📖 Biblical Definition
Mission, biblically, is the errand on which one is sent. The New Testament word for "sent ones" is apostoloi — apostles. The church’s greatest mission is the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." The pattern is Trinitarian and cascading: the Father sent the Son (John 20:21: "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you"); the Son sent the Spirit (John 15:26); the Father and Son together send the church; the church sends the missionary. Mission is always derivative; the Originator is God.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
A sending or being sent; the errand or charge upon which one is sent; especially religious sending of preachers.
expand to see more
MISSION, n. A sending; the act of sending. The errand or business which is committed to one's management. Specifically, the sending of religious teachers to propagate the gospel.
Scripture roots all human mission in divine sending. The Father sends the Son; the Son sends the Spirit; the Spirit sends the church; the church sends its messengers. Each sent one carries the authority of the sender.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 28:19 — "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
John 20:21 — "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."
Romans 10:15 — "And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"
Acts 13:3 — "And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern usage has secularized ‘mission’ into corporate-strategy vocabulary; Scripture roots it in divine sending and apostolic commission.
expand to see more
Romans 10:15 makes the chain unmistakable: how shall they preach except they be sent? Mission is not self-launched; it is commissioned. The early church at Antioch (Acts 13) shows the pattern: prayer, fasting, laying-on-hands, sent away.
The household's mission is rooted the same way. Each saint, each marriage, each family is sent — with assignments — into a particular post. Recover the sending vocabulary and the daily life starts to feel like duty under orders rather than self-driven hustle.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek apostellō (to send out) and pempō (to send) carry the concept.
expand to see more
Greek apostellō — to send forth on a mission; from this comes apostolos, sent one, apostle.
Greek pempō — to send; used interchangeably with apostellō for the Father's sending of the Son.
Usage
"Mission is commissioned, not self-launched."
"As the Father sent Me, so I send you — the chain is unbroken."
"How shall they preach except they be sent?"