Have you ever had the unenviable task of crafting a mission statement? I can say from experience that crafting a mission statement can summon some of the longest and blankest stares one could ever imagine from a group of highly motivated people. How do you say in a couple sentences exactly what it is that you’re trying to accomplish? It has to be concise, it has to clearly communicate a message, and it has to define a purpose and a reason for existing.
Paul uses more than a few sentences to describe his mission in Chapter 15, but if you start in verse 16 and read through verse 19 you see a mission statement that shows us Paul’s heart. In my opinion Paul concludes his letter to the Church in Rome with reason for his Ministry.
16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19 by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God.
On the road to Damascus, God put a spirit in Paul that would reshape the world and in this letter to the Roman Gentiles we see Paul pour out his Spirit and make the case for Faith in Jesus. The Gentiles of today’s world, of which we are included, owe our salvation to the priestly duty Paul describes above. So whether Paul would agree this is his mission statement or not, we can agree that without Paul’s conviction to his Ministry the message of Jesus may have never reached those who need it the most. Us.