Our Strategic and Distinctive Call

Through a strategic and bold gospel call to love and leadership, The Mission is called to be a distinctive movement of life change in North America. To this end, The Mission employs a fivefold focus and strategy: (1) leadership advancement (2) and church planting (3) through an ancient-future faith (4) distinctly nourished by the three streams (5) to reach the lost and lonely, tired and troubled, determined yet disheartened of North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

We Believe Leadership Advancement is Vital for Society and the Church

The Bible is clear, “If your gift … is to lead, do it diligently.” In the words of John Maxwell, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” ¹ With this understanding, The Mission seeks to join God in recognizing, recruiting, resourcing, releasing and supporting leaders specifically prepared for evangelism and apostolic works, primarily for the work of church planting. This focus and investment by our movement includes discerning the call, character, competency, and chemistry of emerging leaders, developing and equipping identified emerging leaders, and connecting and supporting leaders for a lifetime of growth and success.

As a Society of Mission, we provide the following means to raise, release and support our leaders:
Streamlined Leadership Formation and Orientation
Strategic Leadership Connection, Sharing and Training
Systematic Leadership Care and Coaching

The Mission is committed to excellence and faithfulness in leadership advancement.

We Believe Church Planting is Central to God's Strategic Plan for Extending and Demonstrating His Love to the World

In the words and research of Missiologist Tim Keller:

"Virtually all of the great evangelistic challenges of the New Testament are basically calls to plant churches, not simply to share the faith…. Studies have confirmed that the average new church gains most of its new members (60–80%) from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshiping body, while churches over ten to fifteen years of age gain 80–90 percent of new members by transfer from other congregations. This means the average new congregation will bring six to eight times more new people into the life of the body of Christ than an older congregation of the same size."²

The Mission has catalyzed over 200 church plants since our establishment in 2000. We are not afraid to risk boldly in gospel love, and it seems God has richly blessed our courage and faithfulness to love and lead with Him through church planting.

As a Society of Mission, we provide the following means to raise, release and support our church plants:
Streamlined Church Planting Assessment and Planning
Strategic Core Group Development and Boot Camps
Systematic Church Care and Connection

The Mission is committed to excellence and faithfulness in church planting.

We Believe an Ancient-Future Faith Rooted in the Celtic Missionary Tradition of the 5th Century and Later is Prophetic and Winning for This Time in History

Drawing on a rich yet mysterious faith of old, the Celtic missionary tradition of the 5th century and later, The Mission seeks to raise, release and support leaders and church plants that display a distinctive ethos of gospel love and leadership.

As a Society of Mission, this ancient-future orientation is embodied through the following faith characteristics that are taught and caught from one generation to the next:

Apostolic and Communal Faith - Going prayerfully, powerfully, relationally and diversely together in mission
Accessible and Thoughtful Faith - Seeking to understand different persons and cultures so as to organically love and lead them
Creative and Mysterious Faith - Embracing beauty and the arts so as to engage and captivate the longings of the heart
Loving and Hospitable Faith - Welcoming and sharing with strangers and each other to demonstrate a faith of belonging and becoming together in Christ

The Mission is committed to excellence and faithfulness through an ancient-future ethos of love and leadership.

We Believe the Three Streams Offer a Rich Blend of Guidance, Rhythm and Power to Grow and Nourish All People

We live in a world of paradox. As humans, we long for someone and something to trust yet are predisposed to doubt. We long for depth yet chase shallow pursuits. We long for peace yet often choose disorder. We need more…

As a Society of Mission, we draw from a common and dynamic water supply, one that is replenished by three active streams of refreshment which all originate outside of ourselves:

The Scripture - Our authoritative guide in faith
The Sacramental - Our ancient practices and rhythms in faith
The Spirit - Our peace and power in faith

The Mission is committed to excellence and faithfulness by consistently drinking from the three streams.

We Believe God Profoundly Cares About the Lost and Lonely, Tired and Troubled, Determined yet Disheartened of our Families, Neighborhoods and Cities Across North America... And we are Called to Act

In the words of researcher David Olson, “We live in a world that is post-Christian, postmodern, and multi-ethnic, whether we realize it or not.”³ Meanwhile, Scripture is clear, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost”(Luke 19:10), and we are commissioned to join Him, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”(Matthew 28:18-20).

As a Society of Mission, we exist to act. Responding to a fragmented world and the wide array of people in it, we are meant to love and lead with God as change agents. Life on life. Friend to friend. Neighbor to neighbor.

The Mission is committed to excellence and faithfulness in caring about this world and the people in it … because they really matter to God.

Through our strategic and distinctive call, we invite you to join us on mission… Rise, Love, Lead!

1 John Maxwell, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, 2d ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007).
2 Tim Keller, “Why Plant Churches,” Redeemer City to City, February 2002.
3 David Olson, The American Church in Crisis (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008).