This Sunday we are starting a new sermon series entitled, “Finding Your Place” in which we will be exploring in greater detail where and how we can find our place in God’s mission.

It’s something we talk about a great deal but I suspect that, when it comes right down to it, we find this more difficult than we think it ought to be. There are two reasons that I hope we will be able to “deconstruct” a little over the course of this series.

First, there is a common assumption that “God’s mission” means serving in a church-based ministry. Now, it’s true that nearly all of our ministries rely on volunteers and it is equally true that service in these ministries is part of the mission of God. However, this reduces the mission of God to what can be or is done in and through the organisation of the church. God is at work in more ways and in more places!

Second, there is a tendency to reduce the work of God to salvation. Salvation is, of course, an essential feature of the work of God but it is part of the larger work of renewal and restoration. What I mean is that we can feel as if the only things we can do that count towards the work of God “in the world” is the work of evangelism. Unless we are having a conversation about faith or Jesus we aren’t really participating in the mission of God.

In both cases I believe that we need to expand our theological imaginations to appreciate the height, breadth, and width of God’s mission and our place in it!

This is what I hope and pray will happen over the course of this series. Please join me in praying to that end – that we might all find our place in God’s mission!