The Role of the Church in the Great Commission

May 25, 2023

As populations increase in global cities, the need to share the Gospel outside the church is critical. How will the church adapt to growing cities and position itself to demonstrate the power of the Gospel? Who will be sent from churches to the mission field? If churches send their best and brightest to the field, what will happen in their absence? 

 

We interviewed Pastor Ryan McCammack at Gospel Hope Church on the role of the church in the Great Commission. Read his thoughts below and check out the full interview here!

 

Right now, our world is urbanizing - people from all over the globe are flocking to major metro areas. The need for churches and missions initiatives in city centers, both domestically and internationally, is critical. 

For example, Atlanta is projected to grow by about 3 million people in the next 30 years. What does it look like to reach new people coming into the city? Missionaries need to be sent out to reach new people coming in. That’s not just true here in Atlanta, but in America and across the world.

 

Part of our identity as followers of Jesus is being sent . Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). To fulfill this command, by God’s grace, we need believers outside of the walls of the church. 

 

Sometimes, our impulse in churches is to try to hang onto our people because there is a cost in releasing them. It can be scary. And yet, when we release our best and brightest people, we see a harvest of the Gospel we wouldn’t have accomplished if we had tried to hang onto them.

In order to do this well, we need to reframe our metric of success. The only way we are going to commit to sending some of our best people is by evaluating the successfulness of our church not by our seating capacity, but by our sending capacity. 

We win when the Kingdom of God is extended and we push back the darkness and lostness in our cities and in our world. The Kingdom of God will go on forever, so we need to leverage our lives and our ministries to invest in what is eternal. 

As we release people into the harvest fields, inevitably, new opportunities for leadership arise. When we send out a leader in some ministry, there are more opportunities for other people to get involved. We have to trust the Lord not only with the people that we send out, but we also need to trust the Lord to provide the leadership that our churches need in the vacuum that is created by those being sent out.

That said, I don’t think we could ever out-give the Lord. 

I have never seen a church die by sending too many people to the harvest field. And if that’s the way to go out, that’s the way I want to go out - by giving our best and brightest to people and trusting the results to the Lord’s hands. 

Begin to ask yourself - what is God calling me to do?

If you feel like the Lord is leading you to be sent, here are next steps:

  1. Talk to your church leader  to get an idea of how they can support you in seeking the Lord and discerning what He is calling you to do. 
  2. Seek training.  When I planted a church, I had been a pastor for over a decade and had a lot of theological education, but had never pioneered a new church before. There are many excellent organizations committed to training in church planting, missions, evangelism, or whatever burden the Lord lays on your heart.
  3. Start small . Sometimes, as church leaders, we can think our churches aren’t big enough or have enough resources to send. But, whether it’s a small step or a giant leap of faith, we all need to do something to push back the darkness in our community with the light of Jesus.

The need is urgent, the mission is gigantic. The Great Commission requires all of Christ’s followers working together to take the Gospel to all nations. 

I promise you, if you trust the Lord and follow Him in obeying His mission, He will supply your every need. The harvest is ripe and the laborers don’t have to be few. 

 

Looking to engage with your church in the Great Commission? Check out Global Frontier Missions’ church resources, including a 5-week Bible study designed to provide Christ-centered education and missional exposure to believers of all ages.

 

 

Interview notes from: Ryan McCammack at Gospel Hope Church

 

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