Thought of the Month-February
A Great Commission Church

How does one know that their local assembly is a “Great Commission” Church? If there is no alternative, if there is no wiggle room for the church, one in which there is a divine ultimatum that must be carried through, how do we know that we are walking in obedience to Christ command? Here are some questions one should ask.

Does our church have a “world view?

Rather than seeing the mission of the local church with boundaries set by the city limit sign or the locale that the assembly is located, they see their mission as being the whole world. Strategy, funding, planning and pulpit emphases, targets each part of the assemblies “Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and uttermost”. Incrementally, they strategize ways and means to reach just not their immediate area of ministry, but pushing the borders regionally, nationally, and then worldwide. The prophet Isaiah saw the day the church would posses this world view when he prophesied saying,  “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.” Isa. 54:2-3.

Is mission emphasis truly a passion of the assembly?

How great that passion is, can often be measured in several ways. (1) By the budget that is allotted to missions. Does that budget continue to grow yearly?  (2) Does the church offer to those interested, trips to mission fields? Is the youth also encouraged to do so?  Are all their trips simply fun things for the kids to do? (3) How many missionaries visit the local assembly? Does the assembly have as a goal to take on the support of more missionaries yearly? (4) How much pulpit time is given to mission exposure?  Does the mission vision of the pastor or lack of the same, bleed through all of his messages?  (5) Are regular mission Sundays in the church calendar to expose various fields of ministry?  (6) When prayer needs are shared with the assembly, does the church focus in on certain mission fields as part of their prayer time?