The Mission of the Church

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The mission of the church is not…

The church’s mission is not to live holy lives. It is not to fight for justice. It is not to evangelize and make converts. It is not to influence the culture, propagate orthodoxy, solve social problems, or change the world. It is not to end abortion or human trafficking. It’s not even missions.

The mission of the church, quite simply, is to make disciples of Jesus. This obviously involves evangelizing people, but then it means that after people believe that they are taught to obey everything Jesus commanded us. It means that we train people up in the redeemed life, to do what redeemed people do in obedience to Jesus. Disciples of Jesus evangelize. They live holy lives. They walk justly and love mercy and speak up for the poor and oppressed and work to see them restored. They influence the culture by a myriad of activities, not least of which is the very way they live. They do missions – spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth, which starts with our “Jerusalem”, goes to those who are our “Samaritans”, and never stops. They teach and proclaim and live out sound doctrine and stand on revealed truth. They believe God for great things and accomplish great things, and they change the world. And, of course, and most importantly, they make more disciples to join them in the mission.

Mark Noll said something profound in his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. He said that “Christian thought presupposes Christians”. In other words, if we are to have Christian thought we must have Christians, which means we must have evangelism, or there will be no more Christians to think. In the same way, Christian justice presupposes Christians. Christian missions presupposes Christians. Anything distinctly Christian presupposes people continually becoming disciples of Jesus to carry on the mission, including the various subsidiaries of the mission.

As people are supernaturally united to the body of Christ (“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, slave or free…” 1 Cor. 12:13), they discover their various spiritual gifts. Some are gifted with evangelism, some with teaching, some with mercy, some with generosity, etc. If we were to function the way the body was meant to, we might see less diffusion of the mission.

How do we know this is the mission?

There are a lot of Bible passages that command a lot of things. How can we single out Matthew 28:18 as THE mission? Why not Micah 6:8 for example, which exhorts us that the LORD requires us to act justly and love mercy. Why not 1 Thessalonians 4:3, which says it is God’s will that we should be holy? Why not John 13:34: “Love one another”?

The simplest answer is that from Acts on, the New Testament is an inspired record of the early church’s understanding of its mission. While God expects a certain morality to be exhibited in the lives of His people, that is not the same thing as the mission they are to endeavor on. The New Testament displays a church that made disciples, and in doing so turned the world upside down. There were no competing agendas. We would be wise to pay attention.

What about purpose? (The church exists to…)

Rick Warren says the church has 5 purposes, perhaps the primary one being to glorify God. As much as he disappoints me in many ways, he is onto something there. But purpose and mission are not the same thing. Purpose is the reason something exists, while mission is the job it has to do. I know… lots of overlap there. I believe that being faithful to our mission is perhaps the greatest way to fulfill our purpose.

Dumbest View of the Church I Ever Saw

It's almost like a sport today for people to say they "love Jesus" but hate "the church" (which can mean anything from "religious hypocrites" to "Christian people" to "organized religion" to the actual bride of Christ I suppose).

In some cases, I feel their pain. What calls itself "the church" (and sometimes actually is the church) can be a pretty challenging entity. I'm nearly certain that Jesus is frequently grieved. Still, I'm increasingly bothered by what people thoughtlessly say.

I ran across one particularly annoying example recently when I looked at the profile of a commenter on one of my friends posts. We'll call him "John".

This is what he put for "Religious Views":

“I love Christ - can't stand his wife though”

Okay. Couple thoughts:

1) I’m assuming that “I love Christ” means that John would self-identify as a Christian (or Christ-follower or whatever). If that is true, John is part of the “wife” of Christ. So is it that he can’t stand himself, or is it just all the other Christians that are no good?

2) “Bride” is not the only analogy for the church. "Body" is a frequently employed metaphor in the New Testament as well. So what John identifies as the “wife” of Christ is actually part of Christ – His body. How can one “love Christ” and be unable to stand a significant part of Christ? After all, “we are his hands and feet”, are we not?

3) In Acts 9 Jesus asks Saul, “Why do you persecute me?” Of course, Saul had never met Jesus before, much less persecuted Him. Jesus’ obvious point was that to persecute the church is to persecute Him. Perhaps John should exercise caution with his words…

4) Do you really love me if you “can’t stand” my wife, who is one with me?

5) Clearly the church is deeply flawed. That is because it is made up of people. I’m assuming John is a person, and as such is also deeply flawed. I would expect a less judgmental attitude from a self-identified political liberal. Seems even they cannot escape human nature!

The State of the Church

While this focuses more on the white, Evangelical church, its implications touch all of American Christianity. It's especially a must view for youthworkers!