Day 4: The two-fold call of the Great Commission

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Last year, Pastor Jeff Chong, Chairman of LoveSingapore, started the 40-Day Prayer examining the statistics of Singapore’s Christian population for the last few decades.

Like Pastor Jeff, I was disturbed by the declining growth rate of Christians in Singapore.

We thank God for the growing number of churches in Singapore but this does not mean that the number of believers in Singapore has grown at an equivalent rate.

I have been processing this issue for the last three years since the numbers were released.

If we want to see more people coming to know our Lord Jesus Christ, we must go back to the basics of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

The Great Commission is familiar to most of us who have been believers for a while.

Christ gave the Great Commission to His disciples, who spent three years following Him.

Through three years of intentional and relational disciple-making, Christ transformed His 12 disciples from pre-believers to believers, and most became martyrs for Christ.

It was out of this disciple-making experience that Christ commanded His disciples to do the same with others and to reproduce other disciples.

Evangelism and disciple-making

From Christ’s disciple-making, we can identify in the Great Commission the components of both evangelism and disciple-making.

If we want to see Singapore turn Godward, we must live out what Christ has commanded us in the Great Commission – evangelism and disciple-making.

We must avoid focusing on one and neglecting the other.

We must not focus on evangelism without disciple-making or disciple-making within believers without reaching out to pre-believers.

Evangelism without disciple-making may lead to unstable believers, and some may even drop out of the faith journey because they have not been anchored upon the truth of God.

Disciple-making within believers without reaching out to pre-believers will make us inward-looking and lose God’s heart for the lost.

Both situations are not what the Great Commission is all about.

Therefore, we need both if we want Singapore to turn Godward.

If we want to see Singapore turn Godward, we must live out what Christ has commanded us in the Great Commission – evangelism and disciple-making.

Where are you on this journey of evangelism and disciple-making?

Are you focussing only on discipleship within believers and not spending enough time to reach out to pre-believers?

Or are you focussing only on evangelism for the lost and neglecting to strengthen the faith of new believers?

Let’s turn Singapore Godward through evangelism and disciple-making.

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus, thank you for reminding us in your Word that the Great Commission includes both evangelism and disciple-making.

Forgive us if we have neglected one or the other.

Help us to live out the Great Commission as you have modelled through intentional evangelism and relational disciple-making.

Help us to do our part to turn Singapore Godward through obedience to the Great Commission.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

/ Reflect

What does the Great Commission mean to you personally? As a member of the Body of Christ, what role can you see yourself playing in order to “make disciples of all nations”?
In your analysis, has your church invested equally in evangelism and disciple-making? If not, how would you contribute to evening out the emphases?
What is God stirring in your heart to pray for as you go forth in the Great Commission?

/ Pray

Pray for the body of Christ to be convicted of the urgency to both evangelise and disciple. “You have one business on earth – to save souls.” (John Wesley)
Pray for boldness in our churches to invest intentionally in the Great Commission and to make plans with confident hope. “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” (Hudson Taylor)
Ask for faith-driven leaders and influencers to arise from the next generation, that the Great Commission might continue until His will is accomplished.