The Imperative Nature of the Church: What Is Our Urgent Task?

What is the imperative task of a Christian? What is the imperative nature of the church? Jesus gave imperative commands to his followers in the New Testament, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. . . Love your neighbor as yourself.”(Mark 12:30-31) Jesus also offered this commission to those who would follow him, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20)

In my experience, loving God is a priority for Christians. For the love of God, we worship regularly, give generously, read the Bible and pray regularly. Many Christians also adhere to the second commandment, endeavoring to love neighbor. While it is much easier to "love" the unnamed neighbor through gifts of charity and generalized prayer than to "love" the neighbors closest to us, Christians understand that this it is the desire of God that we love one another.

When it comes to Jesus' commission for disciples, however, Christians are not as enthusiastic or faithful. Jesus' imperative mission, the last directions he gave his disciples before ascending to heaven, is that Christian disciples are to make Christian disciples.

I don't believe this command means that we need to start strong-arming our friends and family into following Jesus or into the faith practices that work for us. Jesus' commission does mean that Christians are telling others about their faith and inviting others to participate with them in faith practices (worship, service, etc.).

This is not only the imperative work of each believer; it is also the imperative nature of the church. The church exists for the making of disciples. 

I recently sat with a group of clergy who are leading churches through the Vital Church Initiative. We agreed that many of our everyday tasks as pastors and the regular tasks of our church leaders distract us from the church's purpose. What would happen if before every task, before every program, during every meeting, we were to ask, "Will this fulfill our mission? Does this work help to make disciples for Jesus Christ?"

A more intriguing question for me as a pastoral leader is, "What would happen if I made the church's mission my urgent goal? What if I started to ask, with every task, does this move the church forward in its mission?"

I'm making the commitment to ask these questions. Perhaps not on a minute by minute basis, but as I review my days' work and my weeks' work, I can rise to this challenge. I suspect that my schedule will not be altered. What will change is the "why" for what I do. My prayer is that Jesus' imperatives to love God and neighbor AND to make disciples will inform how I choose to work and to live.