Two sides of a single coin

 

Someone might ask us why we are trying to start something like Mosaic Niagara.  Why not a traditional church with a regular Sunday morning gathering and a pastor and a building and cool music and programs etc.  My answer would be a two parter.  Firstly, it is because we believe in the Great Commission that Jesus gave in Matthew 28: 16-20.  In this Great Commission, Jesus said for his followers to “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded.” 

Great, you might say.  Lots of people believe that.  I agree.  But the second part of my answer would be that traditional church – with some exceptions – has become far less effective for more and more people.  So, since we take seriously Jesus’ call to make disciples and since we realize that the way we have been doing and being church isn’t working well anymore, we are convinced that we need to add some new ways of doing and being God’s church that will be more effective in inviting people to find relationship with God through Jesus.

While I strongly believe in the Great Commission, the way I think about it has shifted someone in recent years.  I’ve always seen it as the mission of the church.  And it is.  Kind of.  But when I look closer, it is actually God’s mission that God is already actively engaged in.  And God invites us to help. 

It is a Co – Mission.  Like a plane often has a pilot and a co-pilot.  The pilot is flying and the co-pilot is helping.  Working alongside the pilot.

Inviting people to find relationship with God through Jesus and to grow in that relationship with God is God’s mission.  That’s God’s thing.  And it is the co-mission of the church.  Of you and I as God’s church.  God is doing it with or without us, but he invites us to join in that ministry.

My thinking around this has changed in another way also.  I don’t really use the word “evangelism” anymore.  Partly because it is an “ism” word that isn’t used in the Bible.  And as a famous person once said, “Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism”.  If you don’t know who that person is, you need to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off again.  😉 

The Bible talks about evangelists but not evangelism as if it was a thing or a project that we undertake.  So instead of talking about evangelism, I talk about disciple making.  And I see disciple making as two sides of a single coin.  It is slightly different on its two sides but is actually one thing.

One side of the coin is the thing that I used to talk and think about as discipleship.  That is where we help people who are already in the church or who have already said their “yes” to Jesus to grow deeper in their lives of faith.

The other side of the coin is that thing that I used to call evangelism which is where we help people who haven’t yet said their “yes” to Jesus to come to that point.

I no longer see those as two different things but as one longer, wholistic process of disciple making.  Because when we see them as separate, it is easier to emphasize one and neglect the other.  But both are vital and I believe that Jesus is talking about both when he gave the great commission.

Someone asked me recently, “What will the pillars of Mosaic Niagara be?”  I hadn’t really thought about it in those terms, but this would definitely be one of them.  Disciple making will be at the heart of what Mosaic Niagara is about.  It will be focused on creating small, safe, gatherings of people – like spiritual families, where people can grow together in their relationship with God regardless of where they are currently at in that journey.

Sound interesting?  Reach out to us and let’s talk more about it.