This is the first of five articles to open a discussion on the theology of mission and innovation. As these articles are intended to help us build our theology, they will be jam-packed with Scripture.
So get ready! We’re going to explore innovation as love toward both God and our neighbor, innovation as art, innovation as it relates to money, and innovation and community.
We aim to faithfully abide in Christ and to participate in the Great Commission. As we explore our role in that mission, some areas are naturally more well developed than others. Let’s begin with the first topic: innovation as love or an act of worship towards God. In Matthew 22, Jesus summarizes the entire Old Testament, the Law, and all the teachings of the prophets:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-40).
One of the common themes throughout Scripture is that God’s people are called to worship God, delight in His blessings, and praise Him. Glorifying God will be the joyful privilege of redeemed humanity in the new creation, so to engage in prayer and praise now is an act of anticipation. As we invite others to join, we invite them not only into the present experience of worship, but also into the future glory of redeemed eternity. The worshiping life of God’s people and their missional function of extending that worship among the nations are integral to each other. The purpose of our mission is so that all the nations would come to rejoice in the blessings of obedience to God.
“For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name” (Samuel 22:50).
“…but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26).
A key aspect of worship is prayer, and we see that prayer is essential to the work of mission. Jesus’s ministry was constantly full of prayer; when He told the disciples what to pray, it was explicitly missional.
“Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:36-38).
If mission work is a harvest, then we ought to harvest well. Finding new and better ways to bring in the harvest is worthwhile, and we see that modeled in Scripture through prayer.
The book of Acts is full of prayer:
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14).
Paul prayed and sought prayer often:
“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith” (Colossians 4:2-3).
If we want the word of the Lord to accelerate, we should pray to make that happen. Praise is a joyful celebration and testimony of what God has done, and it represents faith and hope in the things God has promised to do. Innovation is firmly rooted in hopefulness in God’s promises and faith in God’s active force to fulfill His will and bring all creation to praise and worship Him.
“I was ready to respond, but no one asked. Ready to be found but no one sought me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that did not call my name” (Isaiah 65:1)
We trust and know that God is active and engaged. We seek Him to empower us through prayer and demonstrate our faith through joy-filled worship in our testimony. This is a critical reminder as we think about applying innovation to ministry. The tools and practices that we can utilize must never be separated from prayer and worship if they are to have any power.
Innovation is not a struggle against market forces or a desperate fight to regain relevance. It is a joyful anticipation of God’s work in the world and an eager search for how He is moving so that we can better participate in it. Our hearts, souls, and minds should be focused on His faithfulness to complete what He started. We can delight in God’s grace to adopt us into His family, and the overflow of that peace and joy cannot be anything other than innovation.
Innovation is not a struggle against market forces or a desperate fight to regain relevance. It is a joyful anticipation of God’s work in the world and an eager search for how He is moving so that we can better participate in it.
How could we not embrace change, explore new means and methods for reaching the lost, and spread the hope we have found? Nothing else matters in the face of our worship for the Lord who redeemed us. Our value and identity are securely rooted in Him. So, our confidence and faith in following where He leads will take us where we need to be. There is no room for pride, selfish ambition, or fear when we innovate from a posture of worship and prayer.
Note: Liam Savage is the Director of Innovation at OneHope and the author of Green Sky Innovation.
Try This
- Take time to pray about how you can treat missional innovation more as an act of worshipping God.