Jesus has given everyday disciples the mission to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), but observation and years of declining and stagnant churches says we have relegated the mission to just being a disciple instead of making them. Most Christians have never made another disciple. Many followers of Jesus have never shared their faith with someone who doesn’t know Jesus. Statistics reveal this, as well as 25+ years of pastoral ministry. Yet, there’s hope.
Nearly 80% of unchurched say they would listen to a Christian share about what they believed*. I’m convinced the Church’s lack of making new disciples and sharing our faith in Jesus is not because we lack programs, tools, or resources. I believe the problem is because we have lost our identity as everyday missionaries. We’ve separated discipleship from mission. We’ve relegated Jesus’ mission to just being a disciple rather than making a disciple. But here’s the good news – Jesus has more for you than just being His disciple. He’s making you into a missionary, a missionary who makes disciples!
YOU are a missionary! Jesus has placed His own personal Spirit inside you to equip you for this missionary life (Acts 1:8). You don’t have to be a pastor or leave the country to serve Jesus somewhere else to be a missionary. Everyday you step outside your door is a mission trip!
Imagine if those in your church or congregation began living like missionaries. Workplaces, campuses, neighborhoods become mission fields. Everyday becomes a mission trip. Your church becomes a sending center filled with new missionary stories from the neighborhoods, campus, schools, and workplace as the gospel is lived and shared. How can this be our reality? When we begin turning everyday disciples in our churches into everyday missionaries.
Let’s imagine if just 6-10 people from your church begin embracing their missionary identity and say, “I’m livin’ it!” Imagine the lives, marriages, families, neighborhoods transformed by the gospel as those 6-10 people begin seeing and engaging life like a missionary where they live, work, and play. Imagine the lives of other church members observing these 6-10 people and hearing their stories, and then they too move from everyday disciples to everyday missionaries. Imagine the transformation the gospel would bring into the workplaces, campuses, neighborhoods, even your church if just a handful of everyday disciples said, “I’m livin’ it!”