"Like a relay race with thousands of legs,
the baton of world evangelism has been passed from generation to generation,
each one carrying forward the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ in every nation.
Some generations have taken the baton a great distance,
others only inches,
based on their obedience to Christ's command and reliance upon His Spirit.
Yet there will be one generation who will serve as the anchor leg,
the one who will carry the baton across the finish line."
I've had the privilege of hearing Roger Hershey speak on numerous occasions, and this book puts into written form the message that he has been vocalizing for years. The Great commission is a command and a calling. The task that Jesus entrusted to His followers is to spread the Gospel to every people group in the world. Everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus needs to dedicate their life to furthering this purpose in one way or another.
I finished this book a week or two ago and have since let my friend borrow it, so unfortunately I can't flip back through it to find memorable quotes or concepts. However, it's interesting to try to write about a book you've read a few weeks ago. It's sad how little I remember, but here are some of the main points that I still remember and hope to take away from this book.
Our generation is in a unique position to finish the Great Commission
This book lists several reasons why this is the case, but I'll mention two that especially stuck out to me. First, the technological advances of the last hundred years have made the task of reaching every nation MUCH easier. With airplanes we are able to travel around the world in a matter of hours. With cell phones and the internet we are able to communicate with people all over the world nearly instantly. With credit cards and the global economy we are able to transition into life in other countries fairly seamlessly. The list could go on, but it's obvious that the giant barrier that was physical distance is no longer nearly as formidable an obstacle.(Example: Campus Crusade for Christ, considered by many to be the largest evangelical missions organization in the world, now reports that more people make decisions to follow Jesus through websites than through all its other ministries combined. A website that does a great job illustrating this reality is http://www.greatcommission2020.com/. This website shows, in real-time, visitors to various evangelical websites and tracks when decisions are made to follow Jesus. As of the time of this writing, about 350,000 people have visited one of these sites, and over 50,000 of those visitors have indicated decisions to follow Jesus, just in the last 24 hours.)
In addition to this, previous generations have already done a great deal of the hard work necessary to complete the Great Commission. The Wycliffe Bible Translators have steadily been working to translate the Bible into every known language on the earth. Back in 1999, they issued a challenge to finish translation of every language by 2025. The pace of translation in 1999 put the end date at 2150, but since the challenge was issued the response has been dramatic. Currently they are on pace to finish all the translations by 2038, but if the pace continues to quicken, the 2025 goal might be a reality. More information about this can be read at http://www.wycliffe.org/explore/whenwillwefinishthetask.aspx. The Joshua Project (http://www.joshuaproject.net/) aims to categorize and track every people group in the world. They provide information about each people group and describe what access, if any, they have to the Gospel. This project has done a great deal to organize and categorize the remaining work to fulfill the Great Commission. Finally, evangelistic tools like the JESUS film (http://www.jesusfilm.org/) are equipping people to make disciples and plant churches more quickly than ever before. This one film has been translated into over 1,000 languages, and someone, somewhere around the world, decides to follow Christ after watching this film every 8 seconds. According to many missions experts, over 75% of all the churches planted around the world in the last 20 years have used the JESUS film in their initial planting process.
In order to achieve this goal, our generation will have to sacrifice greatly
Although much progress has been made, there is still a great deal of work to do before we can hope to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The Joshua Project reports that there are still almost 7,000 unreached people groups in the world, and many of these are in extremely hard to reach places. In order to make disciples of all nations, our generation will have to sacrifice a great deal. This book discusses various sacrifices that are necessary. Basically, many will have to physically go to places in the world that likely won't be comfortable or welcoming. Many others will have to sacrifice financially and give their money to send the missionaries that are willing to go.
In general, our generation will need to have an eternal perspective. We'll have to give up earthly riches, comfort, and safety to pursue things of eternal significance. This is the life that we are called to as followers of Jesus, and it's the only way that the Great Commission will be fulfilled in our lifetime.
The Great Commission will eventually be completed
This book also emphasizes the fact that the Great Commission will eventually be fulfilled one way or another. The crowd that worships Jesus in Revelation will include people from every tongue, tribe, and nation. We can be sure of this. The question is, what role do we want to play in this? The expansion of God's kingdom is through His power, and we can't do anything on our own. However, history and the Bible indicate that God almost always chooses to use broken people as agents to spread the Gospel. God could easily complete the Great Commission this very instant, without the help of anyone. Instead, he calls and commands us to be ambassadors for Him, to make disciples of all nations, and to sacrifice our earthly life for the sake of eternal riches.
The past few generations have thought they would be the ones to see the Great Commission finished, but it didn't happen that way. Our generation will have to take drastic steps if we are to be the Finishers. Will we do what it takes to witness the conclusion to the story of all humanity?
