7 New believers also help the church to learn new dimensions of its mission. 8 God calls the church to direct its mission to people from all nations and ethnic backgrounds. The apostle Paul preached to the Gentile nations. The church today is also called to witness to people of every culture, ethnicity, or nationality. The mission of the church does not require the protection of any nation or empire.
Christians are strangers and aliens within all cultures.
Yet the church itself is God's nation, encompassing people who have come from every tribe and nation. Indeed, its mission is to reconcile differing groups, creating one new humanity 10 and providing a preview of that day when all the nations shall stream to the mountain of the Lord and be at peace. Christ has commissioned the church to continue his mission. Missionaries and others with the gift of evangelism do not function independently, but as representatives of Christ and the church. The mission of the church involves both word and deed, evangelism and service, proclaiming Christ's message and demonstrating, by the life of the church, the nature of the new creation in Christ.