cheeky toddler. Follow or contact me via Twitter: @jonchilvers 6 Responses to What should Mission look like in the 21st Century? Brilliant stuff Jon -- a positive challenge -- the part about asking the congregation what made them tick particularily interesting. So -- what answers did they give you when you were sharing your sermon? Great stuff as far as it goes, but what about the sending emphasis in the concept of 'mission' and the evangelistic direction. Whilst mission is not just what is done abroad, not even cross-cultural mission is just that nowadays, but there is still a Christian responsibility to help the development and growth of the worldwide church. Interest in 'overseas mission' is being severely undermined in the eyes of many in the Church today. I think 'Mission' traditionally makes us think of societies (or charities) that became divorced from the church -- it effectively became boxed off and professionalised. Churches need to find ways of giving (and receiving) support to brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Some of course already do this extremely well and aid and development agencies are more aware of this dynamic than they were a decade ago. I agree with you that mission agencies have proved themselves to be somewhat isolated from the local churches in the past. However, I fear that, by by-passing the agencies, many churches and individuals involved in mission, fail to understand much of the cross-cultural context and are guilty of increasing the dependency of recipient