The Great Commission

One of the last commands that Christ gave His followers was that they should go out and proclaim the good news of the gospel to the world, baptize, disciple and teach new followers to observe Christ’s teachings (Matt. 28:18-20). Since we are all recipients of the good news which other followers passed on to us, it is imperative upon our local church to be in Christ’s business of faithful proclamation of the gospel so that others too might be saved just as we were. Below is a proposed guideline for missions that we shall follow.

Guidelines to follow

1. Healthy church: It’s imperative that the health and sound of a church be biblical so that the members may come to a better grasp as to what a church is, its mission, and their role in it. This will definitely be the catalyst of the entire church body being motivated in missions. Therefore, as a church, we should strive to follow the healthy examples of the early church as evidenced in the New Testament to inspire us to replicate ourselves.
2. Training: A church shouldn’t just be in the area of teaching (which is a subset of point 1 above), but, they should look for faithful men in the congregation unto whom they can further entrust the truth unto them by thoroughly training so that they may be prepared for future ministry with an aim of sending out most of them for missions. This will also enable the missionaries what is expected from them.
3. God is always at work, and so too has the church needs to be. Sometimes, opportunities for ministry arise, and thus the church must always be vigilant to prepare and use those means as a means of doing missions, both short, and continuous. At the same time, there is need to plan as to which area to focus on in terms of both geography, and demographic which they can easily reach.
4. God has blessed His church with various gifts, and all believers are thus commanded to be in the business of the great commission, whether as full time missionaries, bi-vocational, or career/business-oriented ones. However, looking both at Acts as evidenced in the early church, and also looking back in History, we should focus and major on the core modes of missionary activity, such as evangelism, discipleship, and establishment of churches, when done well, can contribute significantly to the missions’ effort.
5. Support: Everyone in the church in one way or another is involved in missions, thus we need to directly takes possession of this Divine task by not only sending its own missionaries, but also financially supporting them in the field. At the same time, it is important that the church should come up with a missions’ budget and be committed to it.
6. Sodality: Sometimes, (in fact the majority of the case) not one local church can do this task of missions alone, thus, it is important for like-minded churches to come together, and form a mission’s team through whom they can support missionary work together, but nonetheless without supplanting the place and role of the local church.
7. Lastly, even as the church is sending others out to other areas, it needs also to engage their surrounding Jerusalem by continuously evangelizing unto them.

Prayer Guide

1. Pray that our church should be faithful to the Lord
2. Pray that God would raise faithful elders and deacons to lead His flock in our church.
3. Pray that God will raise faithful laborers from our local church who can be sent out to the harvest field.
4. Pray that God will open doors for ministry opportunities in various places where our missionaries may be sent.
5. Pray for peace to prevail in the places the missionaries are sent so that the gospel may be proclaimed.
6. Pray that God may prepare the hearts of peoples to be receptive to the Gospel message and be converted.
7. Pray that every member of the church will be committed to missions, and this include giving to the missions’ budget.
8. Pray that we may partner with other faithful and like-minded churches and organizations for this task.
9. Pray that God will be glorified through our labor in the great commission.

Conclusion

As seen above, our church can have impact in the Great Commission in this passing lost and dying world. Therefore, let’s strive to be led by god so that we may accomplish this task to the praise of His glory.