3. To Expand the Kingdom of God—Overcoming Evil A third purpose of missions is to expand the Kingdom of God, overcoming the darkness and evil of Satan’s rule. The Kingdom of God was initiated at the first advent of Christ. The church is on mission to expand the Kingdom of God around the world. Jesus taught the disciples to pray that God’s Kingdom would be established on earth and that God’s will be done on earth (see Matt. 6:10). Christ is coming again to remove evil from the world, and to establish his perfect rule (see “ Kingdom of God in the training module Theology. This third purpose of missions is similar to the second purpose—the church makes disciples in order to expand the Kingdom of God. But the third purpose emphasizes the battle of good versus evil. As the Kingdom of God expands, righteousness expands among nations. In opposition to this, evil is growing along with population growth. With the development of new weaponry, depletion of the earth’s resources, and terrorist activity, the world is becoming an increasingly dangerous place. While missions combat evil, Satan and his kingdom will only be overthrown by the return of Christ. Willis writes that as the church spreads the Gospel to the world, God’s wisdom is revealed to spiritual rulers
