Five Marks of Mission sermon series

The Five Marks of Mission are a way of thinking about how all-encompassing the mission that God calls us to take part in. This sermon series helps us to explore what that means and our calling to take part in this mission.

The Five Marks of Mission were developed by the Anglican Consultative Council to help people to develop a better understanding of what mission is about. The Five Marks of Mission are:

Tell: Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
Teach: Teach, baptise and nurture believers
Tend: Respond to human need by loving service
Transform: Transform unjust structures of society, challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
Treasure: Safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

I’ve spoken before about God’s mission and how we are called to get involved in that. This was our Lent sermon series on the Five Marks of Mission, which explored what getting involved in God’s mission looks like. It is, however, usable at any time, and I’ve given an alternative reading for the final sermon for when it’s not used on Palm Sunday!

Alongside this we used CMS’s course and DVD on the five marks, called 21M, which is well worth using!

Five Marks of Mission sermon series

Love God
1 John 4:7-17. Love is at the heart of mission. Because God loved us, he sent his son to save us and show us his love. We can respond to God’s love by showing love, by being like Jesus. In love, God gives us the opportunity and challenge of loving him and loving our neighbour. Our mission is to carry on God’s mission, to reveal his love to the whole of creation.

Tell the Good News
Mark 1:1-8. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus. We too are called to be like John the Baptist, to tell the Good News to those around us.

Teaching one another
Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We are called to help one another discover more about God’s love and God’s call for our lives. We are called on to the journey of growing in our faith and helping others to do so, particularly those who are new believers. But, we also all have things that we can learn from one another, and we are called to continue to learn.

Tend to others
Mark 10:46-52. God’s love is compared to the love a mother has for her child. In Isaiah 66:13 God says “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you”. This is a practical, caring love, a love that tends and nutures, protects and helps. This practical love is also shown in Jesus’ healing miracles, in the caring for one another that we see in the early Church, and is something that we are called to do as well.

Transform society
Amos 5:9-15, 21-24. God hates injustice and oppression. We are called to be salt and light, like the prophet Amos, to challenge the powers of this world, to seek to change things for the better. Christians through the ages have sought to change society for the better – ending slavery, setting up schools, campaigning to make poverty history, working to prevent climate change. This is an important part of showing God’s love, of working for God’s kingdom to come. What are we being called to do to transform our society now?

Treasure God’s creation
Luke 19:28-40 (Palm Sunday) or Romans 8:18-25. We are called to be stewards of God’s creation, to care for all that he has made. God’s creation points us to him: ‘the rocks cry out’ and we are called to show our love for God in how we care for his creation. This is particularly the case as our lack of care for creation has led to massive destruction and the harm of millions of people, who are starving and displaced due to climate change. ‘Creation is groaning’ and we need to reveal our love as children of God in our care.