Making Disciples

I have been doing a lot of thinking this week about mission and discipleship. As we begin a new year, lots of people and churches are thinking about mission: mission trips, mission budgets, mission conferences, and it is a good thing. We should be thinking about mission. The problem is that mission means different things to different people. For some folks, it means going across the sea to Third World countries, to others it means application of the social gospel, whether at home or abroad, making sure people have basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter and health needs. For others, mission is more evangelical; they are more concerned that the gospel be proclaimed. And for centuries, mission has bounced between these two poles.

For many churches and individuals, mission means activity; it means doing something, whether social or evangelical. It means getting out there and making something happen. I have been wondering lately whether we are spending too much time trying to do something, and we miss the importance of trying to be something. For lots of churches, if you ask them how their mission is going, they will point to all the activity at food pantries and work sites. But I worry that we are getting the cart before the horse. How can we DO mission until we ARE mission?

When Jesus gave the disciples their "marching orders" before he ascended into heaven, he told them what they should be doing while they waited for his return. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, "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." The charge is to make disciples, and the promise is that Jesus would be with us.

It is my contention that we should be most concerned about making disciples and that the mission will take care of itself. If we will draw near to God, God will send us out into the world to administer his love and compassion in its social forms, like the Good Samaritan. If we draw near to God, God will inspire us to tell others about the love of Jesus and the salvation he offers, like Phillip in Acts 8. I believe making disciples is the most important work of the church, and one of the reasons the church is struggling is that we have been lax in that responsibility. We tell people what to do (missions) but we don't adequately explain why we do it (discipleship).

Don't get me wrong; I think the church SHOULD be involved in mission, and that we SHOULD send folks out in Jesus' name to do both social and evangelical mission, but I think we need to be more "pro-active" about why we engage in those ministries. Social mission is not just about humanitarian concerns, although that is part of it. We help people because God calls us to do so, and ministering to them is like an offering to Christ himself (MT 25:35ff). I believe that being a true disciple of Christ is the best reason to engage in social mission.