Jesus said in Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." An Acts 1:8 church will focus on the primary mission that God has given to them to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ "down the street and around the world."
1) Praying- The church must pray for the advancement of the Gospel and trust God to remove the scales that blind the eyes of people who are in spiritual darkness. There must also be focused prayer for those on the front lines who are advancing the good news in the midst of spiritual warfare.
2) Giving- The church must make mission giving a priority and not an afterthought. A recent study showed that overall giving in churches had increased by more than one hundred percent over the past few years but mission giving has only increased a fraction of that. The American church is inwardly focused. This is a “me generation” and the church does not go unscathed by this thinking. A church on mission will make a significant portion of its annual budget outwardly focused for God’s work.
3) Going- The church must go and do the work of hands on missions in its local community, in its state, in its nation and to the ends of the earth. The church on mission cannot be satisfied until a significant portion of its membership is out of the pew and in the harvest field doing the work.
4) Educating- The church should also create an environment where its young people can catch God’s vision and give their lives in the work. Parents in the church on mission should be praying that God would use their children for His glory. Missions education is vital to training up the next generation and to keeping the current generation informed about how God is working.
Perhaps we should stop referring to the task at hand as “missions” and start referring to it as “the mission”. We are privileged to be able to take part in what God is doing to rescue men and women and boys and girls from the clutches of sin and the destination of Hell, and to deliver them into the light and the destination of Heaven in His eternal presence. All praise and glory to our God!