29 Jun Mobilization Exists Because Missions Doesn’t
“Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” — John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad
This quote by John Piper has become foundational in missiology circles, not because it’s catchy, but because it is profoundly true. Piper is not suggesting that worship doesn’t exist on earth—of course it does. But he’s highlighting a stark reality: worship does not yet exist among all peoples. There are vast regions and people groups across the globe where Jesus is not known, honored, or worshipped. It is these gaps in global worship that give rise to the necessity of missions. If worship were taking place in every nation, tribe, and tongue, there would be no need for mission. Missions, in this light, is a temporary, urgent response to the absence of worship in specific parts of the world.
This brings us to a closely related truth—a phrase I coined more than a decade ago:
“Mobilization exists because missions doesn’t.” — Mike Krieg
Let me be clear: this does not mean that missions isn’t happening. Praise God, it is! In every corner of the world, there are faithful missionaries proclaiming the Gospel, planting churches, and discipling the nations. But if we’re honest, missions today is far from its potential. The scale of engagement does not match the scale of the need.
Consider this: according to a 2018 Barna study, “51% of churchgoers say they have never heard of the Great Commission.” (Barna Group, Translating the Great Commission)
That’s not a statistic about nominal Christians or the spiritually curious. That’s a number describing people who attend church regularly. If the majority of believers can’t identify the Great Commission—Jesus’ final command to go and make disciples of all nations—how can we expect missions to be a burning priority in the Church?
This is why mobilization is critical. Mobilization exists to awaken, inform, and activate the Body of Christ toward God’s global purposes. Mobilizers are the catalysts, the bridge-builders, the vision-casters. They remind the Church of its unfinished assignment. If missions were operating at full capacity—fully staffed, fully funded, fully embraced by the global Church—mobilization as a formal role would largely become unnecessary.
But we’re not there yet.
Twelve years ago, before Storyline was even born, I found myself grappling with this very issue. I was deep in thought about how to reach the unreached, how to awaken sleeping churches, and how to overcome the systemic inertia in the Western Church when it comes to global missions. That’s when the phrase emerged in my heart and mind:
“Mobilization exists because missions doesn’t.”
It was a summary of reality, a call to action, and a lens through which I would come to view my life’s work. Mobilization is not an end in itself. It is a means to the end: that every nation might worship.
Until that day comes, we mobilize.
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