The Goal of All Ministry
It’s Exciting, Challenging, and Doable
Keep the Main Goal Clear and Everything Else Falls into Place
Sometimes It’s Like Driving Through Fog
I will never forget driving home from a campus Bible study when the fog was so thick I could barely see even a few feet in front of me. What made it worse was that we were driving from a small town in Bavaria back to our home in the Munich area, so there were no street lights; just a thick, dense cloud wall.
From time to time Janet had to open the passenger side door to look and see if we were still within the painted outer line of the road. We could not see a car coming from the other direction until it was literally just a few feet in front of us.
Let me tell you, we were so RELIEVED when we made it to the autobahn with strong street lights shining down from above. We could see again and were able to drive again with much greater ease and speed.
Often, as individuals, groups, or churches, we feel like we’re driving in thick fog. We know the basic direction but have a lot of trouble seeing how to get there. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
We all live in a world of partial knowledge and insight…we just don’t know everything.
Even when desiring to do God’s will, often it really is one step at a time based on the light and understanding we currently have. It often feels like we face significant times of fog as we follow Jesus.
Thankfully, Jesus sees perfectly and if we stay close to Him He will get us where we need to go.
What adds to this lack of clarity are all the good and important things we, as Christians, could be doing with our time and resources. Feed the poor, heal the sick, educate, care, liberate, and lead people into greater life experiences through Jesus.
These are all things the Bible teaches us to do….and more. They are all important and powerful expressions of the life of Jesus to the world. But I think these important works/ministries come out of a prioritized focus.
It’s About Transformation
When you read Jesus’ goal statements, “I came to….”, they all involved changing lives and changing the world towards God’s life and order.
“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38
“I came to seek and save the lost.” Luke 19:10
“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Colossians 1:28
On and on it goes: Jesus came to seek, save, heal, liberate, empower, grow, transform lives and transform the world.
Through People
God works through angels in ways we don’t often realize. He works through His word and through His Holy Spirit. But He also have chosen to work through His people, His body.
A perfect God has chosen to work through imperfect people.
But His goal is to change our lives and change the world so that His abundant life would become our experience and reality.
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
It’s been rightly said, God loves us just the way we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way.
God wants to heal us, liberate us, clean out the junk, fill us with light and love and life and more. 2 Peter 1:3–4 says God’s goal is that we experience increasing measures of His divine nature here on earth and in complete fulness in the next age.
To Change Lives and Change the World Involves Discipleship
Only people who are devoted followers of Jesus, disciples, will experience ongoing growth and transformation. Only people who are experiencing God’s transforming power can help change the world for God and good.
That’s why transformative discipleship is God’s main means of transforming the world.
You know the Great Commission found in Matthew 28. You know the words He spoke to his closest followers before He ascended into heaven. Those last words that would have been seared into the souls of those who heard them: “Make Disciples.”
When we keep love-driven, transformative discipleship our top priority, it helps us navigate the fog and follow the light of the presence of Jesus on the path of His purposes.
Believers and Disciples
The New Testament uses several words to describe Christians, but the word “disciples” dwarfs all the other terms. For comparison’s sake:
Saints:81x, including Old Testament references
Believers:13x
Disciples:238x in the New Testament
A disciple is a follower, a learner, a student, an apprentice of Jesus.
It means to have put our faith in Him as our only means of right standing with God and eternal, abundant life. And it means to have made a fundamental shift of placing Jesus as our #1 priority and ordering our lives around Him, His words, and His will.
We will never do it perfectly in this life (hence the learner, apprentice understanding), but our main goal in life is to follow Him every day, no matter what.
Someone who is following Jesus day by day has God’s promise that everything else we need to live and do His will, will be given to us (Matthew 6:33). When a person follows the path of Jesus-empowered discipleship, they give Him the right and the open door to do what only He can do inside them and around them.
God does not force us to do His will, to accept His grace, or to follow Him. He invites, He draws, and He empowers, but He does not make us trust Him or obey Him. But when we do, God steps in as only He can and does His God work. This is for disciples, not just those who have prayed a salvation prayer one time and then check in with God when they get in trouble.
The Goal is Transformation, Not Just Information
The goal is transformative discipleship that empowers transforming the world around us.
When people’s lives change, they experience the freedom, joy, and peace that God desires for them. When people walk in the balance of God’s grace and God’s directives, they are disciples who experience that transformation.
The goal of all ministry, no matter what type, needs to stay focused on helping people experience transformative discipleship, which empowers transforming our world.
What an awesome calling! We experience gradual growth and transformation and then share that life with the areas of the world God has placed us in.
If you want more resources on living a Jesus-centered life head over to www.TruvineMission.com
Want personal coaching on how to live all of God’s purposes for you life, take a look at www.MarkFurlongCoaching.com
