The Great Commission?
I have long wondered if the North American Evangelical church as we know it is accomplishing the great commission. That part in Matthew 28 where Jesus says, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
For my whole life I have sat in services on Sunday mornings and heard about the ways we are giving money to missions, feeding people in our communities and counting the roses that signify how many have “come to know Jesus” that week. These accounts seem to contradict the passages where Jesus says to give in secret like the widow or to not let your right hand know the good your left hand is doing. As we parade our accolades from pulpits across the continent I can’t help but wonder if the reward has been lost as the sea of hands clap. But I digress.
It is interesting to me with how simple the great commission is we have such a difficult time living it out. Oh we look busy enough with all of the different programs and staff positions we employ. Graphic designers, sound engineers, light engineers, worship leaders, paid guitarists and drummers, admins for every teaching pastor, youth pastor, children’s pastor. Family ministry, children’s ministry, youth ministry, pre- youth ministry, young adult ministry, senior adult ministry, single adult ministry, women’s ministry, shut in ministry, disability ministry - I am sure I am missing some, feel free to fill in the blank. Oofda! (As we say here in Minnesota.) No wonder we are so tired. So many programs to run, people to pay, all to the end of making disciples, right?
Google gives us a great definition of a disciple; “ A disciple of Jesus Christ is one who has learned about him by studying his life and teachings. Most importantly, these disciples actually live their lives in accord with what Jesus taught and then they assist others to become disciples.” My first thought when I read this definition is, there is no way the work described here has already happened by the time we applaud the roses perched on the piano, back lit by purple stage lights. This disciple making thing sounds like something that is a long term kind of commitment lived out in intimate relationships. And this brings me back to my original question - are we really accomplishing the great commission or are we just playing at it?
I say “we” because I am a part of the Evangelical church. Not only am I part of it, I am a product of it. I practically lived at the church when I was small. I threw fits because I didn’t want to leave church - ever. Just ask my mom. I wanted Vacation Bible School to last all summer, one week wasn’t near enough time for all of the themed snacks, red rover games, and action songs. Even now, for much of our married life either my husband or I have worked at a church. This post is for me as much as it is for you. It’s for us all, the Body of Christ. The big C church.
It is more than church people, programs and buildings that I have loved - I love Jesus. I loved his friendship when I was small and as I grew into myself, I loved his grace, forgiveness, and purpose he has brought to my life. I still love him. He captured me and I can’t shake him, he is here. A sweet voice of encouragement and correction, a watchful Father, a faithful Savior. Jesus has been and still is my everything, my only answer. I am grateful for those who have discipled me in my journey of knowing Jesus.
But if I am going to be honest, much of that discipleship happened outside of church. The majority of my discipleship journey happened in my home with my mom. Or in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), a para-church organization I joined at the urging of again, my mom. Or in Missionary Training School I chose to go to in lieu of college. Or on my own crying out in prayer and study to know and understand Jesus, his word and how it relates to the world around me.
As I think about my own discipleship journey it strikes me as appropriate that as Jesus Followers we are mandated to go out and make disciples and I was made into a disciple when I went out from the church. This shouldn’t be taboo to write and yet my time immersed in church culture tells me, maybe it is. Even though we know Matthew 28 tells us to go and make disciples, we have decided to set up shop in big elaborate buildings with expensive parking lots, programs upon programs, diverse worship teams and staff waiting for all the people who need Jesus to come to us. And this is where the problem lies. I don’t think they are coming.
Up until now this theory has been mostly unproven. If we were sitting down and having coffee 5 months ago and I said, how can you know the people walking into your building and sitting in your programs aren’t already disciples of Jesus and they are being made disciples by what you are offering? You would say to me, how do you know they aren’t? And we would be at an impasse, because if you go to a church like most, you aren’t tracking the people coming into your building and the steps they are taking in their discipleship journey.
However, our world has encountered a recent turn of events called a pandemic and because of it churches had to shut down and move to virtual worship experiences. This is unprecedented (overused word, I know) and many churches floundered and pivoted (another one) and produced content for Facebook. My Facebook feed has never seen so many well lit millennials being shot at cool camera angles singing into a microphone as on Sunday mornings at 10am over the past few months. And now as the world is slowly opening back up (and let’s give credit where credit is due, after the Catholic Church wrote a strong article to the MN Governor to get church back up and running) churches are starting to meet again. At 25% capacity, first come first served, reserve your seat kinda situations. And the ones who are showing up are those who were sorely missing their seat in the third row from the front, middle section, balcony. Or in my case growing up, right side all the way to the front.
Here is what this new way to “do church” is revealing. It is what I have wondered for a while. Are the people walking into our churches on Sunday morning really the ones who aren’t already being discipled, or are they the ones that should be going out and making more disciples.
As we limit our numbers for church and ministry across the board I feel pretty confident saying the ones who are coming back aren’t the ones who would get their names attached to a rose. Not only are we waiting for soon to be disciples to come running into our extra sanitized, socially distanced buildings we aren’t equipping those who are coming to go out and make disciples themselves.
For too long the “would be disciple makers” sit in pews leaving the disciple making to those on the stage. And those on the stage have perfected the art of creating programs that someone who isn’t a disciple yet will come to and have the mystery of knowing Jesus and discipleship unlocked. All of this looks harmless except that it is exactly not what we were commanded to do by Jesus before he ascended into Heaven.
My BSF teaching leader many years ago said “every gift is a test and every test is a gift.” This pandemic has most definitely been a gift disguised as a test and I was hopeful we would take the opportunity to do things differently as a body of believers. That we would equip our families to teach and share with their children about what their relationship with Jesus looks like - making disciples. That we could exchange small groups that exclude those who are unlike us to neighborhood groups that include them with the goal of sharing life and pointing to Jesus - disciple making. That we could do kids ministry by opening our homes and backyards to those in our immediate circles who need a snack, a place to hang out and maybe a fun themed craft, game and Bible story too (we should probably leave red rover in the 90’s, too many injuries). I was hopeful we would exchange roses and talk about the work being done for intimate relationships where hard conversations lead to real truth about Jesus, and disciple making.
I was hopeful but instead I am left wondering, are we really living out the great commission and even worse, do we even know how to anymore, did we ever? Or are we so dependent on seminary degrees, a building, paid staff, pretty programs and comfy seats we have lost sight of what it could look like to really go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all the commands He has given us. All by the power of the Holy Spirit as he is with us always, even to the end of the age.
I hope we can pivot one more time and when I say “we” I am not talking to church leadership, I am talking to YOU - my fellow member of the Body of Christ. Because we are the church, more than a building or a program and if we have been discipled it is our mandate to go and make some more.
A person who loves Jesus and wants to be defined by justice (having a genuine respect for people) will most definitely be concerned with living their life in such a way that leads others back to him, for he is the one who had such care for people, he laid down his life. And in order to lead people to Jesus, we must go into the world, not stay seated in our comfortable pews. Even if they are midway from the stage with a quick escape to the parking lot.