Jesus honored us by assigning us the Great Commission and to be ambassadors for Him to the ends of the earth, i.e., no place He wouldn't be with us. We are to keep the main thing the main thing and remember as Paul did to preach Jesus and Jesus crucified, i.e., the gospel message as the main focus and theme of our message. But we cannot do this faithfully if we aren't practicing what we preach and living as Christ lived. We are to walk as we have received Christ, as Lord. We must therefore be purpose-oriented and keep our mind on the Lord and not lose heart.
We are to love the gospel, want to live it out, and never grow tired of its message as the milk of the word that is so necessary for good spiritual health. The church that is obedient church is one that focuses on the goal: the Great Commission and has this as a great commitment until we have achieved the great completion. We are to look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith and not to focus on ourselves or the world. The purpose is to bring glory to God and when we are obedient this does that. That means finding our niche and doing our part in the church.
Discipleship begins in the church body as mature believers mentor and train those who are younger in the faith by exercising their gift. We are all students matriculated in the school of Christ and must be faithful for that can not be separated from our faith. Obedience and faith are forever joined together and we are challenged to obey Christ's Great Commission. The father of missions was William Carey, who said that we ought to expect great things from God and then attempt great things for God!
We must think big and follow Christ who said we would do greater things than Him. As we are going about our daily routine we are to be examples of Christ's love and kindness. We all have an orbit of friends and can reach out to them. The mission's ethic can be summed up: "Follow Me!" as Christ commanded. Our rallying cry is to preach salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! The purity of the gospel cannot be compromised or dumbed down.
To make disciples means to teach them all Christ commanded and especially to be obedient, which is the measure of our faith. God isn't looking for our personal achievements but our obedience and love. When properly armed with the truth we can march on to wherever Christ sends us. But we are expected to bloom where we are planted! Let Christ send us! He expects us just to be willing. The call to make disciples is the time-tested method of church growth and we don't need to re-invent church growth techniques. Only in the church can we find our place in the mission of Christ and grow in grace and in knowledge for no believer is a Lone Ranger or hermit. We find out spiritual gifts through serving and willingness to be used by God. We want to be like Jesus and follow on to know Him in discipleship.
Our message is simple: preaching Jesus and His gospel. But we must get them lost first and not water down our call to repentance and faith, for easy-believism (no-lordship discipleship) is not salvation. We must preach that sinners repent and receive Christ as Lord of their lives and Savior and that they only trust in Him and obey Him in all things. Repentance and faith go hand in hand: believing repentance or penitent faith (cf. Acts 20:21; Heb. 6:1). They must bring forth fruits to be real; there's no genuine repentance without saving faith.
We should not be asking what is the mission as much as what is the mission for me? Personalize it and see that we all have a place in God's redemptive plan and will. "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so!" (cf. Psalm 107:2). We will see that the gospel is always relevant and is for everyone as it goes out to all in earnest and anyone who repents can be saved. We must bear in mind that our strongest witness is a personal testimony that cannot be refuted: "I was blind but now I see!" We all have a similar one! Soli Deo Gloria!