The goal of every parent is not only to bring children into this world but also to provide a nurturing environment to facilitate growth. It is in this context the child is expected to mature, become a productive member of the society and even reproduce. The mission of the church can be likened to that of parenting, to make and mature disciples who will make and mature more disciples.
After Jesus rose from the dead, he said to his disciples "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."(Matthew 28:19-20) Here Jesus shows us his strategy for reaching nations with the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation with God. This is the never changing mission of the church. His approach is that the world will be changed if we engage in disciple-making. What is a disciple? The New Testament uses the terms, mathetes (disciple, learner) and akoloutheo (to follow) to describe a disciple. Dallas Willard says that a disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice - a practitioner… Disciples of Jesus are people who do not just profess specific views as their own but apply their growing understanding of life in the Kingdom of the Heavens to every aspect of their life on earth.
We make disciples first when we proclaim Christ and what he has done to those who are lost, broken and wander like sheep without a shepherd. ( Mat 9:36) The gospel has the power to save ( Rom 1:16) and makes people new creations in Christ( 2 Cor 5:17), baptism is evidence of this new life.
The second aspect of discipleship is in maturing believers, which comes through continual teaching them to observe what Jesus commanded through the Spirit. Maturing believers includes sending them to "go" also make disciples as Christ did with the disciples. We call these mature disciples leaders today, but the right term is servants. In Christianity, your greatness is not measured by ascending to a throne but you're descending into Christ-like servanthood (see Mat 20:26, Phil 2:5-11).
The never changing mission of the church is to make disciples and mature disciples through the gospel. A disciple looks likes Christ at new birth and looks more like Christ as they mature. At the center of all our work in the church has to be a question are we making and maturing disciples.?
