Shooting Sacred Cows

David Mays

*Or Shooting Myself in the Foot

David Mays

• Ministry: Providing training, resources, and networking in world evangelism

• Dream: A movement of churches centered on The Great Commission

www.davidmays.org

David and Marcy

The Mission Exchange Serving church and mission leaders

Webinars Leader’s Edge Book SummariesAuthor interviews

Church and Individual memberships available

www.TheMissionExchange.org

First Shot. Bang!

The heart of the Great Commission is NOT “make

disciples.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)• Therefore go and make disciples of 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.

Books on Doing Church• The Great Commission is the marching orders.• The heart of the Great Commission is to make

disciples.• Reach people in your community, bring them into

your church, and make disciples.• Missions gets a half page near the end of the

book.• What’s wrong with this picture?

What happened to “the nations”?

• “Go ye therefore and teach … KJV

• “Teach” is a transitive verb. It requires an “object.”

• What is the object?• What are we to do?

• “Therefore go and make … NIV

• “Make” is a transitive verb. It requires an “object.”

• What is the object?• What are we to do?

Mt 28:19 …μαθητεύσατε παντα τά εθνη…

Matthew 28:19• The “heart” of the Great Commission

...is not make disciples.

• The “heart” of the Great Commission...is disciple all nations!

(μαθητεύσατε παντα τά εθνη)

• It includes evangelism and discipleship.

Discipling the Nations• Is not a program of the church.• It is the purpose of the church.

• Purpose implies the commitment and contribution of – Every leader– Every ministry– Every member

Second shot. Bang!

Poverty, pain, and oppression are NOT God’s primary concern.

Please note:• God IS concerned about poverty, pain, and

oppression.• BUT, it is not his PRIMARY concern.

His Primary Concern• His glory among all nations• The billions who do not have LIFE• Lack of fellowship with His creatures• The huge out of reach areas of the world• LIFE.

– Abundant life – Spiritual life – Eternal, forever life – The Christ life

Two Themes• Real Life – spiritual and forever• This Life – temporal and temporary

Merging of Two Streams• Good - Cultural sensitivity to human need• Bad - Weak faith, understanding, education, and

experience

• Key Questions:– Will missionaries be able to give people eternal hope?– Will we “redefine service as evangelism?”

Third shot. Bang!

Every Christian is NOT a missionary.

Every ministry is NOT missions.

Have you ever heard?• We are all missionaries.• When you go out that door you are entering your

mission field.• You are either a missionary or a mission field.• You are the missionary to your world.

• So, David, What’s your problem?

Scope Creep• When everything becomes missions, missions

doesn’t get very far.

Definition of “Missions”• Sending (or being sent as) • Trained and equipped workers • Across barriers

– (e.g. language, culture, distance, specialization)• For spiritual purposes• And efforts that support this process.

God has a vision for His Church

God’s Vision•  After this I looked and there before me was a

great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.“

Rev. 7:9-10

Keep the Goal in View!Let’s do our best to help our church do

all it can to disciple the nations.

Ten Main Things1. God has an end goal for humanity.2. This goal is a major theme of Scripture3. The Great Commission – the evangelization

and discipling of all nations – is the means.4. The Church is God’s primary agent in this age.5. The Great Commission is the primary mission

of every church.6. This mission belongs to the whole church.

Ten Main Things7. The Great Commission includes 3 kinds of people

– People like us nearby– People unlike us nearby– People unlike us far away

8. The congregation is responsible to reach nearby.9. “Missions” is primarily the church’s efforts beyond the

reach of the congregation.10.The missions team is responsible for deployment and

mobilization.

David Mays

The Mission Exchangewww.TheMissionExchangeDMays@TheMissionExchange.org317-852-0348