Loss of the Full Biblical Context of the Great Commission

In 2001, I read the book Changing the Mind of Missions: Where Have We Gone Wrong? by James Engel and William Dyrness (Intervarsity Press: Downers Grove, 2000). As I reread a little of it tonight, these words jumped out at me, particularly in light of the recent uprisings in France.

Christ's command to "go and make disciples of all nations," appearing in Matthew 28:18-20, has long been cited as the marching order for his church. From the very beginning of the Bible, starting in the twelth chapter of Genesis, we see that God is a missionary God whose intent is to show goodness to all mankind in all ages. The expectation is that God's people will be willing participants. (p. 21)

What has God called us to do? Our contention is that this call has been interpreted for many decades, especially in North America and parts of Western Europe, as communicating a set of biblical propositions to a maximum number of people and declaring them as "reached" once this takes place. In other words, go, evangelize, plant churches, and measure success by numerical response. (pp. 21-22)

This agenda has dutifully been propogated during this century by well-meaning missionaries to the point that it has come to dominate outreach strategies of the church around the globe. It is being expressed today by accelerated evangelism in the form of donor-developed strategic plans designed to sow the word of God everywhere, preferably before the start of the new millenium. And it has been successfull--if we are to believe current statistics. Ninety-three percent of the world presumably has been evangelized, and our missions task is virtually completed. (p. 22)

There is no question that the Christian presence indeed is being expanded globally. But is evangelism the outcome Christ intended when he said, "Go and make disciples in 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" (Matthew 28:19-20)? Making disciples involves much more than encouraging people to accept certain truths about God and to begin attending church. It involves a total transformation of the heart and life that involves a righteousness that impacts not only individuals but families, communities, and nations. (p. 22)

For a number of reasons...Western Christians must plead guilty, first of all, to the charge leveled by Dallas Willard of a great omission in the Great Commission through evangelism largely devoid of spiritual formation that "prepares God's people for works of service" (Eph. 4:12). In short, we have to a disturbing degree missed the full richness of the Great Commission by our single-minded focus on evangelism. A respected Christian leader in Francophone Africa declared with the enthusiastic amen of many followers that "you missionaries brought us Christ but never taught us how to live." (p. 22)

Equally serious is a Western cultural worldview that, from the time of the Enlightenment, relegates faith largely to the private and personal areas of individual life and flees from the problems of the world into fascination with inner spiritual life. (p. 22)

What a contrast with the life and words of Jesus who called ut so join him in the process of extending the present realities of the kingdom of God--his lordship over all of life--throughout the world. (pp. 22-23)

Consider carefully what Christ said when he annonced the "mission statement" for his life: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Lk 4:18-19). If this defines his agenda, it also must define ours. No fractured worldview here, confining faith to one's individual and personal life. Rather, there is a bold mandate to combine faith and action to overcome injustice and oppression. (p. 23)

This cultural captivity of the Great Commission is having shattering effects. Who can ignore the debacle of Rwanda, a country often cited in the early 1990s as our best success story of Western world missions? Rwanda, a country where 80 percent claimed to be Christian, engaged in a carnage unparalleled in modern times--a carnage and bloodbath often led by Christians! How could such a tragedy happen in such a beautiful East African country with so much promise? There is now a broad agreement on the following root causes:
**Christianity was little more than a superficial, privatized veneer on a secular lifestyle characterized by animistic values and longstanding tribal hatred and warfare.
**A controlling top-down style of leadership succeeded in building large churches but largely neglected the hard work of unleashing people and building disciples who could be active participants following the reign of Christ in his world.
**The church was silent on such critical life-and-death issues as the dignity and worth of each person made in the image of God.
**The church relied on outside financial resources, which had created a debilitating dependence.

But we do not have to turn to the Two-Thirds World to see the outcome. How we can justify a virtually silent church throughout the West--an inward-drawn, privatized religion--in an era characterized by a downward spiral of morals, a growing gap between the rich and the poor, an increasingly hazardous environment, spiraling crime, financial manipulation, business and political corruption, and widespread lack of genuine hope. (p. 24)