The Mission & The Means Of The Church

In 2013 I wrapped up almost 5 years of military service and 4 combat deployments, having helped with over 400 direct-action night raids. Looking back on this season, one of the things it taught me, was how to differentiate between the mission and the means to accomplish the mission.

The missions were simple. Go in, get so and so, interrogate, determine if they’re a terrorist, and if so, take them with us, and in the process prevent anyone from dying or getting injured. Both US troops and local.

The means to accomplish these night raids, however, changed from season to season, or from context to context. Was it urban or rural? Were we using CH-47s (Chinook helicopters) or driving in on Strykers? Do we blow the door with an explosive charge or did we use a Remington shotgun to breach?

I could go on and on. Hopefully, you’re beginning to see what I mean. There is a way you approach accomplishing the mission, and then there’s the mission. ‘The Mission’ and ‘The Means’.

In the Church in the West - Evangelicals more often than others - have really mixed these two ideas up.

The mission of the church is really quite clear. But before we dive into that, let’s talk about Jesus and his disciples for a moment.

In Jewish culture at the time of Jesus, the idea of rabbis (teachers) was quite normal. Each Rabbit had a “yoke” or teaching. A yoke was either a way of approaching the scriptures or a specific message from scriptures that a Rabbi was known for emphasizing. When rabbis chose their disciples, it was an honor because they were inviting the disciples to follow them around (hence the old Jewish saying of “being covered in the dust of your Rabbi” - you literally followed them everywhere).

The whole purpose across this culture, when it came to the rabbi/disciple relationship, was that disciples would:

• Spend time with their rabbi. Follow them everywhere. Watch them closely. Walk with them through all of life.

• Start to become more like their rabbi. Begin to think like him, see the world through the same lens, take on his perspectives and teachings, to become as passionate about the ‘yoke’ as he is.

• Do what your rabbi does. Ultimately, disciples become like their rabbi and end up doing life the way they did. They end up becoming rabbis themselves and taking on disciples to teach.

In the same way, Jesus picks 12 disciples and walks with them for 3 years. Showing them, teaching them, helping them practice what he’s teaching them so they can obey it, etc.

Then just before Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father, leaving his disciples behind to continue on without him, he gives them the most important command he’s ever given:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:18-20

You see, Jesus commanded them to make disciples and teach them to obey EVERYTHING he has commanded, including this very command, to go and make more disciples and teach them to obey as well. You see, a true disciple is one who learns to obey the commands of Jesus (not just know them) and seeks to teach others how to do the same. It’s a continuous multiplication process. This is called the Great Commission in the global community of believers for a reason. It is the mission of the disciples of Jesus.

Again, this is the mission of the Church.

I’ve heard lots of folks say things like “The mission is to glorify God”.

Well, yes…ish.

But God directed, for the first humans, exactly how he wanted His glory spread. He gave them a mission too…which was actually very similar to the Great Commission. He wanted and still wants obedient fruitful people to multiply across the world.

God asks us to glorify Him in everything, but He commissioned us to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. In obeying His commands we glorify Him most.

Which brings me to the means.

The challenge I see folks encounter the most is when the means become their mission. When a church service, program, ministry, etc, the thing itself is the mission rather than it being the vehicle for accomplishing the mission.

Since teaching disciples both to obey and also how to multiply and reproduce, is the mission, then if the means aren’t producing these outcomes, we need to change them!

Similarly in Afghanistan, when we went out on missions and weren’t accomplishing them we knew we had to change how we approached the missions. The mission is critical, the means are only as critical as their ability to help accomplish the mission.

I’ll leave us with this idea/question: In the evangelical, western, consumer-driven Church, are the majority of disciples obeying all of the commands of Jesus? Do they even know what those commands are? Is every disciple effectively making disciples who obey, who make disciples who obey?

There’s only one mission of the Church, and the means should always be determined by how effective they are at helping us accomplish it.