The late Keith Green released a song that launched a mission movement: ‘Jesus Commands Us To Go.’ One verse declares;

Jesus commands us to go
It should be the exception if we stay
It’s no wonder we’re moving so slow
When His church refuse to obey
Feeling so called to stay

The ‘go’ command comes from the Great Commission verse Matthew 28:18-20: “Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'” The point of this verse is to embrace that we need to go.

The church needs to be in motion. Not mindless motion, but heavenly directed motion. All authority in heaven has been given to Christ. Christ wields this authority for one purpose, to mobilize those who call themselves His disciples to go and make disciples of all people groups.

We must realize that the goal of going is making disciples and the target is all nations. The meaning of ‘nations’ is ethnic or people groups. The task is not simply to plant a gathering of people but rather a gathering of reproducing disciples empowered with the same heavenly edict to make disciples in their cultural context and beyond.

When we work with the local churches of those communities it is to ultimately help them to reach their community, empowering them to fulfill the go command where they live.

Your partnership in the mission of Firstlight is not necessarily an “outreach”, [per-se] as much as it is an “in-reach,” going into that community as servants to the disciples who are there to further advance the kingdom across the globe!

~ Tony Foster