"Way to Go!"

It’s amazing how many times we see the word “go” in the New Testament. Giving instructions to his disciples, Jesus said, “As you go, proclaim this message: The kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 10:7). In the Parable of the Vineyard Jesus said, “Go and work in my vineyard” (Matthew 20:4). At the last supper Jesus told his friends, “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit” (John 15:16). His last words to his followers (and to us) were, “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), and “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15).

Jesus described the spread of the Gospel when he told his disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Good News needed to be proclaimed with power in Jerusalem, but it was not to stay there for long. It needed to spread to Judea, the region around the city of Jerusalem. The city church was to become a regional church. So far so good, since most of those hearing the proclamation had a very similar background and frame of reference. The real challenge would begin when the Gospel started to spread into Samaria (Jesus had already laid the groundwork for that mission). This was cross-cultural proclamation calling for a whole new set of cross-cultural relationship and communication skills. There was a long history of prejudice and segregation between Samaritans and Judeans, even though they were neighbors. But the Good News of Jesus was for everyone, and the Gospel of the Kingdom needed to be established everywhere. And ultimately, the work of Christ’s commission would not be complete until it had filled the whole earth.

The story of the book of Acts begins with a powerful witness in the city of Jerusalem. But the mission didn’t extend beyond the city for the first ten years of the church. It wasn’t until Saul of Tarsus began persecuting the church that the city believers began to scatter – at first, just to save their lives. Philip was the first one to begin hearing the command to “go” once again (Acts 8:26, 28).

It’s so easy for a local church to become established and comfortable and forget the command to “go.” In fact, there are whole models of the church that are based on the assumption that Jesus commanded people to “come” – to come into a church building in order to be introduced to Jesus. Unfortunately, a “come” church can seriously redefine the nature of the church and move it farther and farther away from the church we see in the book of Acts.

Church as a Department Store (or a Mall, if a mega-church). “Come” churches must develop a wide range of religious goods and services that “Christians” in the community can shop for. It is the primary responsibility of church members, and especially church staff, to provide those goods and services. If that church is missing key services it will be harder to get people to come. It’s also helpful to have a very nice building for people to come into. But is that what we see in the book of Acts?

Church as a Sport. Local “come” churches end up competing with each other for the same pool of religious shoppers. They have to outdo each other in providing the most contemporary, relevant programs and have the most entertaining weekend shows to attract the most number of people. Meanwhile, whole communities remain untouched by the Gospel of the Kingdom. Local churches forget that they all have the same mission in the same city, that they are on the same “team” and that competing for church shoppers and hoppers is a distraction from the Great Commission.

Church as an Enclave. An enclave is “a country or district surrounded by the territory of another country; an isolated territory.” An enclave requires isolation and an enclosure. On the other hand, an “embassy” is “a diplomatic mission, a group of people from one organization being represented in another.” An embassy implies a mission, an intentional sense of purpose with strategy to reach out beyond boundaries as representatives of the King. A “come” church, while seeking to get people to come into the building, would usually prefer certain kinds of people to come, forgetting that the Gospel is for everyone everywhere. For these people, the local church is primarily about feeling comfortable and unchallenged, a place where they can be with others just like them.

Church as a place for Professionals to Perform. A “come” church looks forward to watching professional ministers (some paid and some unpaid) perform religious acts. It forgets that the weekend service is the time when coaches give instructions to the team about how to win the game after the meeting. It forgets that the normal “ministry centers” for Jesus followers are out in the neighborhoods, the work places, the schools, and the marketplace. It forgets that, although there are some who are gifts to the church as pastoral coaches and equippers, every believer is “in the full time ministry.”

It’s easy for us to get comfortable in our local churches. “Go” requires thought, intention and effort. It’s especially important for members of the church staff to strategically engage the outside community, as representatives of the King and of their particular kingdom community. After all, our model is not the local church down the street but the ones we observe in the book of Acts.