The Great Commission
Matthew 28:16-20
What does it mean to be a church in 2023?
This is a challenging question. It's a question that keeps being asked in tons of different ways as denominations like the United Methodist Church and others strive to innovate as they plant new congregations in neighborhoods they believe need a new church.
But I think it is a question that should haunt us, too. It should haunt every church everywhere, because if we can't justify why we are here... then what is it, exactly, that we are doing?
Jesus' very last words to his friends in the gospel of Matthew was the Great Commission. "Go therefore 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 that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
This coming Sunday is traditionally known as "Trinity Sunday." The Trinity in the Christian Church is often understood as "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" and is a paradox we embrace that describes who God is. We could spend forever talking about the Trinity and never exactly get it right. There are creeds that describe it, books that explore it, theologians who won't stop talking about it... and while I won't claim to have the end all be all understanding of the Trinity perfect--I do think understanding the Trinity is way for us to understand what it means to be the church.
A fundamental doctrine of the Trinity says that God is "three-in-one." God is a single person, and God is also three individual persons in that "triunity." Like I said, it is a paradox! But paradox or not, I also think it means that God intrinsically models community in their divinity. By claiming God as Trinity, we claim to worship a God who expresses their existence as a community.
And the church needs to be a community, too. And that really isn't easy at all. Community doesn't mean everyone in it agrees on everything, or even gets along. Being in a real community, or "beloved" community as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, is something that requires sacrifice, sharing, and a willingness to see one another's humanity--even when that is hard.
The sign of a strong community isn't how homogenous they are, or if they agree on everything, or are perpetually nice to one another. The sign of a strong community is their strength when the storms come. When times are hard.
Community is not best defined as a group of people who agrees on everything--I think it is better defined as a group of people who come together with a shared purpose. In Matthew 28 in Jesus' Great Commission, he gives the church its shared purpose which has defined what the global community of Christianity has done throughout millenia for better AND for worse.
The Great Commission is behind how the Christian Church has been a global movement. You could also argue that it is behind some of the worst atrocities that the Christian church has committed in human history. Where the Great Commission could arguably have been a command to grow in community and thrive, it has been utilized as an excuse to extract and exploit.
The Great Commission isn't just a command to follow, it is a responsibility we have been given that we must take seriously.
