So It's A New Mission?

The following post is a lightly edited manuscript from a teaching called New Mission by Kyle Davies delivered on September 26, 2021.

The first time it clicked was when I was sitting on a bluff in Turkana Kenya many thousands of miles away. The second time it became obvious on the campus of a Christian university a few months later. But it didn’t stop there the epiphany showed up my first student ministry when I couldn’t help but show up for kids when they were in a park or at the gym or in our neighborhood where a dirt bowl was held. It was questioned when I wanted to ride alongside a paint salesman for a day on the job the one that I wanted to move west when everyone said well you’re from the Midwest you don’t fit in there. And once again it showed up and very tangible and practical ways as a pandemic hit six months after Generations Church started. The epiphany, the drive, the action, nay the conviction was that whenever and wherever I found myself the mission was to make disciples that make disciples. God has taught me this lesson again and again don't need to go thousands of miles away to model the character and priorities of Jesus. 

A mission is a singular objective. “There are moments in our lives when we feel the tension between modern life as we know it within the daily grind and our awareness of our longing for some vision of fulness that goes beyond it. In these moments we are invited to consider the possibility that we are not  at the center of the universe, that creating and expressing our identity is not our greatest purpose, that goodness may not be a presence but may be embodied in God, and that meaning is not primarily a choice of interpretation but a revelation.”

Jesus makes your new person with a new family on a new mission.

Here's the paradox of our context, everyone desires to do good. I was told at a businesses association after hours a few months ago that you cannot be in business in the northwest without attaching yourself to a cause. This puts the church in a peculiar place.

Every non-profit that a business associate with has a mission or a target. Give some example….

I want to affirm this in our context. This is good.

The new mission is one that challenges the very nature that you can create for yourself a fulfilling life apart from God.

The new mission is actually an old one--co-create with God within the world. In other words, be everyday people committed to expanding God's family because of Jesus for generations to come.

The church must both simultaneously do good and not bait and switch people with our good works. Faith in Christ changes our goals in life. We have a purpose to see others change through the power of Christ and see our world change through the presence of Christ’s followers.

“after his prayer in the upper room, Jesus went to the cross and died there. Then she rose from the grave and appeared to his disciples. One of his final moments with them is captured in Matthew 28. The eleven gathered around him, and Jesus said…” After intentionally spending his life on earth with these eleven men, Jesus told them, “Now you go out and do the same with others.” The mega strategy of Jesus: make disciples.” In essence, be fruitful, multiply, pass on my will and my way.

According to Jesus, people are God’s method for winning the world to himself. People who have been made new and renewed daily by Jesus. People who are not sidelined in a chair on Sundays while they watch professionals take care of ministry for them. People who are equipped to participate in ministry by living their everyday faith every day of the week. People who are fit and free to do precisely what Jesus did and what Jesus told us to do. Make disciples.”

Everyday mission moves us from disinfecting people to discipling them. Disinfecting Christians from the world involves isolating followers of Jesus in a spiritual safe deposit box called the church building and teaching them to be good. In this strategy, success in the church is defined by how big a building you have to house all the Christians, and the goal is to gather as many people as possible. When someone asks, “Where is your church?” we point them to a building or give them the website. 

When we gather at the building, we learn to be good. Being good is defined by what we avoid in the world. We are known for what we don’t participate in.

Discipling is much different. Whereas disinfecting Christians involves isolating them and teaching them to be good, discipling Christians involves propelling Christians into the world to risk their lives for the sake of others. Disciple-making takes place multiple times every week in multiple locations by a multitude of men and women sharing and showing the way of Jesus.

The shift of our mission goes from “stop” to start. From “don’t” to “do.” In a world that wants to deconstruct everything, some things need torn down, the church is the only people who have the blueprint for the reconstruction plan.

This is the picture. The plan of Christ is not dependent on having the right programs or hiring the right people but on building and being the right people—a community of people—some may say a family—ho realizes that we are all enabled and equipped to carry out the purpose of God for our lives. Gosh..as you hear that you may feel a little overwhelmed. Who me? As I read about the life of Jesus, I see Jesus simply, intentionally, patiently walking alongside people. Jesus reminds me that disciples are not mass-produced. Disciples of Jesus—-genuine, committed, self-sacrificing followers of Christ—are not made overnight.”

First, according to Jesus, disciple-making involves going. It involves intentionally taking the good news to people where they live, work, and play.

Disciple-making is not about a program or an event but about relationships. As we share the gospel, we impart life, and this is the essence of making disciples. Sharing the life of Christ.

One of my favorite moments in the last week was door dashing with my old lead pastor this last week. Brian talking about the city of Lexington. Areas he’d never been before. Brian made an observation. I realized there were more homeless in my city. I had no idea what the next comment would be…he said…I realized I had a bunch of socks…made my own homeless kit…so that when I’m out and about I can bless someone.

Becoming a missionary in your own city. Share the life of Christ.

This is why making disciples is not just about going, but also includes baptizing.

Baptism is the clear, public, symbolic picture of the new life we have in Christ. 

Being a part of a community of faith involves being exposed to the life of Christ in others. Just as we are identified with Christ and his church in baptism, we now share life in Christ with one another.

When Jesus makes you a new person and gives you a new family you are transferred into a new kingdom. Meaning, your mindset has to shift. You are to no longer be a consumer of the world around you, but a contributor. When we consumer and something doesn’t meet our standard we complain.

Next, this brings us to a crucial spot the ongoing teaching to obey When we hear this, we need to be careful to not immediately jump in our minds to the classroom. It’s precisely the people we are spending time with…this raises the bar in our own Christianity. We will encounter conflicting missions. 

• Parents who want their kids to be happy
• Make more money
• Personal mission to…

In this series, we can it help but come full circle. When we live God's mission in our everyday lives we cannon help but point people to Jesus, this letting them know they can be a new person.

Fully rounded people - Take a piece of paper and draw a rounded shape.

In order to teach someone else how to pray, we need to know how to pray. Read the bible. When we take responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, it automatically takes our own relationship with Christ to a new level.

Say this prayer, “God, I need you to do in me all that you want to do through me.”

This is the new plan. The plan is so counterintuitive to our way of thinking. In a culture where bigger is always better and fishy is always more effective, Jesus beckons us to plainly humbly, and quietly focus our lives on people.

I do need to pause here for a moment. Some of you are hearing something very dangerous. That you need to do more for God. That you need to increase your activity to be a good Christian. Guilt will motivate your obedience, and action your obligation. Full stop. I don’t need you to do more for God. God doesn’t need you to do more for him. 

Let’s give attention to one more little detail in Matthew 28:18-20. For years I thought there was only one command in this everyday commission. Upon further study, there is one more. One reason we miss the second command is because of how it’s translated into English. It is the little Greek word idou, which is translated in many Bible as "surely" or "lo." In essence, Jesus is saying, as you make disciples you must keep focused on me. As you live this new, old, mission, don’t forget that I am WITH you.

God needs you to be with him. For he is with you. You will know you are with him when you cannot help but pass along the newness you’ve received from being with him to others. This passing along to others is a response. It is the only thing that will keep you going.

Here's a way to demonstrate your influence. Consider tracking your connections for a week. Ask, "If you got good news about your neighborhood this week, what would it be?"

Remember that God is WITH you. He has placed you in the lives of people to BE the good news to the very hope they so desperately seek.