What Does Mater and Church Have in Common?

by Josh Duncan 

I'd like to suggest that within the church (American church generally speaking) we've been doing things backward for quite a while. I believe the church is actually like Mater from Cars... we'd just prefer to drive backward instead of forward. Truthfully, again like Mater, we're better at driving backward than forward. What am I talking about?...

When Jesus left us with the task of carrying on His mission, He made two statements (along with dozens others) that are important for us to understand. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, "He (Jesus) would build His church." Then, in Matthew 28:19, He told us to, "Make disciples." The problem is that in our efforts to seize the mission of Jesus, we've been trying to accomplish the mission backward. We attempt to build or maintain the church and then make disciples. By the "church" I mean the focus we place on buildings, services, programming, and the organizational structures and routines of church.

Honestly, this is what most established and even new churches do in America. Most of my church planting training actually trained me to start a church backward! The intentions are often good... we want to seize the mission of Jesus. However, even new churches if they aren't careful, will end up functioning backward. I've learned that if you start out focusing on church (as described above), you'll rarely, if ever, get around to making disciples, but if you focus on making disciples, Jesus will naturally build His church.

The fix, while it isn't easy, is both significant and necessary if we're going to truly join God in His mission. We must stop thinking and behaving backward. Does your pattern of thinking and behaving focus more on "church" or making disciples? What about your church? If you're a pastor or church planter, will you do this Jesus' way? Seriously. Every disciple, pastor, and church needs to deal with this question. Will you stop trying to accomplish the mission backward?