“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21, NIV)
The church was sent before it had a missions department. In Antioch, the Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul in the middle of worship, not in a planning meeting (Acts 13:2).
Departments have budgets, calendars, and annual reports. Identity is something else: it shapes every decision, every service, every conversation. When missions becomes a department, it becomes something the church does. When it is identity, it is what the church is.
A church can have an impeccable missions department and zero missionary impulse. The test is not in the budget. It is in a simple question: if the department closed tomorrow, would your church still be sent?
