Mission, Decisions and Disciples
Some profound thoughts here from Kevin DeYoung on the phrase “church is not for you.” They may well be encouraging to those of us who work in children’s work, teaching and discipleship, and who are nervous that what we are doing is divorced from the “real” work of mission:
“One other thing: don’t forget that the Great Commission calls us to make disciples not make decisions. I am all in favor of decisions for Christ (rightly conceived), but the church’s aim is not simply for conversions. Jesus told the disciples (and by extension the church I believe) that their commission was to teach the nations to obey all that he had commanded. We must grow up in Christ as much as we must come to Christ. So Sunday school is not a distraction from mission. Small group Bible studies (again, done well) are not some lame expression of bubble Christianity that take us away from the real purposes of the church. Sermons, even the kind that go into disputed areas of theology or highlight doctrinal distinctives, do not have to be exercises in stuffing fat Christians full of more knowledge while the world perishes without Christ. Theology is not the enemy of conversion and wanting church life to be a blessing is not what’s wrong with the world.”
“Amen to evangelism. Amen to services that recognize the presence of non-Christians. Amen to poking long-time believers to serve in ways besides the reading of books. But boo-hoo to chiding church members for wanting a church that loves them, teaches them, and watches over their souls. The phrase sounds prophetic and I understand the good intentions, but there is simply no biblical warrant for saying to God’s people “church is not for you.” Better to say à la the Apostle Peter: “Church is for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Comments
By Dan Hayter on 04/02/2011 at 13:17
Nice find Andrew, and yes, very encouraging from the point of view of a children’s worker and theology student who sometimes finds it difficult sometimes to figure out how what he’s doing fits into the bigger picture.