Right before his ascension, Jesus calls us to join him in his mission, “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 commended you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, ESV).
Jesus commissions us, the churches of Sovereign Grace, to make new disciples and to mature existing disciples as a means to advance the gospel. We know that because the “make disciples” language used in verse 19, links mission and the local church together. Eckhard Schnabel says it this way, “The directive to make disciples demonstrates the ecclesiological dimension of the mission: missionary work and church must not be separated since the very goal and purpose of missionary work is the creation of a community of disciples.”* Local and global mission springs from the local church, and it leads to the planting of new churches where discipleship occurs and disciples mature.
We, as a family of churches, are called to reach out with the gospel and make new disciples, and to help existing disciples mature in Christ as we apply the gospel to their lives. The 2nd Quarter Sovereign Grace Mission Video captures how this is being done in one of our churches: Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans, LA.
Please take a few minutes to watch this video and be encouraged by how the members of Lakeview are laboring for the gospel. If you are financially supporting Sovereign Grace, I want you to see how your giving is being used to support Lakeview’s efforts to make and mature disciples. And if you’re not currently giving to Sovereign Grace, prayerfully consider doing so. You can give here.
* Eckhard J. Schnable, Early Christian Mission: Jesus and the Twelve (Downers Grave: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 356.
Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. He and his wife, Jill, have three married daughters and a growing number of grandchildren.