The Success of Our Mission
THE SUCCESS OF OUR MISSION
The next couple of weeks we are going to continue to look at the church. It is this amazing community of people that God is bringing together from every tribe, every race, every nation, every people group who have responded to the Gospel through repentance and faith in Christ and have embraced Christ’s purpose and mission in the world. It is overwhelming to understand that what we are part of each week at Olivet is a God-thing, an eternal thing, what Paul called the mystery of God that Jews and Gentiles would be brothers and sisters through faith in Christ.
Last week, we talked about our corporate mission as a church. Jesus was very clear about our mission, five different times He gave us in essence the great commission (Matthew 28: 16-20, Mark 16: 15, Luke 24: 47, John 20: 21, Acts 1: 8). Basically our mission is to Go into our world with the Gospel, with intention of making disciples right where we are. At Olivet we talk about our purpose being that we exist to glorify God by helping people to KNOW Jesus personally, SEEK Jesus with others, SERVE Jesus by serving others, and SHARE Jesus by telling others. Basically our purpose is to reach out to those who do not know Jesus and then help them grow into committed followers of Jesus.
The question is how do we gauge our success. James White pointed out a simple way to gauge your success as far as evangelism. There are four primary sources for church growth: First, there is biological growth. This is when your members have babies, and you raise them in the life of the church and they come to a place where they trust in Jesus as Savior. It is winning your own. Then there is transfer growth. This is when a Christian moves into your area and finds a church home or moves from one church to another. Thirdly, there is prodigal growth. White defines a prodigal as someone without a recent church background or church involvement. They have left the life of the church and the Christian community. Prodigal growth is when such a person returns to the church. The fourth way a church can grow is through conversion. To grow through conversion is to grow by reaching those who have not entered into a personal, life-changing relationship with Jesus. If a church is successful in its mission it will be reaching lost people. As followers of Jesus and members of OBC, we need to remember that our target is reaching out to those who are disconnected from Christ and disconnected from a church family.
The mission of the church involves more than just reaching people but also developing people. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” A disciple is a learner, a learner at the feet of Jesus. A disciple demonstrates a life of prayer, worship, Bible study and fellowship with other believers. A disciple takes on living a life of faith through the Christian community. This happens through a personal and corporate commitment to worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism. One of the ways to see if we are successful in making disciples is to ask ourselves a couple of questions. One, do I have a ministry in the church? (Am I committed to building the body of Christ)? Two, am I on mission in the world? As I go am I sharing the Gospel with the intention of making disciples right where I am.
I love the church. I love Olivet. I cannot think of anything more exciting than being on mission together, going into our world and ultimately the ends of the earth, with the Gospel, intentionally making disciples. Let’s do whatever it takes to Glorify God by fulfilling His purpose.
Pastor Scott