Life on Mission Quotes

“Being on mission is not always about going to a specific place—it’s about being intentional where you are. That’s investment. And investment is always intentional. It’s a lifestyle choice.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“you’re not on mission where you are now, you won’t be on mission where you’re going.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Identify people who need the gospel. Invest in others as you share the gospel. Invite people into disciple-making relationships. Increase disciple-making by sending people to make more disciples.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Community Church in Oahu, Hawaii, told a group of pastors, “You teach people what you know, but you reproduce who you are.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“The problem is, you can’t choose Jesus and not choose the church. They are a package deal. And by church we don’t mean a group of people you sing songs and listen to a sermon with once a week. That is certainly one of the valid expressions of church and one we should be consistently involved in, but going to a service once a week is not walking in biblical community. Biblical community is the group of believers with whom we walk through the good, the bad, and the ugly of life while digging deeper into the gospel.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Intentionality in increasing the number of people living on mission is central to seeing the”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“The practical step of increase is all about starting the process again by sending people to identify, invest, and invite their friends and family into new communities.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“As you follow the timeline from Jesus to the early church and throughout history, you can trace the path of disciple-making all the way to your own life. Think about it: Jesus poured Himself into His disciples, the disciples raised up others in the faith, they sent out others—and so on until the chain eventually got to you.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“A simple way to see a movement of new believers is to raise up the new disciples in strong biblical foundations and to send them out to repeat the missionary process of identifying, investing, inviting, and increasing. The previous statement is not a job description for a pastor but rather the intent given to every believer of the gospel.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“God Himself is on a rescue mission as He invites people into right relationship with Him. Joining God in His mission will require that we become willing to extend the invitation to others.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“If you’re having trouble figuring out how to invest in those around you, try this simple tool: Ask people how you can pray for them. When you’re building relationship with neighbors, coworkers, or friends, simply say, “Hey, this may seem weird to you, but I’m a Christian so I pray for people. Is there anything I can pray for you about?” Even non-Christians will oftentimes gladly accept prayer and respond to this question with genuine things that are going on in their lives. Many times this question leads to great conversations and a deeper relationship.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Sacrificially investing in others is anchored in the ability to have a care for them that drowns out our own ability to focus on self.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Over and over throughout the Gospels, we see that while Jesus consistently poured His life into the people closest to Him, He sacrificially served all those whom His life intersected.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Both Smitty and Josh understand that those who have been made right with God through Jesus will disadvantage themselves for the advantage of others.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“The powerhouse of a great move of God starts with prayer. The fuel of our mission is prayer. One of the best activities you can do as an everyday missionary is to walk or ride through your neighborhood and ask God to show you what He sees.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Jesus’ social economy is completely the opposite. It’s about descending, not ascending. It’s not about looking to see what you can get from others, but identifying how you can give to others. It’s about pressing out toward the margins—to the people who need love and friendship.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“When we combine our natural rhythms or passions with the gospel and use them to build relationships, powerful things can happen. Our passions or placement (where we live, where we go) can help us identify opportunities for sharing the gospel.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“And just as we are continually transformed by Christ’s shaping us in biblical community, we continually seek for others to be reconciled to God and transformed just as we are—this is disciple-making.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“When looking at the decline and challenge facing the North American church (as we discussed in chapter 2), the task of the mission can seem daunting. However, we cannot allow any amount of hopelessness or despair to gain control over us. Why? Because the King is on His throne reigning over His kingdom.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“He goes to church, of course, but to say he is on mission with God would be a lie. He has no intentional relationships and hasn’t had a conversation with a nonbeliever in months.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“Therefore, the mission of God requires that believers leverage their lives for His glory.”
― Dustin Willis, Life on Mission: Joining the Everyday Mission of God

“When the body ministers to the body, it will always cost something. Living out gospel-centered community is not convenient.”
― Dustin Willis, Life in Community: Joining Together to Display the Gospel

“distance from Christian community is a sure sign of distance from Jesus Himself. “It’s just me and Jesus” is far from the truth of the Scriptures. Yes, Jesus saves individuals (see Eph. 2:1–10) but then He places them in the church (see Eph. 2:11–22). The notion of an individual Christian would strike the biblical authors as foolishness akin to a toddler without a family.”
― Dustin Willis, Life in Community: Joining Together to Display the Gospel

“God took the life of Jesus so that He did not have to take ours. This is good news; this is the gospel.”
― Dustin Willis, Life in Community: Joining Together to Display the Gospel

“In a world where we are more connected technologically than we have ever been, at the same time we are more isolated personally than we have ever been. As a result, we desperately need to rediscover the depth of community God has designed for each of us in Christ as members of His church.”
― Dustin Willis, Life in Community: Joining Together to Display the Gospel