9 Jul 2010
Strategic mission: Disciples not Christians
The great commission
As we begin the journey of exploring strategic mission, we need to be clear up front about what we are trying to do.
Keith Green pointed out that in the army, you obey the last orders you received until they are superseded by new orders.
We have been given our orders:
“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.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
I love that Jesus invites us to go and make disciples, and not Christians.
What is the difference between a Christian and a disciple?
A Christian has invited Jesus in to their lives, a disciple embarks on the remarkable adventure of letting him be in charge.
Often we think of evangelism as a form of ideology transfer.Like a teacher in a classroom, we think our job is to help people think like us.
What Jesus is describing, though is more like an apprentice is out in the field with his mentor.
An apprentice carpenter builds a house with his master. The apprentice watches how the mentor does things and tries to imitate.
The apprentice is there in all circumstances watching and learning. He sees the mentor when he is stressed, tired or happy.
The disciples were Jesus’s apprentices. They lived with him, ate, slept, talked, joked, cried together. They were comfortable enough for Peter to try to tell Jesus off.
Jesus demonstrates that mission is about all of life, not just about theological discussion.
What I love most about the great commission is the end bit: the promise that He will be with us. We don’t have to do this on our own.
I realise that I often operate from some sort of picture that God needs me to do his work, but the great commission is not an invitation to do a job for someone, it is an invitation to to a job with Jesus.
God calls us to actively work to change the world though not with our ideology and not on our own.
The world should be a different place because we were here…