Mark Carey writes:

 Missional Principles in Genesis 12:1–9

A word for CCBN

Genesis 12 is not just the call of Abram. It is the template for God’s missional people.

Before there is a nation, a law, or a land, there is a journey. And within that journey are principles that still shape how God sends His people today.

1. Leave & Go

God’s first word to Abram in Genesis 12 is simple: “Go.”

Journey is the dominant metaphor of Scripture from Abraham to the Exodus, from the disciples leaving their nets to the church sent out in Acts. God’s people are always on the move: geographically, spiritually, relationally.

Going on God’s mission begins with displacement leaving what is familiar in order to trust God into what is not yet clear.

The missional life is not about arrival, but faithful movement with God.

2. Battle & Blessing

God promises blessing: “I will bless you… and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

But realism quickly follows: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”

Mission is never neutral. Blessing attracts opposition. Faithfulness generates resistance. Abram’s journey includes spiritual and relational battle not because something has gone wrong, but because something significant is happening.

Mission requires resilience as well as obedience.

3. Gathering & Scattering

Abram gathers, building altars and calling on the name of the Lord.

Abram scatters, moving on.

Mission is not either/or it is both/and.

We gather around God’s presence, and we scatter into God’s purposes. A healthy missional people develop mature rhythms of being formed together and then sent out again.

In our Network of Churches, we must expect both. We gather deeply. We scatter courageously.

4. Teachability & Dependence

Abram builds two altars and names four places. Each one tells a story of formation.

• Moreh – teaching, instruction. Mission begins with teachability — a heart open to being shaped.

• Shechem – shoulder, burden-bearing. Calling carries weight. Promise brings responsibility.

• Ai – heap of ruins. Mission will confront weakness and failure. God redeems people who face ruin honestly.

• Bethel – house of God. Encounter. Worship. Presence. Mission flows from abiding, not striving.

Together they trace a discipleship journey:

1.     Be taught.

2.     Take responsibility.

3.     Face failure honestly.

4.     Dwell in God’s presence.

For mission

Genesis 12 shows us that mission is not first about strategy, but formation — for mission.

Teachability matters. Dependence matters. Holiness matters. Taking responsibility matters.

And the great danger along the way?

Self-sufficiency. Independence. Building tents without altars. Movement without worship.

God still calls His people to leave, to trust, to be formed, and to become a blessing — not by standing still, but by walking faithfully with Him.

As CCBN, may we be a people who keep moving with God, gathering in His presence, scattering into His purposes and becoming a blessing to many as we go.

Rev. Canon Mark Carey. Vicar of CCBN.