The Mission Has Not Changed
If we, as believers, think the mission of the Church is to gather in large numbers in a building in order to sing songs that give us all the feels and then hear amazing teaching that will boost us on for the week to come - then yes, the mission has changed in a lot of the world. But that’s because we had the wrong mission to begin with.
The mission given to us by Jesus to spread the gospel has not changed.
"...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." Matthew 28:19-20
The mission never changed, but we did.
It was never a building, or an organization, it’s always been the Kingdom.
Will getting back on mission require reconfiguring of our current desires for what “church” should be? Yes.
Will it be hard work, frustrating, and sometimes painful? Yes.
Will we sometimes have to set aside our own wants, desires, and even fears? Yes.
This is not the time in history for us to get bogged down in vaccinated/unvaccinated, masked/unmasked, mandates/buck the mandates, that’s exactly what the enemy wants us to do. Stay divided, stay angry with each other, stay confused about what to do - and ultimately do nothing.
Turn off the news. Stop spending hours of your life on social media reading what others think. Look up from your tiny screens and SEE the world around you that is longing for the Kingdom. Do you know your neighbor? Do you SEE your neighbor? And I’m not talking about their vaccination status, I’m talking about their heart.
Are we spending our lives “staying informed” and failing to see the need all around us?
If the enemy keeps us pointing fingers at one another, dividing ourselves into tribes, and barring the door from anyone not like us - then we’ve failed to be like Jesus.
All the rhetoric that is dividing us would be a non-issue if we kept the mission directly in front of us. Like the old hymn says “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
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