It is your calling, your lifestyle, your heartbeat.

Somewhere in the rhythm of daily life—a mother stirring porridge at dawn, a young manager in the city typing an email, a village leader greeting visitors under a mango tree—you sense it: the invitation of the mission of God. Not just for a few special “missionaries,” but for every believer. The concept of the missio Dei (the mission of God) is not peripheral—it’s central. It is your calling, your lifestyle, your heartbeat.

In the Missional University module/course, ELD2200 Disciplemaking Essentials, we explore how embracing the missio Dei transforms everything: your job, your relationships, your writing, your church, your community. This is not a module you’ll do and then forget. It permeates your whole life. Because Jesus is the ultimate discipl­er, and to be a “Christian” literally means being a “mini-Christ”—someone echoing Him, apprenticing with Him, learning from Him.

 

Theological Foundations: Grace, Faith, Works

At the core of our faith lies a truth: we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). But faith without works is dead. “So too, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2:17) The gospel isn’t just about being forgiven—it’s about being sent out, bearing fruit. A tree that is alive will bear fruit. A disciple-maker acts.

When you embrace the missio Dei, you realise that what God does in you leads to what God does through you. Disciple-making then becomes not a programme, but your primary vocation. Your job title serves this mission; your daily tasks become the context of mission. You don’t stop being salt and light when Sunday’s gathering ends—you carry living water into your Monday meeting, your Tuesday youth group, your Wednesday email threads. Because the world is dying of thirst—and Jesus is the living water.

 

Living Water, Not Stagnant Pools

God’s reality is living water—flowing, fresh, powerful. He said of Himself: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” (John 7:37). When water is stagnant, it becomes foul. In the same way, faith that stays within the walls of the church, hidden in a “quiet time,” or isolated from everyday life and other people, cannot serve the mission.

Illustrating this, the prophet says:

“My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have dug for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

We don’t build cracked cisterns—rigid systems, insider programmes, elitist structures—that try to hold the power of God. We open broken vessels, surrendered jars of clay:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God, and not to us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

In ELD2200 you will learn to live as those jars of clay—humble, everyday, relational—but carrying the treasure of God’s mission.

 

Missio Dei as Personal Calling

To affirm the missio Dei is to say: yes, God is on mission; and yes, you are invited to join. Movement into mission isn’t reserved for the “professionally Christian” or the “full-time minister.” Every believer, in every context, is called.

In this course we define clear competencies for you:

• Recognising your identity as disciple-maker, apprentice of Christ.
• Developing a worldview of mission that shapes your thinking, not just your activity.
• Learning to engage your context with listening, presence, relationship.
• Building missional rhythms of life: gathering, sending, accompaniment, listening.

You’ll learn that discipleship and mission aren’t add-ons—they are foundational. Your lifestyle becomes the curriculum you didn’t know you were already following.

 

Designing A Customized Approach

ELD2200 invites you to design a missional approach to disciplemaking that fits your context. What works in a township in South Africa might differ from a rural village in Asia or an inner-city neighbourhood in Europe—but the core remains: the gospel, incarnational presence, holistic disciplemaking.

In practical terms, you’ll explore:

• Contextual assessment: Who are the people around you? What are their hopes, fears, questions?
• Relational entry: How do you build redemptive relationships—not simply programmes?
• Missional lifestyle integration: How do your meals, your commute, your emails become opportunities for the living water to flow?
• Disciple-making ecosystems: How do you move from invite→ engage → send?
• Critiquing tradition: What inherited patterns help? Which hinder mission? Are your church structures shaped more by culture than by the gospel?

This is where theory meets practice. It’s not just about analysing the mission of God; it’s about embodying it—week in, week out.

 

A Story of Hunger and Encounter

I follow someone on Instagram who’s not a believer. She posts funny reels and things, so I just enjoy her content. But earlier this week she said something in a video that sounded like a cry for help. My heart broke and I could see that she was searching for living water but now knowing where to find Him. I whispered a quiet prayer for her and went on with my day.

Later that night, I was scrolling again – and guess what: She posted on her story that she has been reconnecting with God lately and He’s really been a source of comfort to her in her search for peace. Now, I’m not saying that my prayer had anything to do with her search for the divine. It sounded like she’d actually sought Him earlier.

But what stood out to me was how rarely I do that. I was convicted by the Spirit, because, most days, I just scroll on, never considering the ways the Kingdom flows into everything I see…

In a missional mindset, we don’t parachute in with a plan; we walk in with humility, asking questions, listening, bearing witness to the One who satisfies. We build relationships, we share meals, we laugh, we serve—and then we introduce the living water, the living Christ. Mission becomes simple: flow into context, join the story, bring life.

 

The Great Commission as Every Believer’s Task

Jesus commanded: “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). Discipleship is not a programme for the few—it is the full-time job of every believer. Your vocation? It supports this mission. Your role? You’re a disciple-maker.

When you embrace the missio Dei, every conversation becomes a mission moment: your writing, your teaching, your leadership—all become incarnational. The living water in your life naturally wants to spill over—into your inbox, your dinner table, your board meeting, your quiet moments of prayer. It cannot be confined to Sundays or rigid forms. John 4’s woman at the well discovered this: Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks of the water I give will never thirst.” (John 4:13-14). She ran home and told everyone! The water keeps flowing when we let it.

 

Missional Leadership as Lifelong Learning

In ELD2200 we talk about missional leadership—not as the leader who knows it all, but as the leader who remains a learner. You engage communities biblically through redemptive relationships. A leader grounded in Dorothy Sayers’ idea that we are apprentices of Jesus: always learning, always following.

You’ll explore leadership styles that serve the mission: partnering, listening, equipping. You’ll learn to ask: how does leadership in my context send more than it gathers? How do I empower others rather than centralise power? How do I value indigenous expressions and local leadership?

 

Practical Steps for Missional Living

Here are some steps you will practise:

1. Morning reflection – ask: where will the living water go today? Who are the people I’ll meet?
2. Contextual engagement – walk your neighbourhood, talk with shop-workers, learners, elders. Ask open questions. Listen to their stories.
3. Relational rhythm – take a cup of coffee, share a meal, join in someone’s work. Presence matters more than programme.
4. Writing & speaking missionally – your emails, social posts, sermons, convers­ations all shape discipleship. Use simple, clear language. Avoid jargon. Reflect the gospel, the missio Dei.
5. Release & send – train others to share, to serve, to lead. Mission multiplies when it sends out.
6. Reflect & adapt – ask: what flowed well? What got stuck? What barriers still exist? How can my approach become more incarnational and less institutional?

 

Why This Module/Course is Transformational

ELD2200 isn’t a checklist, a one-time training, or a qualification you tuck away. It shapes your worldview and your way of thinking. It seeps into how you imagine church, mission, leadership, life. The gospel you learn isn’t confined to a classroom—it moves into your office, your home, your relationships, your every day.

Because the missio Dei is not something we launch—it’s something we join.

 

Conclusion: Humble Vessels in God’s Mission

You are clay jars. You are broken—but carrying treasure. You are thirsty—but discovering living water. You are called—not to hold the power, but to release it.

When you humble yourself and admit your brokenness, then you are poured out for the nations. Like the alabaster jar broken at Jesus’ feet, your surrendered life becomes fragrant, potent, sacrificial. You don’t need to fear your weaknesses or “cracks”—they’ll become the place where God’s power flows through.

Therefore, join in the missio Dei as your personal calling. Let your lifestyle reflect disciple-making essentials. Serve, send, cultivate redemptive relationships. Make meals, not just meetings. Write human emails, not just theological essays. Disciple the one next to you. Engage the context you already live in. Pray while you scroll…

The world is waiting; the church is needed; living water is on the move.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news. (Romans 10:15) Let your feet carry you into the mission, your voice bringing the message, your life embodying the gospel. Serve with faith, live with purpose, disciple with love.

 

Further Reading

• Bosch, D. J. (1991). Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Orbis Books.
• Wright, Christopher J. H. (2006). The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. IVP Books.
• Missional University Catalogue (2025). ELD2200 Disciplemaking Essentials. Retrieved from https://catalogue.missional.university