The mission of the church is to go into the world in the power of the Spirit and make disciples by proclaiming this gospel, calling people to respond in ongoing repentance and faith, and demonstrating the truth and power of the gospel by living under the lordship of Christ for the glory of God and the good of the world.
One of the key takeaways for me is that Jesus said we are His witnesses. He didn’t just say “go witness,” He said we are already His witnesses. That means that being a witness for Jesus is an identity, not just a task. Now, certainly, if we are witnesses in how we live, we’ll be involved in the activity of verbally “witnessing” the truth of the gospel, but I think it’s important that we keep the order there. Jesus says, “You are my witnesses.” Your very existence as a follower of Jesus is a witness to the truth of the gospel. So once you know that, you need to live into your identity – you need to lean more into that and not away from it. It’s like being named the son of a king and then realizing that you are a prince. This is who you are. You can focus on what you are supposed to do as a prince, but that’s not the place to start. Identity first, then tasks and responsibilities. Get that order wrong and you’ll burn out, thinking that your identity depends on your actions, rather than the other way around.