We (along with the rest of the Church of God Movement) have been commissioned to answer three very important questions. All three hope to address the more pressing question: why do we exist as a Movement? Jonathan posted about the purpose of the Church of God movement and Joe shared in response to query about the Church of God’s unique contribution to the Kingdom. The third question is this:
Upon what should the Movement focus going forward?
This is the question I was asked to explore. But how can I be so bold as to propose the focus for the whole Church of God as we move forward into the future? I began to sweat as I thought about what I could possibly suggest. But then it hit me. The question could just as well be “where should my focus be?” As I live my life as a follower of Christ and as a Church of God Pastor, where should my focus be? Because the truth is, if I can’t get on board with the answer to this question (or the others) that we are asking for the Church of God at large, than why am I part of this Movement?
And so, for better or worse, I approach this question for myself. As I move forward (in life, in ministry, as a believer) what is to be my focus? As I think about this question it occurs to me that I don’t have to come up with something new or brilliant. Jesus laid out for us the perfect focus for now and for our future: make disciples (Matthew 28:19). If this was the focus of the Church of God – the world would be changed. If we spent our time and energy on this call – we could transform the lives around us.
I am aware that this focus should be the focus of all churches and not just the Church of God, but I find myself wondering why we have to separate ourselves out before we get to doing the work that God called us to. Wasn’t the whole point of why the Church of God came to be? To “come out of denominational Babylon”? Isn’t that why the Movement was formed? And here we are once again trying to define our uniqueness in the family of God rather than just accepting that we are part of it and that we have work to do.
There are so many people who are truly lost (outside of relationship with God) and we’re worried about our Movement being lost in the tide of denominations. There are so many lost people (people who God created and who God loves) who are separated from God. There are so many people who are dying and need what we have. We are so distracted about things that don’t matter that we’ve forgotten why we do exist – and it’s not to be unique. We exist because we know God and we want other people to know God too.
So for me, what has to be our focus as we move forward is those lost people and the work that still needs to be done. We cannot lose sight of the mission that we are called to: 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-21).
Amen and amen, Shannon!
Shannon, I think you’re right and correct to point us back to “making disciples.” Our focus shouldn’t be children’s/youth programs, wonderful Easter services, or even eradicating human trafficking. Those things aren’t bad, but need to be kept in perspective as ‘means’ not ‘ends’.
One thing will say, in a stubborn effort to tie this back into our identity – The great commission, like much of Scripture, is open to interpretation. What does a disciple look like? What are the best methods for accomplishing this task? Should we make “more” or “better”? While every church and denomination has ‘making disciples’ as a focus, how we understand and practice that is going to look different. Therefore, what does it look like for the ChOG Movement to make disciples? How do we understand what a disciple is? I would argue that much of Evangelical Christianity sees disciples as people who believe and think a certain way. However, our theology and history would say different, partially because we’re pietistic not evangelical. We come from a more practical, rather than fundamental, foundation. So for us, disciples would be people who believe and live (or act/behave/embody) Christ-centered lives. Maybe our focus should be, making disciples – which means both embodying the virtues and values of the kingdom, while also inviting other to participate along with us.
Shannon, Great article. I agree however with Jonathan. Our identity and self understanding is still a priority issue and cannot simply be bypassed.
In our quest to leave the “Denominational Babylon”, we have given ourselves a very high sounding name, calling ourselves a movement. But in doing so ( and asking others to join us) we have created another denomination of its own, creating another subset of people who believe in a specific set of doctrines that separates them from others, pietistic or evangelical!
To truly break the Denominational Barrier, we need a superset (or a movement) within which each denomination will find itself represented without threat, within which each is freed from the necessity of defending itself but rather bless each other through experiences and resources, within which no group is afraid of losing itself. I believe the denominational walls that we have are not walls of doctrine but of fear, unwillingness to love one another and unwillingness to recognize one another and accept the difference of the other.
Such a thing, i think, would be befitting of the term “Movement”.
Recognizing that we would be but one voice in such a movement, what unique perspective of Discipleship, of Justice or of anything else would we bring to the table?