Mark 16:15

[Halston]

Jesus said to his followers, Go everywhere in the world, and tell Good News to everyone.
The great commission is our commission. We have our own choice to make for our selves. We will be either a world class christian or a wordly christian.

 

[daveleau]

Great post!

The Great Commission is essentially two-fold. Evangelism and edification. Many churches overshadow one side over the other, to detriment to the Body of Christ. If we focus only on edification, the body may get stronger, but will not grow. If we focus on evangelism over edification, we end up with a church that is not theologically sound, which often does not significantly show the fruits of conversion. In my area, evangelism is over-emphasized at the detriment to edification, and comparing the churches here to unchurched society finds little differences in action. This is as sad, as a church that does not evangelize. We are called to do both, and churches should be certain that they focus on both appropriately.

Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8 are two other instances of our charge to evangelize and make disciples. Note that the "Go" that Jesus uses is a participle that indicates not a simple command, but a command for them to "continue going." They had already been fulfilling the Great Commission, hence Jesus' use of this participle in this way.