Outsourcing The Great Commission
By: Chris Osmore
Tags: Consumerism, Christianity, Church, Religion, America

It’s common and it is popular, but it’s not a Biblical idea. — Chris Osmore

In the Bible, evangelism and the meeting of the saints are separate endeavors. Many churches have gone far beyond biblical hospitality and have encouraged their congregations to regularly invite unbelievers to the church gathering.

As a result, many Christians have habitually outsourced their spiritual responsibility to preach the Gospel, and instead, reduced their role to merely inviting non-believers to their church where a “professional” pastor can preach it for them.

When we as Christians shift our only form of evangelism from just inviting people to church to meeting people where they are, walking with them in their mess, and start living and sharing The Gospel, we will see a greater move of God like never before. Don’t get me wrong. I think that being apart of a local community of believers is important, but inviting doesn’t replace the command of the Great Commission. “The truth is churches should be launching pad, not just a place to gather.” The church originally was created for so much more than the the American consumeristic Church is portraying. If we are being honest the American model of Christianity pales in comparison to the early church.

Somewhere along the way the church saw a way to make money and the church stopped fulfilling the command that Jesus gave us and started becoming a business.

The church was anointed and commissioned to make disciples of ALL nations and proclaim the Good News of Jesus to the world. God forgive me of any entertainment that I have given anyone. Forgive me father for making “excellence” my God rather than you. Forgive me father for getting caught in conversation about church that I never was actually the church. God forgive me for letting marketing replace the Great Commission. The faith of most American “believers” looks like bogus compared to the faith of the apostles in the book of Acts. Pastors say all the time “We are the Church”, but at the same time preach that people should just invite people to their Sunday Services rather than acually be the church.

People have told me don’t start a war you’re not ready for. I think it acually might be the best thing for the church of America. It sure is scary, but I am going to war with the American Consumeristic version of Christianity. It’s Fake!

My dear friend Andi Andrew, poses some great questions in her book Fake or Follower,

“ Have our gatherings simply become a place in which our personal preferences and needs are met so that we can reach our goals and dreams, while subsequently losing sight of the fact that we are connected to God and to one another? Have we forgotten that the church is supposed to be a place for equipping so that we can go out to our spheres of influence and do the work of ministry — meeting needs and sharing the Gospel in our communities?” — Andi Andrew, Lead Pastor of Liberty Church NYC

The Church has to return to where it was at the beginning of the age, like it in the book of Acts. It was radical, revolutionary, life-changing, world-changing, and one with Israel and it was Jewish. The faith of the apostles and disciples was one of Jewish faith and its for everyone. We must repent and return. The Messiah can’t come back for a broken bride or a broken body. The two must become one again. #repent #return #restore #reconcile