he distinguishes between the singular missio Dei, God’s mission, and the plural missions, the activities of Christians and the church.4 The term’s present meaning emerged in the sixteenth century when the Jesuit order spread the Roman Catholic faith abroad.5 Usually the singular, “Mission,” is capitalized while the plural “missions” is not. Christopher Wright says, “So the phrase [missio Dei] originally meant ‘the sending of God’—in the sense of the Father’s sending of the Son and their sending of