For The Sake of His Name Part 4

In part one, we determined that rather than develop a biblical theology of missions, our best approach is to develop a missional theology of the Bible. To do that, we’re unpacking our DNA Statement, which reads:

"Crossover Global Passionately Seeks to Glorify God by Planting Multiplying Churches Among Unreached Peoples."

In part two we examined the first component of Crossover’s DNA, which is the doxological motivation for missions. In part three we discovered that planting multiplying churches (the second component of our DNA) is a normal, expected, biblical outgrowth of that motivation.

Now let’s take a look at the third and final component of our DNA. What does it mean to plant multiplying churches among unreached peoples, and why is it a strategic priority for our missions efforts?

From Genesis to Revelation, God reveals His heart for all nations. He desires and deserves to be proclaimed, known and worshipped among all nations for His glory and their good. We see it in places like Genesis 12:1-3, when God calls and sends Abraham and his descendants (a.k.a. Israel) to bless “all the families of the earth,” which is to say, all nations, or peoples. And what is the blessing that God’s people will take to all nations? Nothing less than the promise of salvation through the coming Messiah. The promise shows up as early as Genesis 3:15 and reappears throughout the Old Testament. A beautiful example is Isaiah 42:1-7, where the promised messiah is called “a light for the nations.” This is why Psalm 96:3 (and many other Old Testament passages) says to “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples!” The fact is, the Great Commission is not merely a New Testament concept. It is scattered throughout the Old Testament as well.

“Wait, what?!?” Yup, it’s true. God’s heart has always been for all peoples. And He made sure that His people always knew it, by issuing Great Commissions in the Old Testament (to Israel) and the New Testament (to the Church). In fact, it was none other than the promised Messiah himself, Jesus Christ, who transferred the Great Commission from Israel to the Church. The most well-known Great Commission in the New Testament is Matt. 28:19-20: “Go… and make disciples of all nations…” I suspect that this is the most famous Great Commission because it talks about where (or, better, among whom) to make disciples: all nations.

Now you understand the strategic priority of the third component of our DNA. With your help, together we can strive to impact some of the approximately 7,000 unreached peoples in the world (out of 17,000 total) who have yet to be offered salvation through our glorious Savior. Together, we can accept the imperative privilege of reaching these peoples by planting multiplying churches among them for the glory of God!

João Mordomo