My Instagram feed is littered with “go” memes. The ministries and individuals who post these images may have altruistic motives, but the overarching narrative of God’s missionary heart is oftentimes lost in the mix.
In missional churches we talk a lot about going. But the word “go” in itself is an incomplete sentence. And so we say “go and make disciples”. This, however, is still an incomplete sentence, for “go” and “make disciples” cannot be divorced from the object of Jesus’ original statement, which was to “go” and “make disciples” of “all nations”.
When we remove the aspect of discipleship and the object of all nations we begin down the slippery and erroneous path of a self-serving gospel message that has little global impact.
Listen to episode one of the When Everything Is Missions podcast to hear more on this subject.
The heart of Jesus remains the same, that He would leave the 99 safely tucked away and for a time to rescue the ones. And the ones of the 21st-century still number over one billion gospel-deprived people. They have never heard the gospel, know no Christians, have never seen a church, never heard a Christian radio broadcast, or have any access whatsoever to the message of salvation.
So yes, go, and in your going, make disciples of every nation, tribe, people, and language so that we might see the glorious fulfillment of Revelation 7:9 accomplished in this generation.
