Categories
Mission

Outward Focus

I’ve been very busy over the last few days and I’ve not had much time for blogging. Fortunately, Brian Russell has made my life easier by posting an excellent piece on the nature of mission.

The dominant mode of communicating the Gospel is summed up in the command: Go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18). This is not an isolated text. It encapsulates the model of Jesus’ peripatetic ministry and of the apostolic mission. Disciples are not made by waiting for them to come to worship. Disciples are made when they encounter Christ-followers in the world. It is about going and sending. Too many of our communities of faith function as dispensers of information and programs rather than as apostolic outposts that deploy disciples for the sake of God’s mission. The mark of the NT church is an outward focused “make disciples of the nations” centered understanding of mission. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. This is the Gospel. We have news to share. (read more)