16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20.
So, with these words Jesus commissioned His disciples. With these words He gave us our marching orders. We must go out and “bring disciples to Jesus.”
In an earlier encounter on another mountain Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was. Peter answered, “The Messiah, the son of God.” Jesus told him that that was the right answer. And then He made this promise,
“I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18.
Jesus couldn’t be more clear. He tells us that our job is to make disciples, and that He will build the church. But somehow western Christianity got that backwards. We put our focus on building and doing church. We thought our job was to do that and to get that right so that people would be drawn to church, and would “go to church.” It is completely mistaken.
Through this lens we looked out at a lost world and what did we see? We saw people who were “unchurched” and who obviously need churching. When we came across people who were searching for answers how did we answer their questions? We invited them to “church.” We put our faith in Christianity… not the gospel. We all did it. All the denominations did it. Progressives and conservatives, we all did it. We did what humans are prone to do. We put our faith in numbers… in the group… in the big Sunday gathering.
We were wrong. The only faith worth having is faith in the One. And that is what the Singing Oaks vision statement says. It begins,
“The Singing Oaks church’s primary task is to love God and to love others as Jesus loved, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
That’s discipleship. That’s where we want our focus to be. And that is how we want to shape everything we are doing as a church.
