Over at simplychurch.com, Jeff Gilbertson asks “What do missionaries do?”. He lists a number of activities which people mention when asked this question, but concludes that what they really should be doing is planting churches. I attended one of Neil Cole’s Greenhouse sessions last week (as did Mike Bischoff, who wrote a good summary (in German)). One of the things which I noticed – for the first time, as far as I can remember – is that the Great Commission does not even mention churches. Our job is to make disciples, and churches are the natural consequence of that. Now, we may spend quite some time making sure churches function well as support systems for the members, but our aim must be that those members grow in their faith.
Have I consumed too much Neil Cole recently?
Hi Steve
This thought takes away a lot of pressure people feel when they think about church planting. They often think that they have to establish a new institution and are overwhelmed. Church is about relationships …one disciple you made can make a lot of difference in the Kingdom of God……
I would have loved to attend this Greenhouse sessions. Sounds very encouraging…
Christiane
By the way we’re doing fine. Pete’s very busy with teaching…..
Hi, brother. Over on Steve’s site you said: “The Great Commission doesn’t even mention churches!
It tells us to make disciples. Churches are collections of disciples…”
So Jeff’s point is the same either way, then, right?
I’ve not read Cole yet… (By the way, who said that what Christ told the disciples in Galilee and Judea
is necessarily “our job” also, anyway?) 🙂
Any way you slice it, and whatever we all choose to do or not do about it, I do believe that “groups
of disciples” is the heart of God’s hope for His Purpose on Earth!
Paul said: “Christ in you, the hope of glory”
And “you” there is PLURAL! 🙂
Praise the Lord! 🙂
By the way, interesting sidebar… I’ll have to come back here some more… and see who y’all are! 🙂