In a few groups this last week I have found myself talking about the need to be more missional. Instinctively we start to think about what things we need to do on top of everything else in order for this to happen.  Very quickly we all establish that we are way too busy to add anything else into our lives; and we are probably right.  But what if being missional was doing what we already do differently rather than doing extra things on top of everything else? It seems to me that Jesus didn’t envisage mission as something that we add-on to our lives but more a description of the way that we live.

The most famous words instructing us to be missional come at the end of Jesus’ life in his final words to his disciples:

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

My understanding of these words is that the word ‘go’ has the sense about it of “as you go ….”  In other words, make disciples as you go about your daily life.  This is altogether different to trying to make disciples in addition to everything else.

Here is a list of 100 ways to be missional.  Not all will apply to your culture or context but some will.  In any case, you get the idea. Mission is not an add-on. It’s the way that we live.