I’ve been picking up on a trend within the “Missional” movement that is a bit frustrating. In the quest to live misisonally (intentionally focused on the Gospel in our current context), many have began to downplay the role of global missions. In fact, I’ve heard and read some suggest that the Church just needs to be Missional where it is and God will take care of the rest of the world.

Sadly, this is not the point of being Missional! Missional living has never been a replacement for God’s commission for the Church to be globally minded! So please, if you are Missional, remember that there is a much “greater” commission that implores you to consider the need for the world to hear the Gospel!

Ed Stetzer recently offered five reasons that Missional Churches don’t go global. They are as follows:

1. In rediscovering God’s mission, many have only discovered its personal dimensions.
2. In responding to God’s mission, many have wanted to be more mission-shaped and have therefore made everything “mission.”
3. In relating God’s mission, the message increasingly includes the hurting but less frequently includes the global lost.
4. In refocusing on God’s mission, many are focusing on being good news rather than telling good news.
5. In reiterating God’s mission, many lose the context of the church’s global mission and needed global presence.

Stetzer’s reasons are, in my opinion, spot on. I’m inclined to believe that #1 is the most influential here in America due to our “individualistic” way of thinking (i.e., “just me and Jesus), but #4 tends to be overemphasized as well.

For those interested in two excellent sermons that will challenge you to think globally, check out John Piper’s “Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 1″ and “Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 2″ (each from the Advance 09 Conference).