What Is the Mission of the Church?
Authors: Kevin DeYoung & Greg Gilbert
Written: 2011
“The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering these disciples into churches, that they might worship and obey Jesus Christ now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father”
Hello Ordinary Readers,
Have you ever thought about what the Bible tells us the mission of the Church is? I always understood it as the Great Commission being the mission, “therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20). What DeYoung and Gilbert help us unpack is how the church implements this. Especially in how we can make sense of social justice and peace. My first quote they get to later in the book, but I think it is a good definition of what the role of the church is. DeYoung and Gilbert do a wonderful job of looking at the entire Biblical narrative and understanding the kingdom of God.
Where this book really shines is in its expositional work on the kingdom and social justice. Chapter six, Making Sense of Social Justice; Exposition is a chapter all believers should read to get a biblical foundation for social justice. Then in chapter seven Deyoung and Gilbert seek to apply the principles exposited from scripture. These two chapters are worth reading the entire book.
I think this is a great book for all believers to read. I would not put it as an urgent read, but if you are a college student or dealing with a lot of issues regarding mercy ministries then it would be worth your time to put this book towards the top of your list.
Happy Reading!
Quotes
“What Jesus says is this: if we are too embarrassed, too lazy, or too cowardly to support fellow Christians at our doorstep who depend on our assistance and are suffering for the sake of the gospel, we will go to hell.”
“In fact, a good number of recent books have argued from these issues that it is the mission of the church to provide health care, repair housing slums, plant trees, fund disease research, and clean streets-in short, to work toward the perfect, shalom-filled new heavens and new earth that God intends there to be at the end.”