Reclaiming the Priority: Five Ways Your Church Can Avoid Drifting away from Its Calling

Reclaiming the Priority: Five Ways Your Church Can Avoid Drifting away from Its Calling

I received a letter from a missionary serving with another agency a month or so ago. One paragraph in the letter caught my attention. It read, "Missionary meetings a generation ago were usually well attended. Young people came forward to offer themselves to Christ and churches were revived. There was excitement. Sadly much of that has changed." Unfortunately, I think the observation of this missionary is correct. Several years ago, I completed a project management master's certification program. In that program, we spent a lot of time talking about a common foil of projects called "scope creep." Scope creep is the change in a project's scope after the project work has begun. This drift usually occurs due to the addition of new elements, and results in the project moving away from its original purpose, timeline, and budget. This change in scope usually comes about from small, seemingly insignificant changes. Over time the changes become numerous enough or grow to such an extent that they jeopardize or minimize the original project.

At the close of his earthly ministry, Christ gave his followers a project. He said that we were to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Immediately before his ascension Jesus said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Ten days later, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did indeed come, and the Church was born. The Holy Spirit, the Church, and the call of Jesus to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth are inexorably linked. So much so, that the call to be His witnesses (and in the process, making disciples) is the Church's priority project. If we were to be honest, we would agree that many local churches have experienced scope creep in reaching our communities and the nations for Christ. Other things have displaced disciple-making as our first calling. Let me suggest five steps that will help a local church avoid such drift:

1. Be sure the entire congregation completely understands the project vision. This means that Great Commission preaching and teaching must be a primary component of church life.

2. Clearly convey the priority of helping people become followers of Jesus. While there are many important activities in which a church is engaged, nothing can be more important than disciple-making. The congregation must be challenged to be involved in some way.

3. Church leadership models discipleship within the church body to encourage church members to actively seek to follow Christ. As they are discipled, the church body is equipped to disciple others within their circle of influence.

4. Develop a strategic plan for developing followers of Jesus that includes local, national, and international outreach.

5. Produce an ongoing process that ensures outreach is evaluated, communicated, and celebrated.

Primed to do more

With the concept of disciple-making as the project in mind, let's go back to the missionary's comment that "missionary meetings" have become poorly attended, lacking results, devoid of excitement. It does not have to be that way. In fact, this past year, The Mission Society assisted five churches in conducting their first annual Global Impact Celebration. All were well attended, given the number of meeting opportunities available. The results were positive as well a total of 16 people indicating a call to career missionary service, a 170 percent increase in funds committed to missions over the previous year, and hundreds volunteering to be engaged in missions in a personal way. Some of the post-Global Impact Celebration comments heard were:

"There is a spirit in the church that hasn't been here in a long time."

"We are primed to do more in missions than we have ever thought possible."

"It was more emotionally impacting than I thought it would be. Missionaries became friends I didn't want to see leave!"

"It was a blast!"

Our desire is to see your and other churches all across the United States have the same experience that these five churches have had. Because, in doing so, you will renew an emphasis on disciple-making and thereby impact lives in ever greater ways for the sake of Christ. As Jesus said, "When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honored (John 15:8 CEV)."

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