One thing I have been wrestling with this year is something so simple and so basic to the Christian world, yet it’s been so hard for me to grasp until now.

It’s the Great Commission.

Jesus told us in Matthew 28:18-20 “…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

I guess what makes it so hard yet so ironic is working at a church. Even more so, my specific role at my church. As I oversee creatives, techs, and communicators, I’m so buried in the back lines that it seems so far from my team and me.

I only interpreted it as “share with my neighbor”. And I was so busy working so my church could fulfill the Great Commission, that I thought, “When can I do it myself?” I felt like I was just wasting my time with all the work I was doing that I wasn’t a part of what Jesus called me to do.

And that’s when it hit me. Yes I should be sharing with the other families on my son’s basketball team or with my neighbors across the street, but I also should be investing in my staff so we can produce the things needed for my church to fulfill the Great Commission. Every volunteer we raise up, every staff member that can do their job well, and every other church we can help do church better also helps in fulfilling the Great Commission. I was so focused on one or the other, not seeing that it’s a both/and for us support staff. Because we are backend support, 2-3 layers deep working at a church, we sometimes miss seeing and hearing the stories of lives changed first hand.

Every volunteer we raise up helps in fulfilling the Great Commission.

So here is my plan to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

Go therefore and make more volunteers

If we can increase our team of volunteers that serve on the weekends, we can have more service options as well as more ability to let people see and hear God clearly on the weekends. This allows them to become a disciple as well as make more disciples. Equipping them, training them, and keeping them long-term allows our church service to be consistent at a high quality. That creates an environment for a person that is distraction-free so they can feel and see the presence of God and understand him better.

Go therefore and make more creatives

If we can increase our creative teams, we can create more ways for people to connect and experience Jesus through what we do. They can become disciples, which allows them to make other disciples as well. Not everyone experiences things the same way. Being creative allows more opportunities for people that come to experience God through sight, sound, and feel. That allows them to experience Him in new ways that can continue to grow them.

Being creative allows more opportunities for people that come to experience God through sight, sound, and feel.

Go therefore and help other churches

If we can resource other churches (my pastor calls it Kingdom Ministry because we’re all in it together) to be the best they can be and create more great churches, that will allow more people to learn and experience our Father. Helping and resourcing each other only allows the Kingdom to grow larger, not smaller. So often, we get focused on our own ministry and forget to look around and down the street to another church that would love some help and direction or someone to simply bounce ideas off of. You can be that for them.

Helping and resourcing each other only allows the Kingdom to grow larger, not smaller.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” Who are you discipling in or around your church?