Gospel for Life’s Mission Statement
Training Ephesians Four Pastors to grow Ephesians Four Churches
By Jay Wegter
We at Gospel for Life are partnering with Christian leaders at home and abroad who want to renew their commitment to obey our Lord’s Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20. Our first mission’s trip to Nepal in 2013 was aimed at strengthening churches in the fundamentals of the faith. We titled our conferences, “Guard the Harvest.”
Now we are here in 2016 to help train pastors in disciple-making. This training is needed because ‘it takes a disciple to make a disciple’—disciples do not spontaneously appear in our churches. We believe that our invitation from Pastor Bedu is a very strategic opportunity. The Christian church in Nepal is relatively young. It has not had time to ‘fossilize’ its practices into deadening rituals and formalism. Therefore, many Christian pastors in Nepal who have been faithfully grounding their members in the essentials of the gospel are asking, “What is next?” Of course the answer is: in obedience to our Lord, learn to be disciple-makers.
Our Lord’s last command, ‘make disciples of all the nations’ starts at home. Christ’s command concerning disciple-making ought to be the controlling mandate of His Church. Therefore a healthy local church will be an obedient church that equips its members for ministry (Eph 4:11-12). Obedient churches will experience multiplication of disciples, and its members will mobilize themselves to reach the countless souls immersed in ‘this present darkness’. This entire disciple-making mandate flows from the glorious goal that Christ has for His people—that they should ultimately be conformed to their Head in holiness (Rom 8:28-30). Thus, Christ is expressing His great love for His people through disciple-makers who labor to bring each believer of His Body to maturity (Col 1:28-29). The great end is that Christ’s glory in His Church should communicate the perfections of the Godhead (Eph 3:20-21).
Why are we training pastors worldwide to become disciple-makers?
- When Christ’s last command is our first priority, we are demonstrating our allegiance to Christ as our King (Mt 28:19-20).
- By following Christ’s pattern, disciple-making churches become healthy, caring communities that manifest His virtues to the watching world (Jn 17:20-23; Eph 4:12-16).
- Through disciple-making believers experience the privilege of growing the next generation of true worshippers (Jn 4:23-24).
- Disciple-making is how the church is equipped for ministry, and how her members are mobilized to reach a lost and dying world (Mt 28:19-20).
- Christ loves His people so much that He desires each one be brought to maturity through discipleship, so that each member may be conformed to Christ in holiness (Col 1:28-29).