The Great Commission - What are we forgetting?

Very frequently we hear about the "Great Commission". In many church circles the great commission means a yearly or bi-yearly trip to some place other than where the Church is (Missionary Trip). The trip is a time to gather as many of the flock together for the purpose of saturating an area with Gospel presenters. Sometimes this trip is designed to be taken outside of the United States to some poor area of the world where the Gospel has not been, but in many Church's this trip is taken somewhere in the United States for the same purpose. This can be an effective ministry if there are teams of local people to follow-up with the seeds planted with these missionary teams. I would like to focus on what we should be doing after this Gospel presentation.

The follow-up seems to be what is essentially missing when we evangelise or go on mission trips. If we read the scripture in Matthew 28:18-20 we can understand what Jesus truly means with the great commission. Let us read. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age." Amen.

Jesus tells us to make disciples of all the nations, we are to baptize them, and then we are to teach them to observe all that He commanded us to do. So many times we are in a great rush to make disciples and even a greater rush to baptize. However, what seems to missing most is the follow-up, or the "teaching to observe all things" part. We can't teach someone something if we never see them again. When we meet unbelievers, and we show them they are guilty of violations of the Law (Bad News) and they will surely perish, but that there is a savior that will take their place for the Wrath that is coming to them, and all they have to do is Repent of their sins and Believe (Good News), we set them up for failure; we also have to continue to teach them and strengthen them in the faith. It is our responsibility under the great commission to do this. We can't just give them the Gospel message without any support. It would be like telling someone to drive to Michigan from Tennessee in a car when they don't know how to drive and they have never seen a car. It is setting them up to perish. We are doing the same poor job with our unbeliever when we don't take the time to follow-up with them and bring them into a body of Christ. We are setting them up to perish.

We are taught about the body of Christ and that the Church is like a body with all the different parts functioning together in some form or another. This new Christian must become part of the body of Christ to become a faithful servant. Just like Paul alludes to in Hebrews 5:12-14 concerning the immaturity of believers. New believers must be given the milk to prosper like a little baby into a fully developed adult. Like babies, we need other adults out there teaching us, supporting us, and carrying us, if needed. As they prosper they will then be nourished with solid food. This process cannot be done if we just do blanket gospel presentation and do not follow-up with the teaching. We must be there for these new believers, otherwise they will perish like a baby not being fed.

Shame on us, and shame on the Church. When we evangelize, lets make sure we also teach. This new believer needs to be taught all that Jesus commanded of us. Why? Well so he can be a functional member or functional part of the Church body. Another or most important reason that we are to teach is because Jesus commands it of us.