Upon completion of His redemptive mission on behalf of all humankind, Jesus Christ now sits at the right hand of God making intercession for the saints. However, before His physical departure from this earth, Jesus left behind a divine assignment. That assignment was given to a group of followers who were to carry on the task of disciple-making into the entire world. Today, the church still seeks to carry out this assignment, which is heralded and recognized as the Great Commission:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
While this Commission has echoed down through the corridors of time, spanning over two millenniums, the realization of accomplishing this assigned task seems very discouraging when one considers the highly publicized and documented statistics of stagnation and decline being experienced in the church today. However, added to this daunting task, now here in America, we find ourselves living in the midst of a global pandemic.
Thus, one of the greatest concerns that every church should have is to know how in this seemingly new context of “social distance” living, it can still be effective in carrying out this biblical mandate. It is my prayer that this seminar will inspire a vibrant enthusiasm and a renewed strategic focus for the church, as it seeks to address the mandate of developing disciples in the day of a new normal!
