Re-Thinking Mission with Kevin DeYoung

At the 2010 Sovereign Grace Ministries conference, Kevin DeYoung, a pastor in East Lansing, MI, gave an address on the mission of the church. It is over an hour in length and worth listening to in full. DeYoung calls us to think about the mission of the church in terms of the Great Commission in response to popular notions today of expanding the mission to include humanitarian aid or social justice work.

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/blogs/sgm/post/Kevin-DeYoung-Rethinking-the-Mission-of-the-Church.aspx

Some intial thoughts.

1. Changing the "oughts" to "cans" is brilliant. There are all sorts of ways the church can spread the Gospel in their communities. We don't need to argue that Jesus' ministry included equal emphasis on spiritual salvation and meeting physical needs in order to help people. Jesus did meet needs while he proclaimed the Gospel because of his compassion for the people. We can meet needs as we fulfill the mission of making disciples.

2. The church should purpose to do what only the church can do. DeYoung's survey of Acts clearly demonstrates the priority the early church placed on proclaiming the Gospel and establishing the local church. Acts does contain plenty of giving, sharing, and caring for the poor (e.g. Acts 2, 5, 6), but these examples demonstrate how the church functions internally, not how it reached the Gentile world.

3. As a missions pastor of a very large church, one of my tasks is to keep the many missions passions of my congregation tied to the anchor of the biblical mission of the church. So as my church considers a missions endeavor, it is a good idea to ask the question, "How is this endeavor going to create disciples who passionately follow Jesus in the context of the body of Christ?"