In our last article, we learned about
the mission of the church. It included the following points:
1. Glory to God;
2. Edification;
3. Holiness;
4. Evangelism;
5. Discipleship;
6. Mission.
At this point
How do we fulfil Six - Mission?
God’s
mission is the church’s mission; they are one and the same. God-pleasers will
make the mission their highest priority. That leads us to the needful question:
How do we fulfil the mission of the church? How do we begin to raise up
disciples?
§ 1.
Evangelism (Mark 16:15);
§ 2. Prayer
(Matthew 9:38);
§ 3. Sending
missionaries (Acts 13:1-3; 14:26; Romans 10:15);
§ 4. Going to
the nations (Matthew 28:19; Acts 1:8; Romans. 1:13-15; 15:20);
§ 5. Be filled
with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; Acts 1:8). Pentecost gives power for mission.
§
§ 6. Giving
(Philippians 4:15-18);
The Lord’s
Church is experiencing an unprecedented amount of growth, especially in the
developing world. Current figures forecast that we could have another one
billion souls added to God’s Kingdom in less than a decade. What a wonderful
prospect! But what a daunting task!
In order to
service today’s church and tomorrow’s believers, we need more people serving
God. But the fact is that we do not have enough ministers today, let alone for
tomorrow. Even if every graduate of every Bible college and seminary entered
and remained in full-time ministry, it would still not be enough.
Thank God,
we have a Holy Spirit-inspired solution. It is found in Ephesians 4:11-13:
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Verse 12
speaks of equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry. It is simple:
§ If the Great
Commission is only the responsibility of full-time clergy, we will be
overwhelmed and the commission unfulfilled.
§ But if the
saints are equipped to do the work of the ministry, the Great Commission
becomes achievable in our time. In order to equip the church, we need to learn.
We can divide the commission into three streams:
1.
CREED: Sound doctrine is the
building block to the Christian faith and is essential for every believer if
they are going to effectively serve God. Topics like the Tri-unity of God, the
divinity and humanity of Jesus, the atoning redemptive death of Christ on the
cross, the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, the second coming of
Jesus, the person and work of the Holy Spirit, sanctification, and
justification, are some of the essential doctrinal foundations of faith (also
see Hebrews 6:1-2);
2.
CHARACTER: Christians are called
to be the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of the world.’ Issues of Biblical
integrity, the Fruit of the Spirit, Christian grace, love, truth, and holiness,
should be emphasised;
3.
COMPETENCIES: Basic skills like
prayer, Bible study, witnessing, hearing the voice of God, people skills, and
discipline, should be taught.
Combined
together, these three streams give the disciple/minister a well-rounded
training program for fulfilling mission of the church by recruiting the Body of
Christ to do the work of the ministry.
That ye
might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God — Colossians 1:10
Comments
Post a Comment