The Mission of the Church

by Dale Grissom

From The Reminder, March 27, 2011

The mission of the church is to win lost souls.  Sadly, few Christians seem to realize this fact, failing to make it a top priority in their lives.  Most drift along, apparently thinking that meeting for worship and Bible study is all that is necessary, never really accepting the responsibility of winning the lost.

All too often, we neglect to read and build ourselves up through diligent study of the Word, looking instead to our Bible classes and pulpit preaching for edification.  On the contrary, our Bible classes ought to be more evangelistic in nature, and the Christian’s responsibility to evangelize should be stressed in more sermons.

The early church went everywhere preaching and teaching the Gospel, but the church of today is moving further and further away from that pattern.  No longer are we interested in evangelizing locally, but instead, our money and prayers are concentrated on evangelism overseas.  We seem to have no interest in spreading the Gospel in our own community, but have convinced ourselves that our doors are always open to anyone who is interested.  Brethren, this just won’t work!  We are fooling ourselves into believing that we are living up to God’s command to go teach!  We simply must face up to the fact that the majority of conversions come as the result of personal one-to-one teaching and study.

We must care enough no make personal evangelism a part of our lives.  The Great Commission is a command for Christians to go preach, and we can go into the world and preach the Gospel by beginning in our own community.  The world is all around us.  Jesus said, “If you love me keep my commandments”  (John 14:15).

Life is passing quickly; we must act while we have time and opportunity.  Please carefully consider your own responsibilities as a child of God.