The mistake is often made in measuring the effectiveness of a church by Sunday morning’s attendance or the size and creativity of its programs or ministries. Others will measure the effectiveness by the size of its building. The Word, however, measures maximum impact and effectiveness by a different standard. What Jesus holds up in His teachings is our ability to be salt and light. 

 “You are the salt of the earth . . . you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:13-14). 

 What do salt and light have in common? They both must penetrate something or lose themselves in something in order to be effective. They both must go out from their source in order to be effective. The salt must go into the food and the light must go into the darkness. So it is with missional churches. They are measured by the sum total of individual believers who penetrate the community by means of their “goings” to and from. 

This is the assumption behind the Great Commission from Matthew 28:19—”Go [or as you go along your way] . . . make disciples.” Imagine the impact potential for any congregation. The worship concludes and the members “go along their way” back to school or work or into their neighborhoods. This is the Church “on the go” in the mission sense. 

Have you ever seen a sign that greets members who are leaving the church or the property that says, “You are now entering the mission field!”? This is the attitude of a missional church. The making of disciples occurs as people are “going along the way.” 

There is something significant about this charge that Jesus gives His disciples in light of what He said earlier in Matthew 10:5-6. He sends the Twelve out with the following instructions: 

 “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: The Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 10:5-7). 

You see, there it is again. “As you go. . . .” It is this strategy that says be natural; be intentional. As you go, along the way, preach the message. What makes this different, however, is the limitation, “Do not go among the Gentiles. . . .” Jesus had a very specific objective. Go to Israel first. Later it will be expanded. Jesus was a master at laying the groundwork. He understood the importance of keeping it focused and narrow. Then when the objective is established, widen the scope. He did the same thing with the training of His disciples. He spent three years with them in an intensive leadership and discipling track. When He ascended, the group was small but the base was solid and deep. The Church exploded with growth when the Spirit came upon them on the Day of Pentecost. 

In Matthew 28, on his Ascension Day, He expanded the commission: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.” No restrictions. No limitations. Go into all the world. What a radical thought for those who heard it. Go into all the world and make disciples of them. The strategy is simple. Be intentional and be natural. As you are going along the way. The vision is huge: “Make disciples of all nations.”
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

How many commands do you read in the following Bible verse? 

“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” (Matthew 28:19). 

One? Two? Three? Four? 

The common belief is that Jesus gave us four commands: Go. Make. Baptize. Teach. In reality, there is only one command. In the original language, only one is written in what is called the imperative: “make disciples.” 

The word “Go” certainly sounds like a command doesn’t it? It is, however, a participle in form. Now, please understand that when it comes to grammar, participles sound more like vegetables to me. I suspect that I was thinking of other things during the days of ninth-grade English and Grammar. Participles and prepositions didn’t quite match up to the important things, like baseball. However, it is important for the sake of understanding our mission that we understand participles in this case. Jesus is saying, in effect, “As you go. . .” or “Going along the way. . .” or “Having gone. . . .” In other words, He is assuming that the disciples will not sit still, waiting for the world to come to them. He assumes that they will be on the move. In essence, He is saying to them, “Wherever you are, make disciples!” 

To understand the word “Go” as a participle is to understand the strategy of Christ for our mission. Christ does not establish His Church on a “build it and they will come” mindset, but rather, “As you are going along the way, make disciples.” Let it become a natural part of your everyday life. 
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

I do not watch many movies twice. One that I have seen a few times, however, is “Father of the Bride,” starring Steve Martin. It is actually a remake of the old movie that featured Spencer Tracy. The movie has many hilarious moments—some of them far fetched, but others closer to the truth than one might want to admit. In one scene, they are going over the guest list. Actually, I found through my own experience in my daughter’s wedding planning that this process is not so much about who will be invited as who will be cut. I suspect many families have approached this task with greater turmoil than a baseball manager faces in making the final cuts to get his team to a 25-man roster. 

Just the opposite is true with God. He holds nothing back when it comes to inviting people to His Son’s wedding feast. In fact, when one looks at the record of Scripture, He appears almost reckless in his love and openness to those He invites. Look at the parables and you will find a shepherd who is willing to leave the entire flock for the one lost sheep. In another parable, the father is coming—no running—down the road toward the humiliated son returning home. He does not seem to care that his actions will make himself the object of shame. His son is returning home! (Luke 15)
 

In the parable of the wedding banquet, rejected by many who are too busy, too indifferent or too self-centered to come to his son’s banquet, the King invites—even compels—the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame to come to his banquet. He holds nothing back. He is not looking who to cut, but rather who can be added to the list. What an amazing picture these parables offer us! 

I agree with Philip Yancey who wrote, “. . . Jesus did not give the parables to teach us how to live. He gave them, I believe, to correct our notions about who God is and who God loves” (p. 53). The danger I find is that we become so familiar with these parables that we lose the sense of just how raw and almost reckless is the love of God. God is intent on one thing—He wants His house full. 

 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full” (Luke 14:23).
 

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Acts 13:1-3  Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

The very foundation of the Old Testament Church reflects an outward, sending movement of God. Look at the life of Abraham or Moses and you will see God sending them out to strange lands or into Egypt to free His people. God does not sit still. Nor does His Church. 

Should it surprise us, then, that following Pentecost, God seeks to send His Church into the world? When they are slow on the take to do that, God allows for the persecution of Christians, forcing their hand to go out into the remote parts of the world. 

At the center of mission is the sense that life is to be lived away from ourselves. Mission involves the willingness to leave our comfort zone, knowing that where we go, we take with us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. 

Sending churches do not seek to raise up members as much as they seek to raise up missionaries—those who live as Jesus did, with an awareness that they are sent. Sending churches operate with a different scorecard in measuring their effectiveness. Rather than asking how many people were seated in church on a Sunday, they are asking how many people were sent out as missionaries. Reggie McNeal puts it this way: 

 “A missionary church culture will need to begin keeping score on things different from what we measure now. These may include how many ministry initiatives we are establishing in the streets, how many conversations we are having with pre-Christians, how many volunteers we are releasing into local and global mission projects aimed at community transformation, how many congregations are starting to reach different populations, how many congregations use our facilities, how many languages (ethnic and generational) we worship in, how many community groups use our facilities, how many church activities target people who aren’t here yet, how many hours per week members spend in ministry where they work, go to school and get mail” (p. 67)
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Picking up where I left off yesterday. Sending churches are not possessive. They are willing to let go of some of their best leaders if this is the will of God. Prompted by the Spirit, they first pray and fast again. There is the need within them to make sure this is of God. Confirmed in this, they send off two strong leaders so that the Word about Christ can spread to the outer most parts of the world. Sending churches are not selfish about their resources. They are willing to share for the sake of the kingdom. They understand and follow the encouragement of John when he said to another church,

“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth” (3 John 5-8). 

The very nature of God, who is the Head of the Church, is that He is a sending God. Everything about God is outward. The opposite of God would be sin, where everything is turned inward on self. Think about the Triune God for a moment. The Father says, “Look at my Son; isn’t He something?” Jesus says, “I am here to do the Father’s will and bring glory to Him.” The Spirit comes to bear witness and testimony not to Himself but to Jesus. Everything about God is outward and focused on others, including you and me. 

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. . . .”
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish
 

When you read through the Acts of the Apostles, you almost need a Trip Tik from AAA to map the way of all the journeys. This is a church on the move. It is a very unique church. It is a sending church. 

Not every church could be described in this way. Many churches offer great worship, meaningful Bible studies, and Christ-centered ministry to those who enter. That is the key: “to those who enter.” The ministry is for those who enter. There is very little sending that occurs. 

What are the distinguishing marks of a sending church? Look closely at the model offered in Acts 13: 

“In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabus, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.” 

Now I know the temptation is to whiz through those names. Just another list of tough names to pronounce. There is, however, some great insight to be gained by looking closer. These men involved in ministry and teaching were quite a mixed group, to say the least. Barnabus was from the island of Cyprus. Simeon was also named Niger, which is a Latin term meaning “black skinned.” Lucius was from Cyrene, which was west of Egypt on the coast of Africa. His name was Greek, and so there is the strong possibility that he was a Gentile. Manaen was a member of high society, having grown up with Herod the tetrarch. Then there is Saul with all of his credentials in education and rabbinical training. Right there in the middle of multi-cultural and urban Antioch, the Roman capital of Syria, is a church with a leadership team that refl ects the community that surrounds it. 

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting.” This community was marked by worshiping and fasting. The discipline of fasting is not practiced by many today. It does, however, have deep roots within Scripture.

“Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in him a source of sustenance beyond food. Through it, we learn by experience that God’s word to us is a life substance, that it is not food alone that gives life, but also the words that proceed from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). 

 We learn that we too have meat to eat that the world does not know about (John 4: 32, 34). Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting—feasting on Him and on doing His will. 

This simple reference to worshiping and fasting reveals a church that humbly depends not on its own resources and ideas, but on God’s Word to guide them. It is of no surprise then that, in the midst of this, the Holy Spirit gives them specific guidance as to what they should do. Sending churches wait on the Lord, expecting to be guided by His will. 

“Set apart for me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Imagine going into each day, sent by God, looking for those opportunities to do good works that He prepared for you before you were even born. That has a way of changing the outlook of a day into one that is loaded with possibilities and purpose. The life of Jesus was defined and guided by the knowledge that He was sent by the Father. This was always on His mind. It kept Him accountable and focused. What makes us think that it is any different for us? When we lose this sense of being sent, as a church or as individuals, we run the danger of being taken off course by many distractions. The result? Our life, or our ministry, is unproductive. In Titus 3:14, God says, 

“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.”  
 

We know all too well the stories of those who lost focus along the way. John Stott expresses it this way: 

“The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers—the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ’s warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so-called ‘nominal Christianity.’ In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent but thin veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism” (p. 108). 

God is looking for people who will enter into this day with the awareness that He has sent them with a purpose. When our hearts are ablaze with His purpose, the world will take notice that we too have been with Jesus. Go ahead, put your name in the blank: “___________________ served God’s purpose.” Let it begin with this day. One day at a time—wouldn’t it be great to be able to say that in this day you served God’s purpose?
 

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish