The word “mission” is quite loaded, and leads sometimes to a certain unease. But if, as Emil Brunner suggested, mission is “the raison d’être” of the church and its “life”, what does this imply for the Protestant churches today, including the question of the shape of the church ? How should we consider the missio of the church, insofar as it derives from the missio Dei ? This article provides some provisional answers to these questions, drawing in part on the Church of England’s theological reflection on the notion of a “mission-shaped church”.