What is the Missionary Task?
Go - The missions task begins by going. If the church is to make disciples of all nations, she must go. That means believers, called out by Christ and His church go to new cultures, new people groups for a purpose. And what is that purpose?
Make disciples of all nations - Making disciples involves proclaiming and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who do not have a personal relationship with Him. Making disciples involves teaching the Word of God to new believers and modeling the life of Christ to be lived out in cultures of sin and darkness.
Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - Baptism represents new believers dying to self and completely identifying with the fullness of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the public testimony, an outward act of obedience to Christ that represents an inward transformation of life and character.
Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you - The phrase “to obeserve” can also be translated “to obey.” The missionary task is to teach new baptized believers to obey Christ and His Word in all things. What is the context in which these new baptized believers learn to obey Christ? The local church. A local New Testament church with Christ as the head and His members as His hands and feet in the world, is the plan of God to expand His Kingdom in the world.
Planting New Testament Baptist churches and teaching others to plant churches is what we do on the field. There are a million other things that a missionary can do on the field, but if this mandate is forgotten and other things take priority than we lose our effectiveness and in fact we become disobedient to the call.
Will you pray today that we as Southern Baptist missionaries in the Dominican Republic and Haiti will stay true always to our calling from Christ to fulfill the Great Commission? Pray today that we will not be distracted by other good things that would take us away from the best and highest calling in our field. Pray that God will raise up thousands of Dominican and Haitian missionaries with a heart for the Great Commission that results in the planting of thousands of churches. A Harvest in Hispaniola awaits! Will you come to the throne of the Lord and plead for the souls of our people?
