Missions is that activity of the church–in essence it is nothing else than an activity of Christ, exercised through the church–through which the church, in this interim period, in which the end is postponed, calls the peoples of the earth to repentance and to faith in Christ, so that they may be made his disciples and through baptism be incorporated into the fellowship of those who await the coming of the kingdom.

J.H. Bavinck in An Introduction to The Science of Missions

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