Therefore Go...

             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)

“Ah! The call to evangelism! Let’s get out there and save the world! We must spread the Good News so that all are saved!” I attend a church in which this is a big focus- and I’m thankful for that because it should be a big focus. It just doesn’t seem to be my primary focus, especially as it has tended to be presented.

For a long time, the idea seemed to be that we must send missionaries overseas – and we (not just my church or denomination- but Christians) did a pretty good job at it. But at some point, I asked why we weren’t doing more on college campuses, where foreign students come to learn. We could reach their lands through them at a much lower cost. But, no, we had to send missionaries overseas. Now churches in other countries are sending missionaries to the United States. And, fortunately, my church now has a vibrant English as a Second Language class/club. We’re starting to look at the world as it comes to where we are.

And when “we” do evangelism in the US, for a long time (and it’s still happening)  the big thing was leaving a tract somewhere in hopes that someone will read it and pray for salvation. Often, neither the name of a church nor of a person was included in the space provided. Connecting with these people didn’t matter. Their praying for salvation was the item of sole importance. And if we moved beyond that, it was to push the government to push or help people for us.

When asked about discipling and teaching, there’s less interest, unless we’re talking about kids and young adults. The discipleship of new people at church tends to involve an eight week study of the “basics,” followed by “pick a Sunday School class (if there is one for adults) or Bible study group.” The neat thing about the church I attend when I first started to attend is that they ran an Institute for Christian Life Training on Wednesday nights. Sadly, it disappeared. They do have intermittent membership classes and spiritual gift classes, but they’re not ongoing weekly things. Still, there are some attempts.

Over the past decade or more, the fad has been to be seeker friendly. Music as entertainment, coffee-house atmospheres instead of lecture halls for services, etc. When people who have been attending (and financing) the church complained about music that was too loud, or the focus changing from the congregation worshiping to the worship team entertaining, we were told that we need to be a place outsiders will feel comfortable in. “Established” members need to get with the picture.

And I’ll admit, I recognize that part of the answer is that I should be discipling younger women - but that’s where I begin my sorry story of not having anything to teach them. I’m as bad as everyone else. I don’t even have the excuse of “family.” But the point is that Jesus didn’t say, “Therefore go and make converts of all nations.”  He said, “Therefore go and make disciples… baptizing them … and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

I think we have a lot to learn about obeying this commission, and we should probably look at it with fresh eyes, because there are ways to accomplish some of this that wasn’t available before, and opportunities exist now that did not back when the world was not as it is now.