What does Ephesians have to say about the mission of The Church and our part in it? Well, to start with, it begins with the mission of God. It is the Father himself who chooses to love and bless us by seeking us out when we were far off, dead in sin, aligned with and imprisoned by God’s enemies.[1] God’s mission means uniting us to Christ so that we can be reconciled together and sealed with the Spirit.[2]
Note God’s purpose in this is that God can show off the church to the hostile principalities and powers.[3] If Satan had sought to be equal with God, then he would have despised the creation of humanity as he saw them take on a position “a little lower than God.” Satan would have seen The Fall as his victory and proof that God had failed. Both the creation of man and the salvation of man through Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection may have seemed like foolishness but the evidence displayed in the Church is that it is wisdom.
Central to this display is that the church unites people from all backgrounds. So, the fact that the goodness reaches across ethnic boundaries and unites Jews and Gentiles is an important and mind-blowing fact.[4]
So, the Church’s mission is first and foremost to be that display of God’s wisdom, power, love and glory to the enemy. Simply by existing and for local churches simply by being places where God’s grace is at work, seeing lives changed, bringing together disparate people, allowing the Holy Spirit to work fulfils that mission. Conversely, if we have churches that are jarringly homogenous in their contexts, where people have only head knowledge and where there is a lack of change or unity, then we cannot be said to be fulfilling the mission.
There is though a crucial dynamic. Whilst Paul wants us to know the power of God’s love ourselves, there must be more than that to it. Implicitly, to know God’s love fully will lead to us loving God with our whole hearts and our neighbours as ourselves. Love will mean a reaching out with the Gospel.
Another important clue is the use of the word “Apostle” to designate Paul and the foundations of the Church.[5] Apostles are described as a gift to the church along with prophets, evangelists and teachers in Ephesians 4:11. There is some dispute as to whether this reference is to the 12 plus Paul again, the foundations or a broader category of trans-church leaders. I don’t think this matters too much here as first of all, there is further evidence looking at wider Scripture of those like Timothy and Titus who seem to fit with that broader “apostles of the church”/ “small a apostolic” function, just as we might talk in terms of “capital P Prophets” who gave us Scripture as God’s special revelation and “small p prophets” who serve local churches by bringing a nowness to God’s Word.
The point in any case is that the Church is meant to be “apostolic” in nature, in that the apostles are meant to influence and equip the church along with prophets, evangelists and teachers, for works of service.[6] The word “apostle” has the idea of someone sent out as authorised representatives or ambassadors. It is important then that if we have people fulfilling responsibilities across churches whether we call them bishops, moderators, directors, apostles or whatever, that if they are in a sense “small a apostolic” then they cannot be merely additional “super-pastors” nor glorified administrators. Rather, they must be people with a missional mindset, a concern for the growth and flourishing of the Gospel.
Note too, that the combination of apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers puts a focus on revelation, on God’s Word being spoken and expounded. Whilst mission will result in a church that does good works, that loves the poor, blesses the city and seeks racial reconciliation, these things are not in that sense the mission of the church but some of its outcomes. The mission of the church is about bringing the good news of the Gospel to all.
[1] Ephesians 1:2-4; 2:1-14.
[2] Ephesians 1:10-14.
[3] Ephesians 3:10.
[4] Ephesians 2:11-18.
[5] Ephesians 1:!; 2:20.
[6] Ephesians 4:12.
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