Ed Stetzer writes from Taiwan about why missional churches don’t do global missions but seem more interested in local work
In rediscovering God’s mission, many have only discovered its personal dimensions.
In responding to God’s mission, many have wanted to be more mission-shaped and have therefore made everything “mission.”
In relating God’s mission, the message increasingly includes the hurting but less frequently includes the global lost.
In refocusing on God’s mission, many are focusing on being good news rather than telling good news.
In reiterating God’s mission, many lose the context of the church’s global mission and needed global presence.
Ed then offered four principles to consider when putting the “missions” in “missional”
Recognize it is God’s mission, and we need to be passionate about the mission as He describes it. We don’t own mission and it is not ours to define. A church vision statement is fine, but God’s mission is better and bigger. Our first task is to submit to God’s mission.
Evangelicals have understated the call to serve the poor and the hurting and need a stronger engagement in social justice. This sounds counterintuitive if we are seeking to remedy the loss of concern for articulated evangelism. But social engagement entails relational engagement, and relational engagement entails opportunities to share the gospel. The successes and experiences in our communities should awaken hearts and minds to global needs. We just need to maintain the reason for social justice: the glory of God in the worship of Jesus.
Share God’s deep concern about His mission to the nations– that His name be praised from the lips of men and women from every corner of the globe. Feel the Great Commission in your bones. Ask God to turn your heart to those you cannot see. As Paul did, develop ways to “struggle personally” (Colossians 2:1) for those far away.
Churches that are serious about joining God on his mission will obey his commands to disciple the nations. The end product of missional endeavors should be a thriving Christian ready to produce more thriving Christians.
He closed with a great exhortation to never separate the Great Commandment from the Great Commission
It appears to me that many missional churches are missing the Great Commission in the name of being missional. That makes zero sense. It is a huge (but historically common) mistake.
If we are truly interested in being missional– in joining God on His mission– our efforts should actually reflect His stated mission. We are bound to the Great Commandment as the fullest human expression of God’s love. But the Commandment is not hermetically sealed off from the Great Commission. Rather, the Great Commission provides the what of mission, while the Great Commandment provides part of the how. Answering the age-old question of “Who is my neighbor?” should result in the desire to “make disciples of all nations.”
In anticipation of being assessed as a church planter, I wonder how I will respond if my “grade” on the assessment indicates that church planting isn’t the most appropriate ministry for how God has made me. Maybe I’m better suited to pastor or replant an existing church. I don’t know, but I’m definitely praying about it. This post from Scott Thomas on the Acts 29 Network Blog provides helpful thoughts when Envisioning a Replant.
Envision what the worship gathering could be (Acts 2:42-47).
Attitude of body during worship
Music
Prayer
Teaching
Communion
Children
Exaltation of God
Incorporation of arts
Envision what the evangelism could be (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8).
Who can you reach immediately?
What attitudes toward evangelism need to change?
Where or how could you boldly make an impact with the gospel?
What steps of faith need to be taken to reach the unchurched and the unsaved?
How could your youth evangelize?
How could households evangelize together?
What worldwide impact could you make as a body (i.e. foreign missions)?
How are you going to be an eternal value to your community?
Envision how education and discipleship could be effective (Acts 2:42).
How will it become a passionate pursuit of the body (“continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine,” Acts 2:42)?
What resources (people, qualities, gifts) do you have in place to launch greater disciple-making?
How will the fathers and heads of households (single moms, etc.) be trained to be the priest and spiritual head of their homes?
How will the older men and women teach and interact with the younger men and women? (Titus 2)
Will the age groups be segregated (children, youth, singles, college, married, etc.) or will they be integrated into the body?
What role will small groups play?
What training will be needed to help develop disciples who are passionately pursuing Christ?
Envision an Acts 2 commitment to fellowship (Acts 2:44-45).
In what ways will the body seek to meet the needs of one another (spiritual, social, financial, physical)?
What attitudes need to change to be sacrificially generous with time, money and resources for the encouragement and edification of the body?
How will the body serve one another actively and responsively in an unprompted way?
What will the membership requirements be? How will it communicate a covenantal commitment?
Envision an effective youth and children’s ministry.
Will they be integrated into the church ministry? If so, how?
How will families be strengthened through the student ministry?
How will the youth be encouraged and trained to evangelize their friends?
What role will the heads of households play in the student ministry?
Who (person or groups) will lead the youth and children’s ministry?
What facility changes are needed to communicate the value of children and youth?
What other positions of leadership need to be filled to be effective?
What leadership development with the students will be put into place?
What programs or customs need to be extracted from the youth and children’s ministry to avoid distractions from the ministry goals?
Envision an equipping staff (Eph. 4:11-13).
What changes need to be made with the staff (paid or volunteer) to meet the church’s goals?
Are the staff members doing the ministry or leading people to do the ministry? If they are doing the bulk of the ministering, how will they develop the body to do the work of the ministry?
Are you over-staffed or under-staffed to meet both financial obligations and the development of lay people (taking responsibility for ministry)?
Envision a body not reacting to finances to determine God’s call (Matt. 6:24).
How will faith in God calling a body to reach out to the community and world be weighed against financial responsibility and stewardship?
If mortgages or debts exist, how will they be paid off in a realistic way over a reasonable time period?
What attitudes or practices about money and finances need to be changed?
Is a budget in place? Is it a true reflection of the church’s giving and spending (balanced budget)?
What expenses can be cut immediately to be redirected toward the church’s mission?
Is the body (especially the leadership) making decisions based on finances or on God’s calling?
What creative ways can you generate more income without sacrificing resources, biblical principles, or expending paid personnel?
Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The passage above is commonly known as “The Great Commission”. Jesus spoke these words to his followers before ascending back to heaven to be with the Father. His followers were left to discover the Holy Spirit and to change the world through one simple process – making and multiplying disciples [learners] of Jesus. Many people teach on this passage… most of us don’t regularly obey it. Below are five of the more common myths about the Great Commission that lead us to miss out on disciple making.
The myth of accidental discipleship. The bottom line here is that the Great Commission will be completed only by intentional action and resoluteness. Jesus commands us today to set our eyes on the goal of disciple making and pursue that goal with stubborn focus. This means, that unless you pray and plan to make disciples, you won’t do it!
Crossing cultures is a step beyond the general mandate. Jesus left his home (with the Father), his culture, his language, his people (the trinity) to come to our home (earth), to our people, to speak our language, to grow up in a Jewish culture, and so on. Jesus was a cross-cultural missionary and he commands us to follow in his steps, cross any boundary, live incarnationally and make disciples.
Jesus wants converts.
The most interesting thing about the Great Commission is that it does not command us to make converts of Christianity. Instead, we are to make disciples of Jesus. The difference between convert making and disciple making is crucial. Converts change religions. Disciples change masters. Converts follow a system. Disciples follow a Person. Converts build Christendom. Disciples build the Kingdom of God. Converts embrace rituals. Disciples embrace a way of life. Converts love the command to “baptize them” in the Great Commission, but that is all. Disciples baptize others but only in context of “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”. Converts love conversion. Disciples love transformation.
When I am ready and able, I will start making disciples. I think Jesus knew the gravity of the command that he was giving in Matthew 28:19-20; he was asking his followers, most of them unlearned and lower/middle class, to go every conceivable people group on earth by multiplying disciples of a Person who is physically unseen (after giving the Great Commission, Jesus ascended to heaven). This is a heavy-duty command! The reason I think that Jesus knew the gravity of this command is that he buffers his commandment here with two powerful promises of His authority and presence. Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’” Matthew 28:20b, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”. In the Great Commission, Jesus gives a command along with a promise of His power and presence.To completely put off practicing the process of making disciples now in your life because you claim that you need more equipping or growth, therefore, is actually unbelief in God’s promises! Is having the promise of Jesus’ power and presence not good enough for you to get started in the process of making disciples?
Making disciples is great advice. The fact is, though, that the Great Commission is a commandment coupled with the commissioning of Jesus. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Jesus expressed the same truth inversely, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36, italics added). In other words, the measure of one’s love for Jesus is one’s obedience to Jesus!You cannot love Jesus and not obey him. Stated inversely, you cannot disregard the Great Commission and claim to love Jesus. The command is simple, “go and make disciples”. Ask yourself, “Am I currently making disciples of others?” If not, why not ask yourself, “Will I today commit myself to beginning the process of making disciples of Jesus?”
“Our differences are enough to separate some of my friends—your brothers and sisters in Christ—from you. And perhaps to separate them from me, now that I’m publicly speaking to you. And I don’t want to minimize either the sincerity or the seriousness of some of their concerns (things like: humor, worldliness, pragmatism, authority).
But I perceive some things in common which outweigh our differences—which the Lord Jesus shall soon enough compose between us, either by our maturing, or by His bringing us home. I long to work with those, and count it a privilege to work with those whom My Savior has purchased with His blood, and with whom I share the gospel of Jesus Christ. I perceive that we have in common the knowledge that God is glorified in sinners being reconciled to Him through Christ. This is not taught by other religions, nor clearly by the ancient Christian churches of the East, or by Rome, by liberal Protestant churches, by Mormons, the churches of Christ, or by groups of self-righteous, legalistic, moralistic Christians. And not only do we together affirm the exclusivity of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone—we agree on the sovereignty of God in life and salvation, the regenerate nature of church members, the importance of church membership and discipline, the baptism of believers alone, the priorities of expositional preaching, and evangelism, the importance of authority and a growing appreciation for the significance of complementarianism. These are not slight matters. And they only fire my desire to encourage you and cheer you on, until you cross that finish line that the Lord lays down for us.”
1. Individual Evangelism (Evangelize yourself and teach others to evangelize)
Churches begin by people sharing the Gospel (Romans 10)
1 Peter 3
Evangelism is the job of ALL CHRISTIANS
It is assumed in the NT that Christians evangelize
Why is the persecution in the NT?
Because people are being verbal about their life being changed
Love others as yourself
Implicit demand to share the Gospel of Jesus
Encourage individual evangelism by teaching the Gospel
During CHBC Membership process, ask “In 60 seconds or less, share the good news of Jesus Christ”
Hear them articulate their hope
Then help them to clarify how they can articulate and understanding the gospel
Hardware the Gospel in your church
Clarify and not confuse the Gospel
The Gospel vs. the implications of the Gospel
Model evangelism for your congregation
Teach them the Gospel from every part of scripture
Evangelism is less something you have to strategize and more something that easily flows from you
2. Individual Demonstration (Backup your words with your life)
My life should backup my words (1 Peter 12)
Our lives have to be different than others
We must be willing to build and break relationships for the Gospel
Don’t let your life obscure the Gospel by your actions
Have your life help explain the Gospel
This takes time
As a church grows, it is more difficult to have relationships with non-Christians
Ask God to lead you to strategic non-Christian relationships
Check your church calendar to enable congregation to have non-Christian relationships
3. Definition of a Church (Understand what a church is what it is designed to be about)
Right preaching of the Word of God
Right administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper
The Word of God creates, the church holds it up for display through sacraments
That collection of people who are hearing the word of God, responding to it in their lives, and responding to it through obedience in baptism and the Lord’s Supper
The faith that we preach is demonstrated through the life of the Church
The church is Jesus’ evangelism plan
4. Centrality of Proclamation (Preach evangelistically)
What we need in our churches is Gospel-centered preaching
Include evangelism in how you think about exposition
Don’t give an exposition without giving people an opportunity to respond to the Gospel
Imperative verbs of the Bible != moralism
They are part of God’s word to us
1 Corinthians 2
Preach together the Moral Imperatives and the Gospel
Every sermon equips your congregation for evangelism
5. Our Corporate Witness (Realize that your congregation’s life together makes the audible words visible)
Not just church planting, but church reform
Bad churches are not neutral
They will know we are Christians by our mutual love for one another
The depth of the church will affect the reach of the church
There is power in the Gospel
That which distinguishes us from non-Christians makes us provocative
Any contextualism which obscures the ascent of the Gospel fails
We must be clear about the Gospel
The Gospel enflames the non-Christian to live truly “humanly”
Paul’s concern that “The Church manifest and display the glory of God”
God is praised and honored by our actions as we display His character in our lives
If Jesus is the image of the invisible God, how do we see Him today?
The point of the incarnation is not solely the physical
God is made most visible in the lives lived out in the local church
Keep things off the staff
Lay organization
Don’t let the church become a cluttered attic with unused programs
See the Gospel in every text
That will enable you to preach the Gospel in every sermon
The world came onto existence by a sermon spoken by God (Genesis 1)
The serpent’s great lie is that people need not preach, so that Satan is the only voice
The serpent also preaches
Genesis 3:15 – God preaches the first Gospel
John the Baptist came preaching repentence
Jesus’ ministry started with preaching repentence (Matthew 15)
Acts 2:14 – One of the evidences of the Spirit is the preaching of the Gospel
Acts 28: 30-31
1 Timothy 3
2 Timothy 4:2 – Preach the Word
1 Timothy 5 – “Worthy of double honor”
Do not let your people dishonor the pulpit
The pulpit belongs to God
Turn critics into coaches
People should honor the preached word
Respect for the preaching of the word by Biblically responsible men
Connect Air War and Ground War
Meet in homes for hospitality, shepherding
What constitutes the Church?
Catholics – visible church is the church
Outward form – no inward transformation
Caiphas is a descendent of Aaron, but no spiritual connection
It’s not enough to be in the line of succession, you need to be biblical
1. The church is both universal and local
The church is both visible and invisible (Augustine)
God sees invisible – wheat and tares, those with regenerate hearts
We see visible
Ecclesia
The church is a Gathering, the gathering does matter
Calvin “The principle church exists where the word of God is preached and the sacraments are administered”
42 Articles of Church of England “Pure word of God is preached and sacraments are duly administered”
Belgic Confession (1571) “Pure doctrine of Gospel, administration of sacraments, church discipline, all things are managed according to the pure will of God, Jesus Christ is acknowledged as the true head”
The church has to have as the head Jesus Christ, the exaltation of Jesus Christ
Too many only see Christus Examplar – homeless, marginalized Galilean peasant
Don’t preach only Jesus’ humble example, also preach Jesus as a Glorious SAvior
Don’t preach only Jesus’ incarnation, but His exaltation
Don’t preach only Jesus’ humility, but preach His glory
Don’t preach only Jesus’ 33 years on earth, but his eternity
2. An inference that there would be qualified elders
Jesus is the head
Under Jesus are qualified male elders (line in the sand)
3. The Bible is rightly preached
Where the Word not preached, the church is not Present
The Word is heard
4. The Sacraments are properly administered
Baptism
Lord’s Supper
The Word is seen
5. Church Discipline rightly enacted
The Word is protected
Authority is the Issue
When you preach, that is authority
When you discipline as elders in a church, that is authority
The authority comes from the head of the church, Jesus Christ “All authority is given to me, therefore as you go, make disciples”
A church is marked by repentence of sin and a true heart for Jesus
The definition of the church
The local church is a community of confessing believers in Jesus Christ, who obey Scripture by organizing under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, and scatter to evangelize and care for people everywhere. They observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, are unified by the Spirit for mission in the world, and discipline to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission to the glory of God
The preaching goes first, but it doesn’t go alone.
When you preach repentance, there will be tons of biblical counseling
When you proclaim God’s word, people will realize they’re lives are full of sin, will realize they’ve been sinned against
Preaching isn’t all we do, but it’s the first thing we do
Air War -> Ground War
People look at the effects (caring for the world), but not the cause (right preaching of the Word)
Preach for your church
Preach outside your church
Preach knowing what a church is
You can’t just build a church, you have to protect, shepherd, and guard the church
2 Questions
1. Is an online church a church?
No discipline, no sacraments
2. Multi-campus
An event is not the church
You need leaders, shown word, protected word
The church is much more than proclamation and gathering
The serpent seizes on opportunities where there is no definition of the church
No one can criticize because there’s no definition
The last Gospel sermon is preached by an angel (Rev 17:6)
We are called to do what God did and what an angel will conclude
which I highly recommend