“The Living God is a Missionary God” by John R. W. Stott is a fantastic article detailing the theme of mission in Scripture. The article is very short and provides two discussion questions at the end. I would appreciate it if you would be willing to read the article, answer the two questions, and then share any other thoughts you have concerning the article. The article is the first chapter in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, which I would recommend to anyone who wants to gain a serious understanding of missions. You can also check out the Perspectives website for more information.
Missio Dei
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Missio Dei 
It’s pretty straightforward. Besides a small # of hypercalvinists, I can’t think of any Christian who doesn’t believe in spreading the Gospel and none who don’t see it as Biblically mandated. And it’s pretty clear that we’ve been adopted as sons and grafted onto the tree.
Perspectives course is good stuff. I sat in on a class or two when Joni was taking it in college, she got college credit for it at UK.