?p=1757 What is the mission of the Church? What does God want us to do?

Agoo Summary: Love God * Love People * Make Disciples

The mission of the Church can be summed up by two of Jesus’ statements – the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. In The Great Commandment Jesus tells us to love God and one another. This kind of love isn’t just a feeling, it is an active and practical love. In the Great Commission Jesus tells us to go and make disciples (i.e. people who trust him as their saviour and obey him as their Lord). We do this by spreading the good news about Jesus and teaching God’s Word.

This is our God given mission. To:

1. Love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

How do we know God wants us to do this? Jesus says in the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30-31)

What does this look like in practice?

Jesus is saying our relationship with God must be our top priority, so as a church we want to help people to express and grow in their love for him:

We offer times of corporate worship where we can pray, praise, learn together. We celebrate baptism and Holy Communion together. We believe meeting regularly is essential if we are to keep going and keep growing as faithful followers of Jesus (Heb. 10:24-25)
We prioritise teaching God’s Word the Bible because it shows us the way to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, and the way to live a life that pleases God (2 Tim. 3:14-17).
We run a number of groups and courses to help people, young and older, keep going and growing as followers of Jesus.
We hold regular prayer meetings, in Church and online.
We encourage and equip people to serve the Lord with the gifts he has given them.
Because loving God isn’t just about what we do when we meet together, it’s about loving, honouring, and glorifying God in our day-to-day lives too, we try to help people live out their faith during the week in practical ways. For example, we make Bible study notes and occasional prayer guides available, and we work hard to show how the teachings of the Bible apply to our daily lives.

2. Love our neighbours in practical and sacrificial ways.

How do we know God wants us to do this? Jesus also says in the Great Commandment: “‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

What does this look like in practice?

Everybody is welcome and loved at St Paul’s, whoever they are. Every person is made in the image of God so they are precious to him and should be precious to us too.
We love one another as family, because that is what we are! As fellow Christians we are brothers and sisters in Christ, with God as our loving Father in heaven. This means we have an extra special responsibility to meet together, care for one another, and serve one another sacrificially (see Gal. 6:10).
Pastoral care is an important part of our church life. We have a dedicated Pastoral Care Team and Prayer Ministry in some of our services. However it is the duty of every Christian to care for the other members of their Church family too.
We are also passionate about serving the local community so we run a number of groups to serve those around us (for example: a lunch club, a parent and toddler group, various social events, and more). Numerous groups use our premises – for example, U3A, Brownies, Guides, and Read Easy).
We encourage our members to give their time to various community projects, and we support a number of charities financially (see our website for more information).

3. Make disciples of Jesus (i.e. help people become and grow as followers of Jesus!)

How do we know God wants us to do this? Jesus says in the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

What does this look like in practice?

We believe people need Jesus more than anything else because he can save us from sin, death, and judgement. So:

We help people become and grow as Christians by spreading the good news of Jesus Christ (evangelism) and by teaching them God’s Word the Bible (discipleship).
Evangelism and discipleship aren’t the only things we do but they are central to everything we do, like they were for Jesus who cared for people in word and deed (Mark 6v30 to 44; Lk 4:40-44). Though they won’t be the focus of every group or ministry, we want all our groups and ministries to contribute in some way to helping people get to know, love, and follow Jesus.
We have a special responsibility to reach those in our own parish and country, but “make disciples of all nations” means we should want people overseas to be saved by Jesus too. We can do this by supporting missionaries, by praying for the spread of the gospel in other countries, and by encouraging people to consider whether God might be calling them to serve him in another country.
We run groups and events that prioritise reaching non-church members with the good news about Jesus.
We provide opportunities for people to hear the gospel and be taught God’s Word. This includes the regular preaching and teaching ministries of the church, evangelistic courses like Christianity Explored, children and youth ministries, assemblies, and more.
We also work to help church members grow in their confidence and ability to share the gospel with others because often the best evangelism is done by Christians in their day-to-day lives.

How the mission of the whole church relates to the calling of individual Christians

The New Testament teaches us that different people have different callings and gifts. Some will be more gifted at word ministries (making disciples, evangelism, teaching etc) but others will have different gifts, for example caring for people in need in practical ways, hospitality, handling the church finances etc.

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” (Romans 12:4-8)

This means it is right and good to specialise and focus on using the gifts we have been given – and the Church/body of Christ is stronger if we do. But that specialism doesn’t mean we can forget our wider calling, for we are all called to fulfil the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, we all have a duty to love God, love our neighbour, and go and make disciples.