Mission of the Church

Good morning dear Trinity Tribe!

I am happy to report that my mother's pain has gone from a 10 to a 2 thanks to the injection yesterday. It was most unpleasant, but she is feeling much better! Thank you for your prayers!

Today I am thinking about the mission of the church. What are we supposed to do in the world? According to the United Methodist Book of Discipline in paragraph 120 (which is our over 200 year old living and breathing document of faith, laws, planning, polity, and process for the UMC), "the mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs." That task almost seems simple. We only have one thing to do in the world. However, when we dig deeper into the meaning of that, we can see how many levels there are to disciple making and world transformation.

Jesus tells his disciples, including us, that we are to go and make disciples of all nations and to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. First, we have to go. We cannot just wait for people to walk through our doors. We have to be outside the doors inviting and welcoming people in both literally and figuratively. We also have to make disciples. Making something implies work. We can't just pray for disciples to happen. We have to love people. We have to teach people. We have to help people grow in faith, hope, and love. We have to invest in people. We cannot be stand-offish. We cannot let other people handle it. We have to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty in order to help people see the God that loves them so much.

The Book of Discipline goes on to describe how we carry out the mission in paragraph 122. We are to proclaim the gospel, seek, welcome and gather persons into the body of Christ…lead people to commit their lives to Christ…nurture people through worship, the sacraments, spiritual disciplines, and other means of grace…then send people into the world do the work of Christ. This cycle is continuously repeating and growing and dividing.

I invite us all to pray for how God will use each of us with our individual gifts to fulfill the mission of the Church. Perhaps you are called to make phone calls to cheer people up or reach out to someone who is new or hasn't been to church in a while…or you might be called to invite your neighbor to church…or to babysit for that busy mom who is at the end of her rope…or to visit someone who is homebound…or to be at worship every Sunday…or to help with Youth Group… There are as many ways to be Jesus in the world as there are grains of sand on the beach. I pray that we can all use our passions to go and make disciples for the transformation of the world, starting right here in Red Springs.

Have a great day