This blog entry is by guest blogger Steve Ogne, church planter coach and consultant with CRM. Steve and I worked together for a decade and collaborated on several projects together, including The Church Planter’s Toolkit. Steve’s most recent publication is TransforMissional Coaching: Empowering Leaders in a Changing Ministry World.
Most churches have some statement of purpose that includes things like worship, teaching, fellowship, and evangelism. The wording varies, but that’s the general gist of most church statements of purpose. Yet I’ve found one thing to be universally true: the purpose that has to do with evangelism is always at the end of the line.
One problem with this situation is that we never get to the end of the line because we’re busy with the first purposes. The second problem is that this order is the exact opposite of how Jesus framed our purpose in the great commission. Look at the verbs. He said:
- Go (evangelism)
- Make (conversion)
- Baptize
- Teach
Yet in most of our churches, we start with teaching. The implicit belief is that if we teach long enough, someone will want to get baptized. That’s like pouring water uphill. If we start with “teach” and hope someone gets to “go,” it rarely happens. Yet if we start with evangelism, the rest of activities flow naturally from there.
Here’s an activity to try out with your leaders. Write the four verbs from the great commission on four different 3×5 cards. Give them to your leaders and ask them to put them in the proper sequence. Most of them will sequence them according to the way your church sequences them. Then look at scripture together and have them re-sequence them.
A good post with good basic insight. I come from a tradition that is grounded in teaching and loves to plan. Both can easily become ends in themselves. I wrote a blog pst a few weeks ago called “For God’s Sake – Do Something!” that echoed the sentiment in this article. Engagement causes reflection to be meaningful and fruitful. Reflection in a vacuum rarely leads to engagement. Nice post!
Each are important. However, “make” is the only imperative verb in the Greek…the other action words are participles. So what Jesus is saying is this – As you are going, as you are baptizing, and as you are teaching…MAKE disciples of me. MAKE is the central command. Disciples of Jesus should be doing the other three…
Yes, the imperative is “make disciples” and the other words are participles. And Steve’s point is still valid. The “going” and “baptizing” are neglected with primary focus on “teaching”