Church Planting and the Great Commission – Part Two

In last month’s post, we explored the global need for church planting and evangelism. And outlined three steps which the local church and Christians can take: Pray. Make Disciples. Plant Churches.

We looked at how we can pray to the end of fulfilling the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20). And now, we will dive in to making disciples and planting churches that fulfill the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20).

 

Make Disciples

The next action we can take, which should be a natural overflow from prayer, is to make disciples.

Gospel City Network featured a helpful post on discipleship earlier this year. And for a more in-depth view at the topic of discipleship, I would commend that post to you.

But in the space we have, we can see the call to make disciples in the Great Commission itself (Mt. 28:18-20), and in 2 Timothy.

The message that Christ left the disciples with was to make more disciples (Mt. 28:19). In the practice of disciple-making, we can consider two categories of potential people to disciple. Those who are outside of the church, who need to be evangelized and brought to Christ. And those who are in the church and need to be “taught to observe all that Jesus commanded (Mt. 28:20),” including making disciples.

In making disciples, the goal is to work smart, and multiply efforts. Paul captures this with his letter to Timothy, writing “and what you heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2).”

In this, we see that the call to make disciples is a call to ensure that your disciples will make more disciples. 

If you’ve seen Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, there are scenes where Saruman is building up an army of orcs. And as the orcs mystically come to life, they are set to the task of marking other orcs or preparing weapons for the battle.

This is the idea that we should have in mind for discipleship. Each new disciple is made, and at once is involved in the task of the Great Commission.

Plant Churches

Once we have prayed, and made disciples, we plant churches. This should be the natural end to the first two. If each disciple in your church is making disciples who are making disciples, eventually, you’re going to run out of seats.

As more come to faith, as more are discipled and trained as leaders, more should be prepared to go and plant churches. The story of Acts, and most of the New Testament, is a story of church planting. Paul visited cities, made disciples, planted churches, and checked-in on the churches through Epistles.

I am thankful to be part of a local church which champions church planting, and desires to reproduce many churches to impact the city and the nation. Therefore, as we train up leaders, may we consider how skilled brothers and sisters may be best used for the kingdom by planting and serving new churches.

Get Started Today

The numbers are clear for us. And each of the 3.28 billion represent real lives. Real people with names, families, jobs, struggles, and joys.

The question then is: today, what can we do to make a difference for the sake of the gospel, to push back darkness and lostness in the world? Today, what can you do?

As we close, I would encourage you to consider ways in which you can pray, make disciples, and plant churches for the glory of God, and for the salvation of the unreached.

Commissioning

Over the last two years with the pandemic, I have had the joy of spending time worshiping with family in Southern California. The church where our family serves and worships uses a beautifully crafted commissioning to send one another out each week.

As we consider the ways in which we can pray, make disciples, and plant churches, it seems fitting to be commissioned out for this task of glorifying God and reaching the nations.

“Our Father, since you are infinitely worthy of praise, Jesus since you are king over all things forever, Spirit, since we believe you can show the hardest of hearts and minds the beauty of Jesus and the ugliness of sin, we will go into all the world, our world, and we will love the gospel dearly, speak the gospel clearly, and live the gospel sincerely for your glory, our joy, and for the peace of those who will be saved by your grace because we loved them enough to share!”

Redeemer Baptist Church, Riverside California: Commissioning.