What Is Missional Motherhood And Why Is It Important?

What Is Missional Motherhood?

Ok let’s start with missional. To be missional is to have a certain mission, or purpose, if you like. 

Being missional is not good or bad in itself, as it depends on what the mission actually is. As mamas, we could have all sorts of purposes when raising our kids: helping them excel at school, giving them a lot of fun experiences, helping them to develop, making sure they learn to be polite. 

Yet, as Jesus followers, we also have a mission, which is unique to us as Christian mamas: to make God known to our children. 

The Jesus Way

Now, we learn about this parenting mission from the Biblical narrative as a whole. Many Proverbs talk about the importance showing our children the way of righteousness. 

But then we also have what Jesus himself told us to do: to make disciples! To teach others about God’s Kingdom. 

Yet, it’s interesting that Jesus didn’t just tell us to make disciples, He Himself made disciples. 

You see, Jesus came to the world, not only to be our Saviour but also to be our teacher. Whilst on earth, Jesus had disciples who not only learnt from Him but also did life with Him. Jesus didn’t just teach them through illustrations, stories, and sermons. Jesus taught them by demonstrating God’s Kingdom in daily life.

Then, after living this missional way, Jesus’ last words to His eleven disciples were:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Jesus’s words to the eleven disciples weren’t just for them, though. Yes, He spoke to the eleven face-to-face, but it follows that in commissioning His disciples to teach others to obey everything Jesus commanded, that includes the command to make disciples.

And so, as Christians, we have this wonderful commission passed on from disciples of Jesus throughout the ages – to make disciples of others. 

As Jesus mamas, this is a unique calling. Our mission isn’t a simple just raise good human beings kind of thing. No! Our mission is to teach the ways of Jesus and the upside down Kingdom.  

Why Is Missional Motherhood Important?

So missional motherhood is about making God known to our children. Teaching them the Gospel. Not just the bit about Jesus dying for our sins, but the whole Biblical narrative: God’s good creation design; man’s rebellion; the introduction of the law to bring back the Eden that was lost with the fall; man’s continuous rebellion; the incarnation of the son of God; Jesus living the perfect life we never could, dying for our sins, and resurrecting on the third day, breaking the power of sin and death; God sending His Spirit to empower us to live in freedom and to make us more like Him.

The Biblical narrative is completely opposite to the narratives of the world. And if, as mamas, we simply leave it to Sunday gatherings for our children to hear Bible stories, and we don’t continuously teach them the Gospel in our everyday moments, our children will be influenced by the world a lot more than by the Gospel. 

So that is why missional motherhood is important. We can’t simply teach our children a couple of stories and hope for the best. We need to be willing to make apprentices of Jesus. Those who will understand the whole Biblical narrative, have an encounter with God, and love Jesus so much they follow Him no matter what.

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