Shooting Sacred Cows David Mays *Or Shooting Myself in the Foot

David Mays Ministry: Providing training, resources, and networking in world evangelism Dream: A movement of churches centered on The Great Commission David and Marcy

The Mission Exchange Serving church and mission leaders Webinars Leader’s Edge Book Summaries Author interviews Church and Individual memberships available

First Shot. Bang! The heart of the Great Commission is NOT “make disciples.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV) 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.

Books on Doing Church The Great Commission is the marching orders. The heart of the Great Commission is to make disciples. Reach people in your community, bring them into your church, and make disciples. Missions gets a half page near the end of the book. What’s wrong with this picture?

What happened to “the nations”?

“Go ye therefore and teach … KJV “Teach” is a transitive verb. It requires an “object.” What is the object? What are we to do? “Therefore go and make … NIV “Make” is a transitive verb. It requires an “object.” What is the object? What are we to do? Mt 28:19 …μαθητεύσατε παντα τά εθνη…

Matthew 28:19 The “heart” of the Great Commission...is not make disciples. The “heart” of the Great Commission...is disciple all nations! (μαθητεύσατε παντα τά εθνη) It includes evangelism and discipleship.

Discipling the Nations Is not a program of the church. It is the purpose of the church. Purpose implies the commitment and contribution of –Every leader –Every ministry –Every member

Second shot. Bang! Poverty, pain, and oppression are NOT God’s primary concern.

Please note: God IS concerned about poverty, pain, and oppression. BUT, it is not his PRIMARY concern.

His Primary Concern His glory among all nations The billions who do not have LIFE Lack of fellowship with His creatures The huge out of reach areas of the world LIFE. –Abundant life –Spiritual life –Eternal, forever life –The Christ life

Two Themes Real Life – spiritual and forever This Life – temporal and temporary

Merging of Two Streams Good - Cultural sensitivity to human need Bad - Weak faith, understanding, education, and experience Key Questions: –Will missionaries be able to give people eternal hope? –Will we “redefine service as evangelism?”

Third shot. Bang! Every Christian is NOT a missionary. Every ministry is NOT missions.

Have you ever heard? We are all missionaries. When you go out that door you are entering your mission field. You are either a missionary or a mission field. You are the missionary to your world. So, David, What’s your problem?

Scope Creep When everything becomes missions, missions doesn’t get very far.

Definition of “Missions” Sending (or being sent as) Trained and equipped workers Across barriers –(e.g. language, culture, distance, specialization) For spiritual purposes And efforts that support this process.

God has a vision for His Church

God’s Vision After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.“ Rev. 7:9-10

Keep the Goal in View! Let’s do our best to help our church do all it can to disciple the nations.

Ten Main Things 1.God has an end goal for humanity. 2.This goal is a major theme of Scripture 3.The Great Commission – the evangelization and discipling of all nations – is the means. 4.The Church is God’s primary agent in this age. 5.The Great Commission is the primary mission of every church. 6.This mission belongs to the whole church.

Ten Main Things 7. The Great Commission includes 3 kinds of people –People like us nearby –People unlike us nearby –People unlike us far away 8.The congregation is responsible to reach nearby. 9.“Missions” is primarily the church’s efforts beyond the reach of the congregation. 10.The missions team is responsible for deployment and mobilization.

David Mays The Mission Exchange