The Church's Mission

In discussing the nature of the one church, I was recently asked, “If you truly believe that the church of Christ is the only church that has salvation correct, why is the church of Christ not doing more to save people?” As the church of Christ is the only church Jesus established, then surely it is the only one that teaches how to be saved. The question he posed though is the one that is hard to deal with. If we know we are teaching what the Bible teaches, why are we not doing more to save people?

In his book, Preachers, Wake Up!, brother J.J. Turner notes that “[t]he mission of the church has been devalued. Instead of going into the world to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15), the world must be brought to the church.” This is surely a great delineation from the mission of Christ. Jesus came to SEEK and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus did more searching for people than letting people search for Him.

It’s easy to say, “Well I invited him to church, and he didn’t show up,” to ease the guilt we all share in our lack of evangelism, but we will still be responsible for what we fail to do. We can always be more evangelistic and there will always be missed opportunities, but saying, “Well you should come to services” is not real evangelism. We need to be active in preaching and teaching the Gospel, engaging people in Biblical discussions and studying the Bible with them, not throwing out an invitation and hoping it sticks. Let us follow the mission of Jesus to SEEK and save the lost. If we don’t do it, who will?