BACK TO THE MISSION (Day 1)
BACK TO THE MISSION
"Seventy-three percent of churches are plateaued or declining. That is not a staffing problem or a strategy problem. That is a heart problem."
Luke 19:10 (CSB)
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost."
Devotional Thought
There is a singular mission that has been given to the church, and it has never changed. Jesus said it plainly. He came to seek and save the lost. Not to build institutions. Not to preserve traditions. Not to maintain what already exists. He came for people, and He commissioned His church to do the same.
So what I'm seeing is this... somewhere along the way, many churches slipped out of mission mode and into maintenance mode. And maintenance mode, if we are honest, eventually becomes apathy. It does not happen all at once. It is gradual, almost invisible, like a slow leak that you do not notice until the tire is flat. One year the church is on fire for the gospel. The next year it is managing programs. A few years later it is just trying to keep the doors open. That is not what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15).
Consider the numbers for just a moment. It now takes roughly one hundred church members to reach one person for Christ in a given year. That ratio used to be fifteen to one. Something has shifted, and it is not because the gospel lost its power. The gospel is still the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). The shift happened in us. It happened when we became more comfortable inside the building than burdened for the people outside of it.
The parable of the Good Samaritan, which we will walk through this week, begins with a question from a lawyer. He asks Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25). It is a fair question, but it was asked with the wrong motive. He was not seeking truth. He was testing Jesus. And when Jesus pressed him further, the lawyer followed up with another question that reveals where so many of us get stuck. He asked, "Who is my neighbor?" In other words, give me the minimum. Tell me who I am required to care about so I can feel good about the people I choose to ignore.
That question still echoes in the church today, just dressed up in different language. We ask it when we drive past the struggling family on the corner and reason that someone else will help them. We ask it when we sit in comfortable services and never once consider that our coworker has never heard the gospel because we never opened our mouths.
The mission has not changed. The command has not been revised. Jesus did not say, "Go if it is convenient," or "Share the gospel when the timing feels right." He said go. And He promised that the same power that raised Him from the dead would be available to every believer who says yes to the mission (Acts 1:8).
Just one. That is the challenge. Not a hundred. Not fifty. Just one person this year. One life pulled from darkness into light because someone in the church remembered why the church exists in the first place. If every believer reached just one, the math alone would be incredible, but more than that, the kingdom of God would expand in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Tomorrow, we step into the parable itself, and we meet a man who made a choice that nearly cost him everything. His story might be closer to yours than you think.
So what I'm seeing is this... somewhere along the way, many churches slipped out of mission mode and into maintenance mode. And maintenance mode, if we are honest, eventually becomes apathy. It does not happen all at once. It is gradual, almost invisible, like a slow leak that you do not notice until the tire is flat. One year the church is on fire for the gospel. The next year it is managing programs. A few years later it is just trying to keep the doors open. That is not what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15).
Consider the numbers for just a moment. It now takes roughly one hundred church members to reach one person for Christ in a given year. That ratio used to be fifteen to one. Something has shifted, and it is not because the gospel lost its power. The gospel is still the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). The shift happened in us. It happened when we became more comfortable inside the building than burdened for the people outside of it.
The parable of the Good Samaritan, which we will walk through this week, begins with a question from a lawyer. He asks Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25). It is a fair question, but it was asked with the wrong motive. He was not seeking truth. He was testing Jesus. And when Jesus pressed him further, the lawyer followed up with another question that reveals where so many of us get stuck. He asked, "Who is my neighbor?" In other words, give me the minimum. Tell me who I am required to care about so I can feel good about the people I choose to ignore.
That question still echoes in the church today, just dressed up in different language. We ask it when we drive past the struggling family on the corner and reason that someone else will help them. We ask it when we sit in comfortable services and never once consider that our coworker has never heard the gospel because we never opened our mouths.
The mission has not changed. The command has not been revised. Jesus did not say, "Go if it is convenient," or "Share the gospel when the timing feels right." He said go. And He promised that the same power that raised Him from the dead would be available to every believer who says yes to the mission (Acts 1:8).
Just one. That is the challenge. Not a hundred. Not fifty. Just one person this year. One life pulled from darkness into light because someone in the church remembered why the church exists in the first place. If every believer reached just one, the math alone would be incredible, but more than that, the kingdom of God would expand in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Tomorrow, we step into the parable itself, and we meet a man who made a choice that nearly cost him everything. His story might be closer to yours than you think.
Application Questions
1. When was the last time you personally shared the gospel with someone outside the walls of the church, and what held you back if it has been a while?
2. Have you slipped into maintenance mode in your own faith, going through the motions of church attendance without carrying the mission into your daily life?
Today's Challenge
Ask the Lord to bring one specific person to your mind today, someone who does not know Him. Write their name down. Begin praying for an open door to share the love of Christ with them this week.
Today's Prayer
Father, forgive me for the times I have settled into comfort and forgotten the mission You gave Your church. I do not want to be someone who simply attends services and goes home unchanged. Stir something in me again. Give me eyes to see the people around me the way You see them, as worth reaching, worth pursuing, worth loving. Open a door this week that I cannot ignore, and give me the courage to walk through it. I want to be part of what You are doing. In Jesus' name, amen.
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