This is clearly to be understood as the same Great Commission that we normally look at in Matthew. This tells us, as I was saying above, that the disciples understood the call to be to reach everyone with the gospel, here, there, and everywhere.

The cumbersome task of writing during the time of Jesus meant that none of the disciples had a pen and notebook in hand while they were with Him, and obviously no handy voice recorder either. Each disciple, respectively, was either more or less precise about quoting the exact words of Jesus compared to “quoting” the ideas of Jesus. The standards of writing and storytelling then are not what we have today. This is understood by Bible scholars today and is helpful in understanding scripture. While Mark may have been able to remember the exact words Jesus used, which could be the very words he recorded here, he more importantly wanted to get the heart of the idea Jesus expressed across to readers. What I’m saying is that Mark may not have even heard Jesus use the exact words every creature, but without a doubt he understood that to be exactly what Jesus meant. And so, we have it quite plain in scripture, both here and in the epistles (1 Timothy 2:3~6 & 2 Peter 3:9), that our target is all.

Is this horse dead yet?

As I wonder if what I’ve written above is even necessary since those who love the Lord would naturally want to see everyone turn to Him for salvation anyway, let me stop the beating and turn to the consequences of this realization that, literally, reaching every individual on this planet is the goal we’ve been given.

If this is the goal the Lord has in mind, we should immediately see two things. One, we are woefully lacking in vision concerning how we might accomplish this goal. And two, our current system of church isn’t even close to being close to being close to even making a small dent toward reaching the goal.

But before going on, let me say something important.

I ♥︎ church

Being critical of church is like touching the proverbial third rail. Nay, it is like hugging the third rail while wearing only your skivvies and dripping wet after jumping out of the shower. Well… it’s exciting, at least.

But I’m not lying. I really do love church. I have come to call what some refer to as traditional or “legacy” church SMC—Sunday morning church. I think the terms traditional and legacy applied to church can sound a bit negative—the outdated style of church. It would be a shame to cause people to feel that way since what we are promoting here is surely even more outdated. When understood correctly, rapidly multiplying DMM (Disciple Making Movements) and CPM (Church Planting Movements) should be thought to date back to the early church, and arguably even before that depending on how you view Jesus’ time teaching, training and living in deep relationship with His disciples.

Being critical of church, like with everything else I am critical of, does not mean I think it entirely bad, but that there are pluses and minuses that I want to be honest about. It does no one any good not being honest about things, no matter how much those things are deeply loved and cherished.

With that, let me criticize.

First off, we must not think that what we consider the norm for church today is what the Bible or Jesus was referring to when we read the word “church.” If we think of the SMC tradition of today as what the Bible spoke of then, that is simply reading into the Bible something that it does not say. It is a common mistake and, for the most part, relatively harmless—until we get to issues where we need to have an honest and objective evaluation of what SMC is and how well it is living up to its purpose when compared to what scripture actually says, and does not say. If we’ve rose-colored the scriptures by our SMC glasses we can never hope to get a clear understanding or evaluation of where we stand.

The positives of SMC: 1) Many believers coming together to corporately worship God. Amazing! Can anything be better? 2) The scriptures being opened, read together, and expounded upon by a leader, usually highly trained and knowledgeable. Also amazing! It’s hard to think of much better. 3) People worshiping not only in song, but with their finances, which, at least figuratively, signifies their whole lives. Notwithstanding the sad reality that many give reluctantly, giving ought to be considered one of the greatest privileges and acts of practical, lifestyle worship, and that opportunity is offered in SMC routinely. Wonderful!

I could say more, but those are the pillars of what causes me, and ought to cause every believer, to love SMC.

The negatives of SMC: 1) The act of the Great Commission, disciple making—if any attempt is made to do it at all—is relegated to a program made subservient to our Western proclivity to intellectual knowledge acquisition. I’m sorry if that stings. It should. In light of disciple making being a point blank command of Jesus, could anything be worse? 2) The standard of being a good Christian in SMC circles is faithful SMC attendance, hopefully with at least a smattering of financial giving on top. Again! In light of the standard of being a good Christian, a faithful follower of Christ, being clearly stated by Jesus as obedience to His commands, I cannot think of anything worse. It isn’t a secret that many go to church out of habit and “worship” with their lips while their hearts are far from the Lord. Would pastors seriously challenge this assertion while they groan continually, year after year and decade after decade that their church members aren’t helping with the ministry? “They sit in the seats but do nothing,” is the never-ending cry of pastors. 3) The nature of SMC neither promotes or easily or naturally allows for anything beyond the most superficial of relationships to form, even among completely faithful attendees. Relationships are the foundation of discipleship, so it’s not a surprise that there is a lack of deep relationships forming. If discipleship isn’t happening, almost certainly deep relationships aren’t either. You could theoretically have deep relationships without discipleship, but you cannot have discipleship without deep relationships.

Small groups

Let me pause and give a head-nod here to many SMC churches. Over the last many decades SMCs have implemented what are generically called small groups. Keep in mind that I don’t include them in the term SMC. They are, in a technical sense, “outside” of SMC. A particular SMC may implement small groups and determine how they are run, but they are a different animal from SMC proper. Not all small groups are created equal, but generally, if they have enough freedom and stick to the Word of God, they will at least to some degree, and possibly to a great degree, be a place where real discipleship happens. Far be it from a point in favor of SMC, however, since the need for these groups should be seen as an admission that something is definitely missing from SMC. Small groups became popular because they were seen as a method of growing the church (both spiritually and numerically). In other words, they were meeting the needs of people that weren’t being met otherwise. Nonetheless, I give credit to SMC churches for implementing and organizing small groups where they have. Absolute kudos!

Even as an SMC pastor (I’m now a recovering SMC pastor—lol), after a message one Sunday our most faithful member approached me and said, “I thought Sunday service was the most important meeting for a Christian.” I guess I had said something in the message that made her question that assumption. I said to her, “If you told me that you were going to become very, very busy and could only attend one meeting a week, I would tell you to come to mini-church on Wednesday night, and not to the Sunday morning service.” She was shocked. We had a small group going at the time and she also faithfully attended that. I know the difference small groups make in believers’ lives. Believers in small groups advance in their spiritual journey many times faster than those who attend SMC only—and some of them never advance at all.

Flip it, then

But, if small groups are superior in regards to what Jesus specifically, unequivocally, flatly stated, then why attach them to some other, “main” thing that is dubiously grounded in scripture and takes so much time, effort and energy away from doing what that main thing Jesus stated is? Why not make “small groups” the main thing? Which is to say, “why not make the main thing the main thing?”

If after all of our efforts and ingenuity it appears that the cart is in front of the horse, we should swallow our pride and rectify the situation. We should flip things around and put the main thing where it belongs.

And that is what I had to come to terms with. My journey out of SMC began exactly 2 years ago now as of this writing (January, ’24), and while in some sense my transition has been quick, it hasn’t been that quick. It has been a journey of many steps, mostly small, but some big. As the Holy Spirit convicted me that, in fact, “this is the way, walk ye in it,” I had to prayerfully count the cost and transition out of an SMC mindset and into the mindset of going and making disciples of all the people of all the nations. And I can do it! And so can you! Because with the command also came the promise, “I am with you always.”