’s mission by sending and partnering to share God’s story, make disciple makers, and start churches that multiply among the nations.

The word commission has a few synonyms such as assignment, duty, responsibility, mandate, etc. Before we analyze the meaning of being CO:MISSIONED, perhaps the first step is to come to grips with the fact that, as followers of Christ, we have been “missioned.” A God of mission could only produce and expect a people of mission.  We have a God-given mission!

Looking in the familiar passage that we refer to as the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, we gain more insight to the importance of being CO:MISSIONED with emphasis on the fact that this commission is not of our origins, desires, or abilities. It is indeed a CO:MISSION with the colon communicating that this is from another and not our own invention.

Vision: To see every partner church around the world engaged in the process of starting a church.

In verse 18, Christ affirms that “all authority” has been given to him in heaven and on earth. The eternal God/resurrected Savior has inherent (it belongs to him by nature) authority because he is God. In verse 19, he then commands us to go and make disciples of all nations, and our authority is inherited from Christ–it is not our own. What a great encouragement! We are CO:MISSIONED and our authority is from the God who has ALL authority.

Another aspect of our CO:MISSION is that we have been commanded to make disciples of all peoples by Christ himself. Christ came in fulfillment of a mission; we go in fulfillment of a mission. 

The last truth about our CO:MISSION is that we go with Christ.  He is always with us, and we do not advance in our own power, but in his.

CO:MISSIONED is indeed to be “missioned” but not by ourselves. We are on a continuing journey with Christ to fulfill his mission. We do that with his authority (from), according to his mandate (by), and through his power (with).  

The BMA worldwide family now includes close to 2,000 churches. BMA Global Missions has planted almost 800 churches and is currently planting 450 more! We are church planters! We do believe that “the mission of Christ, in and through the church, is the focal point of the New Testament.”

We are excited about 2023 to see more of the synergistic effect continue in worldwide church planting. Many faithful servants have sown and cultivated over many years in dozens of countries and now God is giving the increase through the multiplication of disciples and churches. 

BMA Global Missions mobilizes churches and people to the mission field (send), helps plant churches that plant churches (start), and provides care and support for healthy leaders and churches (support). We are so grateful for the opportunity to partner with your church. Please continue to be faithful as you renew and refresh your church’s commitment to the basics of our CO:MISSION: pray, give, send, and go.

Please pray as BMA Global Missions reaches for new goals in 2023 and beyond. Some of these goals include a significant increase in the number of missionaries we send from our churches over the next ten years, specifically targeting urban areas of the United States for multiple church plants, increasing the number of language groups with church plants from seven to fifteen inside the United States, and assisting churches around the world to achieve maturity and multiplication. 

Thank you all again for being faithful in our God-given CO:MISSION that is fulfilled from, by, and with the Lord Jesus Christ.