The Church Missional

Today we were talking about Church planting with Bill Yarbrough and he gave us a quote from Leslie Newbigin talking about the necessity of the Church to be missionary:

It is impossible to reconcile with the New Testment the view which seems to be more or less accepted among the majority of church leaders, that while missionary work is an admirable thing to do, within reasonable limits, it is not something without which the church simply falls to the ground. We must say bluntly that when the Church ceases to be a mission, then she ceases to have any right to the titles by which she is adorned by the New Testament.

Just as we insist that a Church which has ceased to be a mission has lost the essential character of a Church, so we must also say that a mission which is not at the same time truly a Church is not a true expression of the divine apostolate. An unchurchly mission is as much a monstrosity as an unmissionary Church.