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Mobilization Moment
From the desk of Craig Jost Mission Mobilizer for MBMS International Midwest USA
A Sending Church or a Going Church?
As I visit churches I bump into many people and leadership teams that make the statement: “We want to become
a sending church again.” I take from this phrase, in my most optimistic moments, that at one point in their
history their church sent out missionaries and they long to send out more. I agree that this is a praiseworthy
goal. The phrase “sending church” evokes a New Testament image of the church in Antioch sending out Paul
and Barnabas to the Gentiles and I am all for that. But still there is a small nagging feeling that being a “sending
church” is not an adequate image for us. My disquiet comes from the way the church in Antioch sent out Paul
and Barnabas. The Church was deep in worship, fasting, and prayer and heard the voice of the Spirit telling them
to separate Paul and Barnabas for the work they had been called to. The Church continued
fasting and praying then laid hands on the two men and sent them out (Acts 13:1-3). Do
you feel it? Do you sense the inadequacy of calling the Antioch church a sending church?
What is more, I think that Luke 10:1-3 calls us as disciples to be goers and to be a part of
a fellowship of goers (called the church). God is the Sender. We are the ones who go into
the harvest and pray for more to be called out. Jesus sent out His disciples into ministry on
various occasions. His commissioning words are very similar in each of the times He sends
them out: “Go…”; “I am sending you…”; “Go to the lost sheep…”; “Therefore go and make
disciples”. As life long learners and followers of Jesus, we are on a mission. We are called to
be a going people, a people that proactively seek out the lost and give testimony to God’s love in Christ Jesus
by the power of the Holy Spirit in our local context and to the ends of the earth.
Jesus is sending His church out to make disciples of all the nations. We are all called to go. As we take bold steps
into God’s mission, we enter into His expressed will, into His blessing, and we experience for ourselves that He is
Lord of the Harvest and the joy of His salvation.
Gut Check
I don’t imagine that this idea is novel or new for many of us, but the implication continues to challenge me. During
my university days I was involved with a Para-church organization, and one of their sentiments that caught
me square between the frontal lobes was, “Where are you going to place your life where it will make the most
difference?” Of course, the push was for fulltime Christian service, but the challenge goes beyond whether you
will serve as a staff member in a Para-church organization, youth pastor, worship leader, or pastor. I chose to
believe that this gauntlet thrown down at our feet is logistical as well as metaphysical. There is a very real sense
that we need to look around us and say “Where is the area of most darkness? Where can I be a light shining in
the darkness? Where does God want to place me, given my gifts, abilities, passions, and persuasions where He
can do the most damage to the kingdom of darkness?” We could ask this question at the corporate level of the
church as well. Where would God want to place the local body of believers, given our gifts, abilities, passions,
and persuasions where He can do the most damage to the kingdom of darkness? This is a call to courageously
step out in faith and place ourselves in harms way, like Jesus did, walking headlong into the darkness. Are we
up to it? We can’t do it alone; we need a fellowship of goers alongside to shine as the Body of the Living Savior.
Let’s deepen the bond of our fellowship and encouragement for the glory of His Kingdom!
With you for His Kingdom,
Craig Jost
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