Matthew 28:19,20
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Mark 16:15
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”
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Jesus commissioned the church with a vision and mandate of global missions, and this calling is the responsibility of every believer and every church. The implication of Matthew 28:18–20 is that of reaching all the world, which starts at home. The progressive nature of a missionary objective is seen in the words of Christ, “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” – Acts 1:8. Our home town is the church’s collective and primary focus, for there are souls without Christ everywhere around us, and it therefore remains a binding truth that we should not be concerned about the fate of the lost in a remote land, unless we’re concerning and actively engaged in ministry concerning those without Christ in our own communities. Still, the missionary call is progressive which grows from our immediate home base, to our neighboring nations and ethnicities (Judea), to other nations with different cultures and language (Samaria), ultimately to the uttermost parts of the earth, which are extremely different cultures and languages. Every church should have a local expression of “home based” missions as well as being involved in reaching people of other ethnicities in far and removed cultures and lands, and every believer in Christ can be involved in this great call of God.
All of our objectives are the same – to communicate the gospel of Christ, to make disciples, and to help establish believers in a local church community of mutual faith and edification, with planting churches being the single most effective way of expanding God’s kingdom.
Jesus command for making disciples of all nations and ethnicities, does not mean that we would ever have to go at this in our own strength and human ingenuity. Jesus promised, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” – Mt. 28:20
Jesus told the church to “GO.”
When Christ told the church to “ Go … and make disciples (teach) all nations,” His words were not referring to geographic/geopolitical nations, but rather the word used by Matthew in the gospel was the Greek word (Ethnos): which relates to ethnicities, ethnic people groups, and cultures, and not geo-political, nations, as one looks would look at a modern map of the world. Take for example India which has more than two thousand ethnic groups of people, who represent Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity, and speaking four major languages, and hundreds of dialects.
The ministry and research of the Joshua Project (joshuaproject.net) cites that globally – 2.8 billion ethnic people in over 7,000 people groups have a representation of less than 2% of believers in Christ. THese are considered unreached people, and some of whom live in what is considered “closed door nations.”
Consider the statistic that India’s 1.4 billion souls have less than 2.4% of its people who are Christian, and nationally, India has only approximately 25,000 churches. Contrast this to my home state of Tennessee, USA which has at the time of my writing, has a population of 7 million, with 10,183 churches (source: https://www.expertgps.com/).
The Response of Well Established Churches in Thriving Christian Communities
It seems certain and apparent that God in the Great Commission is wanting to give well established churches in thriving Christian communities and nations, a response to help meet the enormous need reaching the world for Christ.
The task indeed seems overwhelming, but cannot and should not be avoided. The Great Commission is still great, and God will equip the church with great grace, power, and resources to reach the world for Christ.
More to come ….
