WHEN ROLAND ALLEN WROTE ABOUT Paul's missionary methods, he did not have to define terms. He could begin with a paragraph—often quoted by missionaries and missiologists—that summarizes the apostle's missionary work:

In little more than ten years St Paul established the Church in four provinces of the Empire, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia. Before AD 47 there were no churches in these provinces; in AD 57 St Paul could speak as if his work there was done, and could plan extensive tours into the far west without anxiety lest the churches which he had founded might perish in his absence for want of his guidance and support.1

Nearly a hundred years later, it is no longer self-evident what the term mission should not imply.

Some Christians operate with a very broad understanding of mission, describing all activities of the church as "missional," that is, characterized by mission insofar as they participate in "God's mission" (missio Dei). 2 Thus social work, projects supporting racial reconciliation, charitable giving, drama groups and much more constitutes mission. Some reject the traditional notion that mission has anything to do with "inducing people of non-Christian faiths or of other Christian denominations to convert to one's own church."3 Some distinguish "mission" and "missions": the former describes God's comprehensive purposes for the world, purposes in whose realization God's people participate, while the latter describes the activity of missionaries and evangelists, church planters and laypeople who reach unbelievers with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The following paragraphs define the term mission and examine the meaning and the relevance of the terms strategy and method as applied to the missionary work of the apostle Paul.