The Body of Christ is both the source and goal of missions. . .

The gathered community of believers, often called the "local church," is the source of missions and, yet, that has often been forgotten in the last 200 years of the modern missions movement. At the same time, the "sent-out" church of missionaries, tentmakers, and mission teams/agencies are also a key part of the church, a truth often obscured by poor theology and a lack of communication and coordination between the "sending" church and the "sent-out" church.

The goal of missions is to see the Body of Christ birthed, expanded, living and serving holistically within a people, tribe, nation, language, and/or place. Ministry that does not see the church birthed is often valuable, but until the church is established and extended, the goal of missions has not been reached. By this criteria those groups having little or no access to the gospel are the heart of the Great Commission task today.