Category Archives: Outreach

Before ascending back to heaven, Jesus commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:18-20). This command has come to be known as the Great Commission. We don’t find the term “Great Commission” in the Bible, except perhaps in the man-made headings which were not a part of the original text.

We don’t know for certain who coined the term Great Commission, but the missionary Hudson Taylor used the term in the late 1800’s when recruiting missionaries. Let’s consider how the term fits Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18-20.

Why call Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:18-20 a Commission?

When we commission someone, we authorize them to accomplish a certain duty. Jesus did just that, noting in verse 18 His authority to command His disciples to go and make disciples. This is a charge He has given us.

Elsewhere Scripture identifies believers as co-workers, or co-laborers, with Christ (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1). We are therefore on mission with Him. He has given us a message of reconciliation to proclaim. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor. 5:18-21)

And, let’s not forget that Jesus is with us as we go and make disciples. Jesus ends His commission with, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). We truly are on mission with Him.

Why call the Great Commission “Great”?

To answer that, let’s first consider what it can’t mean.

• It cannot be great in the sense of it being the only command. We find many other commands in Scripture for followers of Jesus.
• It cannot be great in the sense of it being the highest, most important command. Jesus Himself identified love for God as the greatest commandment, followed by love for other people (Matt. 22:37-40).

So, what then could make it a “Great” Commission?

• Perhaps it’s great because the One who commissioned us is great. “All authority in heaven and on earth” belongs to Jesus (Matt. 28:18).
• Maybe it’s great because of how far reaching it is. To “make disciples of all nations” suggests a broad outreach.
• Could it be great because of how encompassing it is? Making disciples goes beyond leading someone to salvation through Jesus. It involves “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything” He commanded. That suggests helping people get beyond having Jesus as their Savior to also allowing Him to be the Lord of their lives – fully devoted followers of Jesus.
• Perhaps it’s great because Jesus is present with us as we go and make disciples. He said, “surely I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).

Obviously all of the above go into making it a “Great” Commission, regardless of why someone originally called it that.

Resources by Ministry Tools Resource Center:

• For Church Leaders and the Great Commission: Steering the Church Toward Discipleship Leadership Guide

• For Others: Outreach Resources

Among a list of reasons we don’t proclaim Jesus we may find fear, inconvenience, and discomfort. How do we gain confidence in proclaiming Jesus? Perhaps we haven’t gotten to the point where we truly believe Jesus is worth sharing. It hard to be confident doing something in which we don’t place sufficient value.

Knowing Firsthand the Value of Being Changed Should Lead to Confidence in Proclaiming Jesus

Do we remember the state of our hearts and lives before getting saved? Isn’t the change we experienced worth sharing? Or, have we so quickly forgotten how God “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6)?

God broke through the darkness of our lives not with just a glimmer of knowledge about Him but rather with the “knowledge of God’s glory.” He wants us to know Him personally, fully, and intimately for the great God that He is. As we continue to grow in “in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might”, we’ll find endurance, patience, and heart gratitude to the Father who qualified us “to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light” (Col. 1:10-12). With a renewed appreciation and understanding, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord because what we have seen and experienced is indeed worth sharing.

Confident Because of God’s Glory, Not Anything We Do

God has given “us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. (Heb. 1:3)

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. (Col. 2:9-10a)

Jesus answered … Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (Jn. 14:9)

God sent Jesus to this world to not only bring us light but to be our Light.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. … The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. … to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:4-14)

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn. 8:12)

This is the same Jesus who said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” after commissioning His followers to go and make disciples. How can we not have confidence if the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6) is right there with us? Leading people to Christ isn’t dependent on us but rather the One who is with us.

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. (1 Cor. 3:7)

Get More on Proclaiming Jesus and Helping Others Do the Same: Outreach Ministry Resources

We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. And, we have good reasons to do so, according to 2 Corinthians 4:5-6, other than commands in Scripture. Therein we find motivation that takes us beyond mere duty in our outreach efforts.

Find Motivation to Proclaim Jesus Because of His Transforming Power

Notice the personal nature of 2 Corinthians 4:6 which says, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts …”. God has done a transforming work on our lives. We dwelt in the darkness of sin and eternal death until God broke through the darkness with His Light in Christ Jesus.

This is the same God whose first act in the creation of the world was to separate the light from the darkness (Gen. 1:3-5). Now He reaches down on the personal level into the lives of individual people and makes us new creations in Christ by taking us out of the kingdom of darkness and into His kingdom of His Son who is Light.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13-14)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Pet. 2:9-10)

Belonging to Something Greater Than Ourselves Motivates

We now belong to something much greater than ourselves. As members of the kingdom of His Son who is light, as His people, we have a purpose to work in cooperation with the One who called us out of darkness. We’re His ambassadors, on mission with Him. What a privilege, not mere duty!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:17-20)

Motivated by Firsthand Experience

2 Corinthians 4:6 reflects the reality of 1 John 1:1-3. — “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. … We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard …”

When we’ve experienced God’s transforming power and love in our own lives and see what a difference it makes to the very core of our being, we have something worth sharing with others.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Cor. 5:14-15)

For Help with Proclaiming Jesus, Go To: Outreach Resources

Scripture makes it clear that outreach is about Jesus and what He did, not about us and what we do.

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Cor. 4:5)

The Person We Proclaim is Jesus Christ as Lord, Not Ourselves

Consider these important truths:

Jesus is the One who saves. HE is the message. — We’re His messengers.

Christ is the Messiah. HE is the anointed One. — We’re His servants.

Jesus is Lord. HE is the One people should follow. — We’re proclaimers for Jesus’ sake, not to gain a personal gathering.

The Perspective Needed to Keep the Focus of Outreach on Jesus, Not Ourselves

The verses leading up to 2 Corinthians 4:5 help us maintain perspective. The word “for” with which verse five begins, suggests we look at the context.

v. 1 – “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

We have this ministry of proclaiming Jesus as Lord through God’s mercy, not because of how great we are. We therefore persevere when others fail to acknowledge our part in outreach or when we don’t see results. We mustn’t let proclaiming God’s Good News turn into something that puffs us up.

v. 2 – “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Proclaimers of Jesus need lives filled with truth, integrity, and pure motives. Selflessness, not self-centeredness, matches the message we bring. We mustn’t look for personal benefit or acclaim but proclaim the Good News in such a way that everything points to and goes to Jesus.

v. 3-4 – “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

We have a message that not everyone will believe because they have been blinded by the “god of this world.” Expect some opposition. We mustn’t take rejection personally as it is not about people following us but Jesus Christ as Lord.

These verses teach that proclaiming Jesus needs to be about Him, not us. Let’s keep this perspective! We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, not ourselves.

For this very reason, the sub-title for the Outreach Ministry Manual is “Turning the Spotlight on Jesus” — how we should view outreach. (Click on the link to check out that resource.)

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Cor. 4:5)

About the Outreach of Proclaiming

Before thinking this post only pertains to those who preach from a pulpit, consider these truths:

1) The Apostle Paul wrote this post. He did not serve in the manner of a typical preacher in a church as we know today.

2) The word “preach” in this verse means “to proclaim after the manner of a herald” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). A herald brings important news — a messenger.

We have the same Good News (the Gospel) to proclaim as the Apostle Paul. — “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared …” (1 Cor. 15:3-5)

We Proclaim a Person of Great Significance

The message we proclaim is a Person, not a creed or dogma. And, be sure to note that Person isn’t us. We’re merely the messengers. — “For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5) — We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, not merely as a good person or prophet.

The names attributed to this Person not only describe who He is but also point to what He did for us.

Jesus: The angel told Joseph, “you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). This name means “Jehovah is salvation” and thus points to Him as God come in the flesh to be our Savior. This is of great significance because the death of a mere human would not satisfy the just demands of a holy God.

Christ: This name points to Jesus as the anointed One, prophesied as the Messiah who would come to carry out God’s plan of salvation (Lk. 2:11; 24:46; Jn. 11:27; 20:31; Acts 26:23). How significant that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies pointing to the Messiah, thus substantiating His claims.

Lord: “He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” (Col. 1:18) Certainly to be able to save and do what He said He would do, Jesus has to have full authority and power.

Is this the message we proclaim? Do we point people to Jesus Christ as Lord?

Read More in This Series:

• • We Proclaim Jesus, Not Ourselves
  • Why We Proclaim Jesus
  • Motivation to Proclaim Jesus
  • Confidence in Proclaiming Jesus
  • How To Proclaim Jesus

Outreach Resources by Ministry Tools Resource Center