Becoming a World Changing Church

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20

King's Church International has a call to be a light to the nations. We, like every local church, are to be a people of transformation both locally and globally. Before our church even began our destiny was clear.

Recently I opened a package that someone had sent me. It contained a CD and booklet which told a story about a supernatural vision that was seen in a little church in a small village in Oakdale, South Wales in 1934.

It concerned two teenagers who were told that they were part of the vision. One of them was the subject of the booklet, Tom Whiting, who later ministered in over 20 countries, including Australia and New Zealand.

The other teenager, WTH 'Billy' Richards, was to become the pioneer of a ministry that reached many nations. He was also to found this church with just five people in a little Scout hut in Slough in 1943.

His father, my grandfather, had a vision in which he saw a globe of the world. He also 'heard the voice of the Lord clearly saying: 'the influence of the Oakdale assembly would encircle the earth.'

Today, as we minister in the increasingly multi-ethnic UK, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso and other nations, it becomes increasingly clear that this was indeed a God given vision. In the words of John Wesley, 'the world is our parish.'

In these verses we see that Jesus gave his small band of disciples a vast global mission and he assured them it was not a 'mission impossible.' In 'the Great Commission' he spells out the challenge of being a world changing church. We therefore need to be:

1. A Church of Action

'Then Jesus came to them and said...Therefore go...'
Matthew 28:18-19

Some observers have likened the church to a football match: 22 players in need of a rest, being watched and commented on by 50,000 people in need of exercise. Jesus, however, never intended Christianity to be a spectator sport where just a few get really involved. Everyone in the church has to get up and go. We have no mandate to sit around waiting for people to come.

Luke 14:21 says, 'Go quickly to the great streets and the small streets of the city and bring in here the poor and the disabled and the blind and the lame.' Verse 23 adds, 'go out in the highways and hedges and urge and constrain them to yield and to come in so that my house may be full' (Amplified Bible).

The church of God is to be a people on the move for God to reach each generation for Christ.

Charles Finney said, 'it should not be for a moment supposed that colleges and theological seminaries are going to provide men enough for the world's conversion. The fact is that every Christian man, woman, and child, must address himself and herself decidedly and exclusively to this work, or it will not be done.' ⁱ

This is of course what great Christian movements through the ages have always done. Historian Michael Green wrote that it was an 'unknown ordinary man' who was 'the prime agent in mission' in the first century church. 'Christianity was from its inception a lay movement and so it continued for a remarkably long time.' ⁱⁱ

Christianity spread through, 'the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls. They went everywhere gossiping the gospel... naturally, enthusiastically, and with the conviction of those who are not paid to say that sort of thing.' ⁱⁱⁱ

In 18th Century Britain and America, John Wesley, George Whitefield and countless 'circuit riders' went out of their way to speak to people wherever they gathered, from fields to public hangings!

Today we need much less emphasis on getting people to 'come to church' and more emphasis on training up go-getting Christians who will meet people on their territory to share the love of Christ with them.

2. A Church of Vision

Matthew 28:19 makes clear that our vision must be for all nations. All the church is to be mobilised to reach all the world.

Acts 1:8 gives the strategy for going out to be witnesses of Christ. First they were to go and spread the word at home base, Jerusalem, then all Judea and Samaria and then to the very ends of the earth.

By the phrase 'all nations,' Jesus was not referring to countries or nation states. The wording he chose (the Greek word ethne) instead points to the ethnicities, the languages and the extended families which constitute the peoples of the earth.

For example, the country of India has at least 3,000 distinct people groups within its borders of 1.1bn people. Russia has more than 300 people groups among a population of 135m.

Today, missiologists estimate there are about 24,000 people groups. Of these there are 10,000 peoples who do not yet have adequate access to the good news of Jesus in their own culture.

London, right on our own doorstep, has over 300 nationalities and is the most multi-ethnic city in the world.

Slough has more than 90 different ethnic groups. A national newspaper stated: 'Slough is probably the most multi-cultural provincial town in Britain. In the past three years 2,980 foreign pupils have signed on at schools here. Almost half are from Eastern Europe but others hail from Somalia, Pakistan, India, the Philippines, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.' ^vi

Unofficial estimates are that there could be up to 30,000 new immigrants. The newspaper featured 21 members of one family from Romania out of a total of 80 family members who have made the long journey to Slough.

Just as the disciples had to break out from their Jewish world, we have to go out of our natural groupings to reach out to all ethnic groups in our home area in the Thames Valley and London and throughout the world.

3. A Church of Purpose

The purpose of the church going to reach all ethnic groups is very clear. It is to make disciples. A disciple is literally a learner, a follower, an apprentice.

Bill Hull states: 'When Jesus said "Make disciples," by necessity, the disciples understood it to mean much more than simply getting people to believe in Jesus.

The very fact that they had to count the cost, make sacrifices, and follow Him, meant that Jesus required a long and intentional process for people to become disciples.

Disciple making introduces people to the Saviour, builds them to maturity and trains them to reproduce and be effective for Christ. ^v

Discipleship is not primarily about information but formation of life and leadership. Jesus said: 'I will make you fishers of men.'

Baptism was a key part of making disciples ...baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism means total and serious commitment. Still today in many nations you can face persecution and death for being baptised.

It is an act full of spiritual significance. It means death to the old way of life. You renounce the kingdom of darkness. You rise up from waters of baptism in newness of life. It means you identify with Christ: your life is not your own; you belong to him. It means that you are initiated into the church, local and universal. It means that you are ready to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Teaching was also a major part of the discipleship of Jesus (see Mark 8:31, Luke 11:1, John 8:2 and Acts 1:1-2). The disciples were, in turn, commanded to teach as part of their mandate to multiply the number of disciples.

Obedience is also core to discipleship. Jesus said '...teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.' A true disciple will obey Christ and His teachings.

John 14:21 states: 'Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.'

Jim Wallis wrote: 'The great tragedy of modern evangelism is calling many to belief, but few to obedience.' ^vi

Obedience is the opposite of independence and rebellion. When you are a disciple, you don't make up your own rules, do your own thing, and go your own way when you can't get your own way!

Beware of people who want to be leaders when they have not first learned to be followers.

4. A Church of Confidence

A church with a great world vision must be confident of the power and presence of Christ. Jesus claimed to be the ultimate authority. The early disciples remained bold when earthly authorities confronted them because Jesus had said 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me'

Jesus had demonstrated his authority over sickness and storms, demons and death itself. Now he declared he is Lord over everything. Every resource of heaven and earth was at his command.

Jesus also promised surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Christianity spread rapidly because the early disciples, 'filled with the Holy Spirit,' knew that they were never alone in carrying out their great mission. God Himself was with them.

Today the Lord Himself is with us. He loves all people everywhere and wants them to know of his saving grace. He will give all the help we need when we step out to accomplish the great task he has set before us.

Let us embrace our destiny of being a world changing church and let us, in the words of the great missionary William Carey, 'expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.'

1. Charles Finney, The Oberlin Evangelist, April 9, 1845 (Gospel Truth Ministries, 2000).
2. Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1970), 172-173.
3. Green, 173.
4. Daily Mail, May 3, 2007.
5. Bill Hull, The Disciple-Making Pastor (New Jersey, Fleming H. Revell, 1988), 58-59.
6. Jim Wallis, Agenda for Biblical People (New York: Harper, 1976), .23.