The church exists for God.  According to I Peter, God saved his people so that “we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The church exists so that we can now begin to honor God with our mouths and our lives.

At the same time, the church exists for the world. This is why mission is an absolutely critical dimension to Christian self-understanding. Our word mission is derived from the Latin word for being “sent”. God has established the church and in continuously sending her into the world.

We see this dynamic in the Bible from the very beginning. When God called Abraham to follow him, God said he was going to bless Abraham so that others may be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12).  This rhythm has rightly been described by saying that the church is "blessed to be a blessing." By this standard, a non-missional church is a contradiction in terms.

In my own life, I have embraced this teaching lock, stock and barrel. I have spent the past decade and a half of my life doing my best to participate in God’s mission in the world. For me, this has meant living and pastoring in cities not known for a warm embrace of the gospel. There is much about this that has been tremendously rewarding and invigorating.

At the same time, following God into this mission invariably brings about suffering. Like so many others, I have experienced this as well. Sometimes, this catches me off-guard. However, the Bible teaches that suffering and mission go hand-in-hand. When we engage in God’s mission in the world, we will suffer. There are no exceptions.

This is where cruciformity is an another absolutely critical dimension to Christian self-understanding. What does cruciformity mean? I normally try to stay away from “jargony” types of words, but I want to make an exception here. To be cruciform means to be “cross-shaped”. To be cross-shaped means to have your life marked by voluntary, sacrificial suffering on behalf of others.

Jesus’ life was cruciform. It was marked by voluntary, sacrificial suffering on behalf of others. Our lives are to be cruciform as well. This is precisely what Jesus is getting at when he says,  “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)

This means constantly giving our lives away. It means being misunderstood again and again and again. It means at times being ignored, slandered and marginalized. But it also means that every time we give our lives away, we find that God gives them right back to us. We give our lives to the world as God continues to give his life to us through Jesus.

What difference does cruciformity make in mission? I think it makes a huge difference. I will limit my discussion to two ways cruciformity postively impacts mission.

First, God uses suffering to purify the church's motives. For Christians of my generation, many of us are attracted to mission because it’s exciting and appealing. Churches and Christians use phrases like “living on the edge” and “radical” to make living God’s mission similar to participating in the X Games.

Is following God into mission exciting and unpredictable? Absolutely. Like a lot of you, I have many crazy stories to tell. However, the motive for following God into mission is not to be found in satisfying any kind of adrenaline junky tendencies we may have. The motive for following God into mission has to be love: love of God and love of neighbor. God uses suffering to further refine our hearts.

Second, cruciformity actually enhances mission by keeping the church humble. The world doesn’t need another self-serving, self-congratulating, sloganeering group to arrogantly push its way forward and seek to dominate others. If mission were one walk-off home run after another, the church would definitely trend in this direction.

However, through a steady diet of suffering, the church is continually brought low. It is God’s way of helping us get over ourselves. I think this is beautiful because the world needs a group of people who are being constantly shaped and reshaped into the likeness of Jesus.