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.

The Pleasures of Earth

"It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime time dribble of triviality that we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of His love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not His enemies, but His gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God Himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable." - John Piper

This is a strong word that cuts to the core of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus - to lose one's life in order to have true life. It is this inordinate love for this life - for created things - that blinds us to the poor, to the battle, to the mission, and most of all, to fully loving Jesus.

But as Piper points out, these things often are indeed gifts from God. How then does the disciple of Jesus use the things of this world, and even enjoy them, while counting all of it loss for the sake of Christ? How do our values come into line with what is actually valuable?

Think about it...

Church Discipline

This is a summary of our actual church discipline policy...

Our church has practiced church discipline for over 30 years, and I would argue with good results. Many more pros than cons. I also know that it's increasingly rare, and I wonder whether it's for theological reasons, philosophical reasons, or that our culture has lost its mind and even the church cannot confront problems in a biblical way among its own members for fear of offending someone.

Okay, so I'm opinionated.

I'm curious to hear what you all think...

Armitage Church Discipline
- Summary -


Definition and Purpose of Church Discipline:
As in any family, discipline in a church family that is done the right way can be an effective tool to help people grow into maturity. The Scriptural basis for this can be found in passages such as Matt. 18:15-20, 1 Cor. 5:1-13 and 2 Cor. 2:5-11. “Discipline” is a word that makes people nervous in contemporary culture, but in a biblical context it is rich with good meaning and is life giving. For our purposes, it denotes one of the significant processes by which disciples of Jesus are made. So in other words, discipline does not equal punishment. “Discipline” encompasses all the church does in regard to “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (1 Tim. 3:16 NIV). So that includes everything from Bible Study, encouragement and accountability to confrontation and exclusion.

Goal of Church Discipline
The goal of discipline is ALWAYS Christlikeness. Consequently, even something as serious as exclusion is always done with restoration in view – never as punishment.

Means of Church Discipline
The concept of church discipline can be divided into two broad categories: Proactive and Responsive. The proactive side encompasses all the church does to grow disciples: Bible Study, Grow Groups, accountability, counseling, prayer, encouragement, mentoring, service opportunities, etc. The responsive side involves such actions as personal exhortation and confrontation, personal and/or pastoral rebuke, public rebuke, official warnings (usually through a letter), and removal from the church membership by exclusion.

Reasons for Church Discipline
The reasons for proactive discipline are fairly obvious: To equip the body to do the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12) so that the church can function in its biblical role. Responsive discipline takes place when a church member begins to pursue a course of action that is detrimental to his or her spiritual health and consequently the health of the church body. In such cases, all the means available for correction will be used, starting with the more basic, but all the way to exclusion if the member refuses to repent.

Ultimately, church discipline exists for these two reasons: 1) To protect and maintain the health of the church body and 2) To work restoration (sometimes through severe means) in a member engaged in sin. If we are to be serious about the idea of community and the charge to make disciples of all nations, then the health of the body is paramount.

Quote of the Day

"What are you afraid of? Of leaving that which will soon leave you?"

Fenelon