Missio Dei
Missio Dei, have you heard this term before? Missio Dei is Latin for “mission of God” or “sending of God”. It emphasizes that the church’s mission is to be a participant in God’s work for the purpose of reconciling the whole creation back to himself in Christ.
Maybe you have heard of Missio Ecclesiae? This is Latin for a church-centric view of mission where the church is the initiator, author and subject of mission. Missio Ecclesiae represents a church-centric culture where the church is dominant, and mission is a function and extension of the church's identity and programs.
While both Missio Dei and Missio Ecclesiae focus on mission, Missio Dei represents a broader understanding of mission. Author Darrell Guder writes: “We have come to see that mission is not merely an activity of the church. Rather, mission is the result of God's initiative, rooted in God's purposes to restore and heal creation.”
This concept is further explained by Alan Hirsch, "So a working definition of missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world. In other words, the church's true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.”
Restoration Church is a missional church, not a church with a mission program. As stated on our website:
“We believe the Church is made up of all God’s people, everywhere. The Church finds her visible and imperfect expression in local congregations of believers united in the body of Christ and sold out to the purposes of His Kingdom. The local church exists wherever people gather in the name of Jesus to know and praise Him (worship), live in authentic and life-giving relationships (communitas), and work to see the Kingdom of God expand (mission). We are called to individually, and corporately to collaborate for Kingdom Purposes.”
Restoration Church is on mission to participate with God in His work of love, restoration and reconciliation.
If you want to know more about the missions that we partner with, take a look at our church website. There is even an invitation to you (the viewer) to introduce us to another local or international ministry about which you are passionate.
On mission with you,
Martha Chester
Church Elder
Darrell L. Guder (editor), Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1998, 4–5.
Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006, 82.
Maybe you have heard of Missio Ecclesiae? This is Latin for a church-centric view of mission where the church is the initiator, author and subject of mission. Missio Ecclesiae represents a church-centric culture where the church is dominant, and mission is a function and extension of the church's identity and programs.
While both Missio Dei and Missio Ecclesiae focus on mission, Missio Dei represents a broader understanding of mission. Author Darrell Guder writes: “We have come to see that mission is not merely an activity of the church. Rather, mission is the result of God's initiative, rooted in God's purposes to restore and heal creation.”
This concept is further explained by Alan Hirsch, "So a working definition of missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world. In other words, the church's true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.”
Restoration Church is a missional church, not a church with a mission program. As stated on our website:
“We believe the Church is made up of all God’s people, everywhere. The Church finds her visible and imperfect expression in local congregations of believers united in the body of Christ and sold out to the purposes of His Kingdom. The local church exists wherever people gather in the name of Jesus to know and praise Him (worship), live in authentic and life-giving relationships (communitas), and work to see the Kingdom of God expand (mission). We are called to individually, and corporately to collaborate for Kingdom Purposes.”
Restoration Church is on mission to participate with God in His work of love, restoration and reconciliation.
If you want to know more about the missions that we partner with, take a look at our church website. There is even an invitation to you (the viewer) to introduce us to another local or international ministry about which you are passionate.
On mission with you,
Martha Chester
Church Elder
Darrell L. Guder (editor), Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing, 1998, 4–5.
Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006, 82.
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