The Great Commission from our Lord has never been revoked. It must continue to give direction and motivation to all that we do. However, the breadth and depth of it need to be grasped afresh.
How do we translate that unchanging commission into the specifics of our mission as a Buderim Uniting Church? Would it be helpful for the committee structure we adopt for our Church Council to reflect the major elements of our mission?
What is our vision for the Church in this area? What are the God-given convictions that we are being called to translate into reality? What are the elements of this that go beyond a simply denominational responsibility and require us to move into prayerful and intentional action alongside other Christians?
Literally, the Church (Gk. ekklesia) are the "called-out" ones – the people who have believed the good news of salvation in Christ, are growing in grace and together have become his "body", the means by which he continues to do his will in this world. So there are always two main aspects to the life of the Church – relationship with Christ and with one another which makes us his Body and the doing of his will.
The life of the Body centres on God himself – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So – worship is our central activity.
The task of the Body is to make disciples – the "fishers of men" bit! The Head still wants "to seek and to save what was lost". But it’s not just a matter of gathering them in. They are to become new characters in Christ, gifted by the Holy Spirit to take their place within the Body, part of the means of fulfilling the mission!
People outside the Church need to hear our loving Lord calling to them, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11.28). They experience this in the caring service of God’s people. And they hear it when the good news – of Christ, forgiveness, salvation, new life – is shared with them (evangelising) and they have the opportunity to respond to Christ by faith. They have begun to "come" and now continue to need love and nurture so that faith will grow, so that spiritual gifts will be discovered, so that Christian character will be unfolded. They will be gathered into the worship of God.
But nurturing doesn’t end there, for being part of the Body commits us to the mission. Jesus didn’t say, "Come and be comfortable!" In fact, after inviting the people to come to him, he said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me..." (Matthew 11.29). A yoke is a means of carrying a burden. It suggests that the Lord has work for us to do! The same Lord who said "Come!" also says "Go!" (Matthew 28.19).
Sometimes we have assumed that the minister (plus a few helpers) are meant to do all the evangelising, nurturing and serving for us! But Paul, writing to the Ephesians, emphasised that the purpose of special ministries within the Body is "to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up" (4.12).
So our evangelising needs to include equipping – getting ready to do something, discovering and developing gifts that will minister to others in the Body and reach out beyond the Body. All of us – every one of us – is meant to be involved in some way in building up the Body, in making disciples.
All of us, by the grace of God and according to the gifts he has given us, are on active service, prayerfully and lovingly ministering to others within the Body and reaching out to others beyond the Body. Our service is evangelism in practice – so vital before the right time comes to express the good news (the evangel) in words.