“Go therefore…”

 

Those words have haunted Christians for generations. For some, it’s because it invites them beyond their comfort zone. “No thanks, God. I’d rather just stay right where I am, thank you very much!” For others, it’s because that word “therefore” means that we actually have to do something with the gospel, and the gospel isn’t always received very well by everyone. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 20th century theologian, reminded us of this as he talked about the “cost of discipleship.”

 

Still, for others, the words “go therefore” became haunting because it created significant confusion: What is our mission field? Is it the whole world? Is it our own backyard? Is it only the poor and disenfranchised? Is it everyone? To be fair, the apostles wrestled with this question in a really big way, and the questions haven’t gone away ever since!

 

Two years ago, as I was getting ready to go with our Appalachia Service Project (ASP) team, I found myself asking this same question: Go therefore…but where? In 2022, we were headed to Harlan, KY. That answered the where part of the question, but what lingered was the question that always follows: “But, what about…?” You see, it’s this question that requires us to see that the mission field is vast! It includes Appalachia, but it also includes Grand Blanc. It includes Flint, Detroit, Haiti, Liberia, Australia, and every single place in between. Our missional imperative is to all nations, all people, all places, in all times, and in all spaces.

 

As you can see, my struggle with this question of “Go therefore…but where?” wasn’t fully answered. What I struggled with was the reality that, while mission and ministry in Appalachia was, and is still, vitally important, so is mission and ministry here. And so is it important in every space under the sun. Suddenly, the magnitude of “Go therefore…” began to come into view, and a new question came to mind: How can we possibly fulfill the magnitude of the great commission? How could we possibly meet the missional needs of our neighbors near, far and everywhere in between? How could we possibly proclaim the gospel news in all places to all people?

 

The answer that came to me is this: Notice in verse 16 how it was the eleven disciples who had come together. The resurrected Christ came to the disciples as they were gathered together. Jesus didn’t commission each one separately. Rather, he commissioned them together. That’s the word that releases us from the daunting and sometimes haunting words “go therefore.” We move out of our comfort zones together. We walk into and accept the cost of our discipleship, not alone, but together. We meet the magnitude of our commission – our missional imperative – together.

 

In other words, “go therefore” is not the commission given to one Christian or one church. It is the commission given to all of us. It is our collective task, and it invites us respond with a “yes!” Yes to mission and ministry in our own backyard. Yes to mission and ministry in spaces we don’t call home. Yes to mission and ministry that takes us to meet new neighbors. Yes to mission and ministry that widens the circle. Yes to mission and ministry that compels us to see the image of Christ in one another. The commission given to each of us “Go therefore…” is made to all of us, collectively.

 

And so, on June 30, 2024, a team of ASP volunteers departed from GBUMC to go and serve our neighbors whom we’ve yet to meet in Knott County, KY. We’re proclaiming the gospel with tools, sweat, love, and friendship. And now, as we prepare to come home to our own backyard, we’re ready to do the same for the neighbors we know. Our circle will grow wider, and we’ll have done it…together.

 

With you and for Christ,
Pastor Brian

 

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” ― John Wesley