In case you have never heard them before, today I share some interesting thoughts about missions and its place in the order of life and ministry.

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.”

From John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, 2003, p. 17.

When worship is rightly understood, Piper argues, it becomes the fuel and goal of missions. Therefore, missions is secondary and worship is primary. So we might ask…

• What is the ultimate goal of our missions endeavors? Man’s salvation or God’s glory?
• What provides the fuel for our missions endeavors? Man’s salvation or God’s glory?