But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you." (Judges 8:23 – NKJV)
In Old Testament times God had a plan for the nation of Israel, it involved Him being their king. Israel however rejected this plan. Instead they wanted to be like other nations around them with a human king. God listened to Israel and gave them what they wanted. He even worked with them in their plan and gave leadership to it. However at the end of the day it was their plan, not God’s. I call Israel’s plan “Plan B”, compared to God’s plan, which I call “Plan A”.
I believe the church has done the same thing as Israel. I believe we have rejected God’s plan for the church, Plan A, and instead are working on our own plan, Plan B.
I believe Plan A is for the church to make the church’s mission, the Great Commission, its primary focus.
The Great Commission in fact is the church’s mission. Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to everyone in the world and make disciples of all nations. Accordingly it is supposed to be our primary focus. In fact it was Jesus’ primary ministry (preaching the gospel and making disciples), and led by the apostles, it was also the New Testament Church’s primary ministry.
Focusing on our mission, the Great Commission, is truly “Plan A” for the church.
There is a problem with having the Great Commission being the church’s primary focus however. The Great Commission will get the church persecuted and even killed, and it will get us persecuted and killed all around the world. The reason is because the world opposes the gospel with opposition that comes from people in general, governments, and other religions. Ultimately the devil and the kingdom of darkness oppose it. And all of them will persecute the church for it, even to death.
This is a biblical fact. It happened to Jesus, it happened to the apostles, and it happened to the New Testament Church. And subsequently it has happened to the church throughout history as well as continues to happen to the church in the world today.
We however as a church don’t like being persecuted, so what we have done is we have changed Christianity. What we have done is we have stopped being focused on our mission, the Great Commission, and instead we have become like other religions, focused on worshipping our God, primarily through the Sunday worship service. The reason is because the world is a very religious place and it accepts us when we act like a typical religion. As such the only time that we really suffer persecution is when we are in religiously intolerant areas, which is something all religions face.
We actually started this in the second century with the second generation church, which I call the “Early Church”, the church that succeeded the New Testament Church, the church led by the so called “church fathers” who were the men who took over the leadership of the church from the apostles.
The New Testament Church was focused on its mission, the Great Commission, and they took the gospel throughout the Roman Empire and beyond.
The Early Church however changed Christianity. They made it into a worshipping religion, one focused on the worship of our God, primarily through the Sunday worship service. Along with it they introduced official church buildings (the New Testament Church did not use official church buildings), formal church services (the New Testament Church held informal meetings), a professional leadership team that did most of the ministry with a passive laity (the New Testament Church purposed to have everyone involved in ministry), as well as academic theology (the New Testament Church just had the plain teachings of Jesus and the apostles as well as the Old Testament). As such they made us into a typical world religion because these are all things regular religions have.
The church has subsequently been following this basic model ever since, even to this very day, including the Evangelical Church.
Personally I call it “How to do Christianity and not get killed!”
Most in the Evangelical Church believe our model is completely biblical because it contains many biblical things, however foundationally it is not truly biblical, it is actually religious because true biblical Christianity is focused on the Great Commission, not the worship of our God. We do of course worship our God, it is just not supposed to be our primary focus. It was not Jesus’ primary focus, nor, as led by the apostles, was it the New Testament Church’s primary focus. Great Commission ministry, preaching the gospel and making disciples, was.
Also, most in the Evangelical Church believe we are doing God’s will when doing church focused primarily on the worship of our God because God uses it, anoints it, and even leads us in it. The truth is however God works with us at where we are at, and if a church that is primarily focused on worshipping Him is what we are willing to give Him, that is what He will work with. As in Old Testament times God works with plan B, even working with it in great and miraculous ways, however it does not mean it is His will. His true will is that we minister His salvation to the entire world through preaching the gospel and making disciples so that the entire world can come to salvation.
This of course leads to the question, “Is there a problem with us working Plan B rather than Plan A?
The problem with Plan B is you can’t minister and fulfil the Great Commission world- wide for real following it. To minister and fulfil the Great Commission world-wide for real, you have to make it your primary focus – you have to do it the Plan A way.
The reason is because our opposition is such that without a wholehearted focus on it, complete with a willingness to go through persecution, suffering, and even death for it, you will never do it.
Currently we are doing a tremendous amount of Great Commission ministry world- wide. We have planted countless churches and we have countless ministries doing evangelism and discipleship, much of it anointed with a tremendous amount of fruit. However, despite all of this work, we are falling dreadfully short of ministering and fulfilling the Great Commission world-wide for real.
In fact, here is the current state of the Great Commission today:
The majority of the world’s population does not know the gospel
Many of those who have heard the gospel do not know it beyond its clichés
A number of churchgoers do not fully understand or fully believe it as witnessed by the fact that a number of Evangelicals believe that salvation merely requires reciting the "sinner’s prayer", a number from mainstream churches are trusting in their good works for their salvation, and a number question whether Jesus really is the only way to God
Most Christians around the world have not been properly discipled to a biblical / ministry institute level
Despite all of the ministry we are doing all over the world, we are actually only evangelising a small percentage of the world’s population, and we are only seriously discipling a small percentage of the church
Regarding fulfilling the prophecy about the fulfilment of the Great Commission (Matthew 24:14) by preaching the gospel in all the world as witness to all the nations, literally all people groups, of the 11,000 to 17,000 different people groups in the world, approximately one-third are unreached
If the truth be told, we are not even fulfilling the Great Commission in our communities, let alone the world.
The reason we are like this, despite all of the ministry we are doing, is because we are doing things in such a way as to not get killed.
This can be plainly seen in the way we do ministry:
Most of our ministry is towards the church while the least of our ministry is towards the lost
Of the ministry we do towards the lost, most of it is done in areas where the church is well represented while the least of our ministry is done in areas where the church is not well represented
Also of the ministry we do towards the lost, most of it is humanitarian work while the least is straightforward evangelistic ministry
(We are least likely to be persecuted in churches, in areas where the church is well represented, and while doing humanitarian work among the lost.)
Ultimately we are happy just doing evangelistic and discipleship ministry rather than purposing to evangelise everyone and to make biblical / ministry institute quality disciples of all believers.
And that’s the problem with Plan B, doing Christianity in such a way as to not get killed. Only a percentage of people get evangelised and discipled, which leaves us dreadfully short of ministering and fulfilling the Great Commission world-wide for real.
If you want to minister and fulfil the Great Commission world-wide for real, you actually have to do Christianity in such a way that you will get killed – just like Jesus and the apostles and the New Testament Church. You have to do things God’s Plan A way, wholeheartedly focused on our mission, the Great Commission, complete with a willingness to go through persecution, suffering, and even death for it.
Now of course many in the church are happy with the way things are currently being done including many in leadership. There is a tremendous amount of effective, God anointed ministry being done world-wide; in many cases we’re very professional and we look really good doing our ministry; there is a lot of money in what we are doing; and many of our leaders and workers are able to live great lives while working in the ministry as their careers – times are really good if the truth be told, particularly for those living in so called “Christian lands”. And truly if you want to do great, effective ministry and live a great life while doing it, Plan B is the way to go. However if you want to minister and fulfil the Great Commission world-wide for real, Plan A is the only way to go!