
PART 1 of 3: Sowing
I have very fond memories of going to church when I was a child. Memories of my mom dressing me in my Sunday finest, hopping in the car, and going to the church my extended family attended as well. There are stories of me running up on stage while the music minister swung his hands to keep the church in tempo and I would mimick him to the chuckles and adoration of the congregation. And don't think the pastor got off easy either. Nosirree. When he got up to preach, I was often right there beside him, shouting my own 5-year-old rendition of 'Hellfire and Brimstone'. I loved going to church. It's the place I felt most at home. Such warm memories.
I recall often sitting in the pew next to my mom or Grandmother, coloring in a coloring book or whatever they gave me to do so I wouldn't fidget (or run back up onto the stage) and would invariably be distracted from my coloring when an elderly deacon would poke his head through a door at the front of the sanctuary and fidget with the church's 'Attendance' board. I'd watch as he quietly did this, then I'd study the board intensely to see what it said. When I got to the point of understanding numbers and what the Attendance board was all about, I became even more fascinated. "Oooh, we're up from last Sunday," I'd think. "We went from 120 to 124 this week. That's great!"
And so, the unofficial ritual would replay over and over throughout my life. Deacon pokes his head in. Adjusts the number cards in the slots on the board. And voila! I'd know how many people were in attendance at Sunday School and church. I'd even have a rough estimate of that week's tally of tithes and offerings...often as high as a few hundred dollars! (It was the 1970s and it was a very small church.)
It wasn't until I was much older...and out of seminary...that I began to question this practice. Oh, don't get me wrong. Counting attendance isn't wrong by any stretch. Numbers are a good indicator of the effect a local church is having on their community. And it's a fair indicator of where a church's congregation is spiritually as well or how best a church can meet certain needs. But as I pondered the modern day church's obsession with attendance figures and what's often dubbed "High Attendance Sunday", I began to see a disturbing issue with the way the Great Commission has evolved within the American church over the course of the 20th Century.
The Great Commission
If you're not sure what the Great Commission is, you're either not a believer or you're not studying the Bible enough or you're going to the wrong church (seriously, if your pastor/minister isn't telling his congregation about this mandate to the followers of Christ, find another church). But let me give you a refresher.
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 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: 16-20 NIV)
This account occurs after Christ's resurrection and just prior to His ascension to Heaven. He told his closest disciples to meet him in the mountains for His final instructions to them. Once they got there, they worshipped Him. A few had their doubts (the Bible doesn't tell us what those doubts were exactly, although there are indicators in other places...a topic for another discussion though). After things settled down, Jesus proceeded to commit these disciples to a specific purpose.
First, He authorizes them. It's sort of like deputizing them, I guess. He gives them authority in both earth and heaven to carry out His mission for them. Now to me, this is a pretty big deal. Christ is basically giving the disciples the keys to the family car that will drive the world to the Kingdom of God. The disciples (soon to become the Apostles) had full authority to do what needed to be done (within God's will, of course) to advance the Kingdom. That's a pretty big superpower, right there, if you ask me.
Next comes the mission. "Therefore go..." In Koine Greek, the phrase is best translated "As you go..." or "as you are going." The assumption, of course, is that Christ's disciples are going. Where are they going? Wherever God sends them. Whether to Russia on a mission trip (like I did back in 2006) or to the local grocery store. Christians are always going somewhere. So, "as we go..."
To continue, Jesus says as you are going, "make disciples of all nations." So, as we go, we are to make disciples. We are to make disciples wherever we go.
Sow, Grow, and Harvest
I've identified three major aspects of what it means to 'make disciples' and have dubbed them "sow, grow, and harvest" to stick with the numerous farming analogies Jesus used throughout his ministries. The first part of making disciples is 'sowing'. Or, sowing seeds. Just casting out seeds along the field in hopes that some might take root. In other words, evangelism. Or sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. This first blog post of this series is focusing on sowing and how how the churches might (I say 'might' because I'm sure this isn't true for all of them) just be focusing on the wrong things when it comes to evangelism.
Now, I'm going to pause right here and share my thoughts on the really big no-no I see the American church doing today in its focus on High Attendance Sundays and bringing our friends to church, etc. First of all, Jesus didn't say, "As you go, invite people to the Synagogue so your rabbi can share my Good News." No, the assumption of this imperative statement ("As you go, make disciples...") is that every individual disciple will be going somewhere and as we go, every individual disciple is to make new disciples. This mandate isn't just for your pastor or minister. It's for you and me. It's for all of us as individual Christians. To pass the buck onto our ministerial staff is to shirk our responsibilities and the blessings that come with following Christ's commands.
This might hurt some feelings here, but your local church is NOT Ground Zero for evangelism. As a matter of fact, corporate church services are not for the unsaved at all. We've got to get that out of our heads. We've got to stop designing our worship services, sermons, etc under some coolness umbrella to attract the unsaved. No more of this "come as you are" mentality. In fact, "come as you are" is contrary to biblical teachings of worship. We are to prepare ourselves. We are to be in the right frame of mind. We are to be focused on Christ. There are so many other things we need to do to prepare for corporate worship, yet it's a topic big enough for its own blog post(s). Point is, Church services are a time for believers to come and worship God in corporate unity while being discipled and fellowshipping at the same time. The Church (with a capital C) is every believer as a whole. The 'Bride of Christ'. The church (lower case C) is a gathering place for the Church, not the Unsaved. Sure, the Lost should be made to feel welcome if they come, but they won't quite understand it. They won't experience the moving of the Holy Spirit that only comes through corporate worship because the Holy Spirit does not indwell them as He does us. But they might pick up a thing or two and the way they're treated will have a huge impact on their openness to hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. But church services should not cater to them. It is first and foremost a place of worship and discipleship.
So, what about the unsaved? How are they supposed to hear the gospel, if not at church? Did you not read that "...as you go..." part? You. Me. We. They. All of us. I've seen a few churches that have signs posted as you're exiting the building that read "You are now entering the Mission field." That is a hundred percent right. I can't speak to whether these churches practice this, but the spirit of those signs is absolutely correct. We, individually and in groups, are to share Christ wherever we're going. That means when we sit down to eat at a restuarant. When we're sitting at a traffic light. When we go to work. Wherever we are, that's our mission field. That's where God has sent us.
And by the way, that 'traffic light' thing? No, you're most likely not going to be able to verbally share the gospel with someone sitting in your car (unless someone is in the car with you), but our testimony is nonverbal as well. How we behave ourselves while others are watching is just as important as the words we speak. That resturaunt you go to after church? How well do you treat your waitress? How demanding are you? How dour? How cheap or generous are you with their tips? Believes me, these waiters and waitresses know the Sunday church crowd when they see them. How you treat them will go a long way in forming or cemented their opinion about the Church with a capital C. Be mindful of that.
The thing we need to understand is that the world is our mission field. It's our crop field. And as we meander through that field, we need to be tossing those seeds and seeing which one sticks, takes root, and begins to grow. Remember (and if you take anything away from this post, this is the point you should incorporate most in your life), it's our job to sow those seeds. It's not our job to make sure they find fertile soil. It's not our job to bring them to life. It's not our job to "win" souls. That phrase always bugged me. We're not the ones winning souls. That's solely God's job through the person of the Holy Spirit. Our job as believers who make disciples is merely to witness. To offer our testimony. To share with the world what Jesus has done for us. For them. How He's changed our lives for the better. How He's offered a way out of their enslavement to Sin and a way into God's loving arms. We're witnesses. Like in a court room. A witness's job isn't to convince the jury of anything. A witness's job is merely to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Then allow the Advocate (Christ) to convince the jury.
Do you understand what that means? It takes the pressure totally off us! No need to fear. No need to be afraid you won't know what to say or you might mess up. All that is required of us is to share the good news of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen! We don't have to convince them. We don't have to debate or argue with them. We share. We wait. And we watch to see what the Holy Spirit does. And if that seed takes root...if something begins to blossom from that little seed you sowed, then...then, we move on to the "grow" portion of the Great Commission.
And that's where we'll pick up next week! I hope you'll come back and learn more about the Great Commission and how the church can fix those issues of the past. Be sure to tell your Christian friends about this post as well. Share it with your pastor, your Sunday School group, and anyone else you think might benefit from it. And while you're at it, check out the new and improved website! And as always, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think about all this.
Kent, this post is spot on!!! So much depth, so many layers. Just like the God we serve!!! So much to attend to as our journey continues!!! Thank you !!!
Kent, this is 100% right on target, specifically about corporate worship. Far too many churches have made Sunday worship an entertainment venue with lights, loud disrespectful (in my view) music. It has become a show with flashing lights and a smoke/fog making machine. Flip flops, cut-offs, food and drink, and the remnants of a rock and roll band are indicative of people coming for the entertainment.
We worship the holy God, not a casual, laid back entertainment director. He is holy; He is the almighty creator; He is our creator and our salvation! He is God and he deserves and, I believe, demands our best!
In many of today's churches, I think we are "changing with the times" in an…
This is good Kent.I really enjoyed it! Looking forward to next one.
So many good points! I can't wait for the next one.
Spot on blog. Looking forward to learning more and growing.