The mission of the church is not complicated. Jesus made it clear in the Great Commission: 

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go 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 I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:19-20.

Because the King of Kings has been given all authority from the Father over both heaven and earth, we have the mandate to make disciples of all the nations. The word translated “disciple” means to become a follower or a devoted pupil of a master teacher. Following Christ as Lord and Savior means in part to commit to learn and follow the teachings of Christ. “Making disciples” is the main verb of the sentence and the two nominative participles that accompany it explain how this is done. We make disciples by baptizing new believers in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, and we teach them to obey the master—Jesus Christ. 

This is the essence of the mission of the Church. One of the main jobs of the pastors then is equip the church to do this very task. Ephesians 4:11 mentions the task of a pastor-teacher is to equip the believers for the work of the ministry. This is mainly done through modeling and teaching. In 1 Timothy 1 Paul challenges Timothy, his personal disciple and young missionary pastor, command false teachers to stop and instead promote sound doctrine. In 1 Timothy 4:11 he charges him to “command and teach,” in 5:17 he commends the pastor who works at preaching and teaching as worthy of double honor, in 6:2 he again challenges him to “teach and insist on” the instruction of Jesus Christ and to godly teaching. The point of all this teaching is not for the pastor to gain followers, but rather that glory of Christ himself would increase. 

If one is going to follow Christ, he or she needs to know what Christ expects. To know God rightly, one needs to know what God has revealed about himself in his Word. As we grow in in our knowledge and obedience of God we have the privilege of sharing that knowledge with others. That is the mission of the church. That is the mission of each believer: Learn, obey, and share. The great commission ends with this encouragement “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We don’t do this alone. We do this with the very help and presence of our Savior.