What is Missions?

The words “mission”, “missions”, and “missionary” in English come from the Latin form of “to send” (mission). Its basic meaning is "to send," as in to send out or away, or "to be sent." The common New Testament word for the original Greek form of this word is apostelo = αποστελω (to send) and “apostle” – a sent one. While we sometimes refer to the original Twelve disciples as the Apostles, referring to their unique office and title, the word basically means a "sent out one." In application to today, the gifting of an apostolic missionary (with a lower case “a” as a function) can be seen in those qualified men who are approved by a local church and sent out to do evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in another culture.

“Missions,” in biblical Christian understanding, is evangelism and church planting that involves going (Matthew 28:19; John 15:16) into another culture and learning that culture and language, in order to preach the gospel to them, make disciples and teach them the Bible. This is distinguished from evangelism, which is preaching the gospel to anyone, people who are in our own culture and already speak our language.