People on a Mission
Tuesday 24 September
“At our best the church can be the most beautiful and transformative community on earth.” Following Dr Anne Saki’s powerful call to unity, three speakers from around the world address different aspects of mission through God’s people. Here’s a summary of what they had to say.
God’s Mission through the witness of His People.
Bishop Efraim Tendero Bishop Efraim M Tendero is the executive director of the Galilean Movement and Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance. He lives in his native Philippines.
It is my great joy to be here. I would like to see how there is a new call for reformation. God has called us to take the gospel to the whole world but we are lagging behind.
Why is it that we are falling short after almost 2,000 years? What can we do to rectify this situations? I recommend five reformations
1) We need to reform from clergy denominated to every believer ministry.
The primary function of church leaders is to equip believers for the work of ministry. Ephesians 4: 11-12. The church has become like a dysfunctional army. In the church today, the generals are out there doing all the work and the members are sitting on the sidelines. For many centuries we have relied on professional clergy and neglected.
2) We need to repent from the mindset of “mine” rather than Jesus’ authority
Possessiveness undermines co-operation and creates power struggles. WE need to be a church that has only one head Jesus Christ. We need to avoid duplication, eliminate competition and enhance collaboration. We are building the kingdom of God not our own empires.
3) We need to reiterate radical instead of nominal discipleship
Making disciples is not one of the strategies given by Jesus, it is the only strategy.
We lack emphasis on discipleship. Jesus commissioned us to teach believers to obey everything He commanded us and to live out a transformed life. Obeying all that Jesus’ commanded is radical discipleship. Jesus summed it up as loving one another absolutely and unconditionally just like He loved us. Radical discipleship highlights humility and forgiveness. How can we love our enemies and yet stop loving our brothers because of some disagreement in bible interpretation?
4) We need to realign leadership to intentionally engage the younger generation.
Younger people are not given opportunities to take part on the leadership structures. Let us work together across generations.
5) We need to revise the view of Jesus’ presence from mere security to accountability
We cannot keep secrets from Jesus. Knowing that Jesus is with us all the time should keep us in purity, integrity, honesty. Even if we think no one sees, Jesus sees us. The lack of integrity is causing great harm to the testimony and witness of the church. How can we help our brothers and sisters so that they can overcome challenges in their lives?
Greed - It is reported that $45 billion is spent on mission but $50 billion is taken by church fraud. That would imply Christians are more committed to stealing than to mission.
Scandals – it breaks my heart when well known Christian leaders fail.
Our awareness of the presence of Jesus, should give us assurance but also means we walk in the light.
I'm part of the Galilean movement. We want to see people who are Christlike in their being, knowing and being. I intend to dedicate the rest of my life to this effort. I know of no greater calling than to serve the kingdom of God than by mobilising Christlike workers, everywhere.
Gen Zs in Missional Community
Prof Denise Margaret Thompson
Why focus on Gen Zs? How and why must they be welcomed into missional lifestyle communities to reach their generation?
Thanks to increased lifespans we have seven different generations living today. Who are Gen Zs? They are the largest single generation making up 32% of the global population. A quarter live in South Asia. There are more Gen Zs in India than there are people in the US. They are the first fully global digital generation, shaped by social media and wrecked by the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2023, youth suicide rates tripled. They reject organised religion including those raise in the Christian faith. They want so see Christianity as good (not just true).
They are hungry for the very things Jesus provides: belonging, leadership, peace, authentic relationships and community. As the global marketplace grows, technology brings them together. Is the church taking note of where Gen Zs are? More go through the doors of our universities in one day than go through our churches in a year.
Gen Zs share our concerns about justice, climate change, poverty, mental health, sexual abuse. and there are wonderful signs of hope.
In a university in Alabama USA they meet weekly for prayer. In the Caribbean, university students are visiting secondary schools reaching young people with the gospel and hundreds are giving their lives to Jesus. How will we engage these student leaders?
Gen Zs must belong before they believe. Jesus welcomed the disciples into relationship and community before He asked them, “Who do you say I am?”
Are we willing to welcome and disciple Gen Zs on their terms?
Ordinary Disciple makers
Rev Dr Dale Stephenson: Dale Stephenson cares deeply about ministering and caring for secular and unreached Australians through his role as pastor of Crossway Baptist Church.
When Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:13 says, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” This should give hope to all of us.
The mission of God is in the hands of ordinary people.
What is it that Jesus did with Peter and John which took them from being fishermen to being apostles? The Great Commission does not tell us to make converts, we are to make disciples of the nations. With this great charge of making disciples and with Jesus as our primary example… do you agree with me that the Lord Jesus is the master disciple maker? Then follow this logic. Jesus had no Christians to disciple, He only had people.
In the class model of mission - pre-conversion is called evangelism and post-conversion is called discipleship but Jesus operated the whole time in discipleship.
Anyone, anywhere, anytime can be a disciple maker. As you are going… Jesus says… I command you to make disciples.
Jesus lived with the radar up: the son only does what He sees the father doing. He was looking so that He could join His father in what He was doing.
Jesus spent a full night in prayer, prior to calling the twelve into His world. He named them. He had already met them. Jesus was watching. After a full night of prayer, he invited them into His world so that He could do with the few what He could not do with the many. He discipled these men to faith in Him. They were still figuring out who He was.
We say convert then grow them, train them and mobilise them. Jesus invited them to walk with Him.. He exposed them to truth. He mobilised them and somewhere along the way, they put their trust in Him. This process of disicpling people to faith is not complex.
Look up for what God is doing in the world. When Jesus sent them out, He told them to look for a person of peace.
How are we supposed to find this person of peace? They will offer you hospitality. Stay with them. Every single one of us have people of peace in our lives. God is already at work. Do you want a summary? They like you. They listen to you and they serve you.
In real life what does that look like? If we are going to led by the Holy Spirit, we will have our eyes open. A person of peace is unique to you.
We encourage our folk, if you are going to be discipling a person of peace it has to be over the word of God. We use the Discovery Bible Method – you sit quietly with your friend and read a short passage of scripture. And then you simply ask, “What stood out for you?”
Truth discovered is ten times more valuable than truth given.
This is not the point to demonstrate your doctoral thesis. People need to discover truth for themselves. The gift of teaching will express itself in a collective environment but when you are disipling someone to faith, let them discover Jesus for themselves.
This is God being the evangelist. We get to co-work with God. We disciple people to faith so that they themselves know how to disciple others to faith. It is the mission of God in the hands of ordinary people. Anytime, anywhere people can disciple someone to faith in Jesus. And you can equip others to do it too.