Praying for the Mission to be Seen!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
~Matthew 28:18-20

This passage is at the heart of everything I write here on "Working on the Mission", because it is one of the key verses that outlines the very mission we as the Church are commissioned to work on.

I find myself constantly lining up the things I am doing with passages like this... "is what I plan to do today conducive to the mission I have?"  I admit to sometimes doing my own thing, going my own way (don't we all), and those days there are times I look back and think "what a waste" - and there are times it takes me days to realise my eyes have turned from the mission.

But how are we as the Church doing? There are probably many individuals who are focused on the mission, but what about the Church as a whole?  In a wide sweeping generalisation I don't think the Church is as focused on the mission Jesus gave it as it should be.  At least in Western countries you see (especially in the mainstream media) an organisation, not a body of Christ. You see money making schemes, not disciple making.  You see people falling from grace and not teaching to observe Jesus' commands.

There are pockets of the Church doing amazing things for the mission, but on the whole the secular world has infected the church to a point that the world now sees it as a corrupted and old fashioned enterprise.

I can't feel responsible for the actions of others, but somehow I do - my heart breaks when I see news articles slamming churches and seeing that there might be some validity in their reporting. I get angry when I hear of grand expense used on material things in churches when people are going hungry right next door. Yet I feel I have no influence to change the wider church...

...except to pray.

I will continue to preach and teach about observing Jesus' commands, I will strive to make disciples, I will rejoice as I get to baptise them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And I will pray that God impacts the Church in a global sense to turn back to Him, for the gardener to prune the vine where needed and fertilise where needed - for the One with all authority in heaven and on earth to change the hearts of those who claim to follow Him and proclaim His Name.