Great Commission That Most Christians Don't Know

It's a sad state of affairs here in so -called "Christian America" when the majority of folks who call themselves Christians have no clue what the Great Commission is that Jesus left us with in Matthew 28.

A little over half of American churchgoers are not familiar with the term "Great Commission," according to a study conducted by the Barna Group and the Seed Company.

The "Great Commission" is a term used to describe Jesus' call to evangelism in Matthew 28:18-20: "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."

In a report released Tuesday, Barna found that 51 percent of church attendees in the United States were unfamiliar with the term "Great Commission."

From there, 25 percent of respondents said they heard of it but did not recall its "exact meaning," 17 percent knew for sure, and 6 percent said they were not sure.

"The data indicates that churches are using the phrase less, which may reveal a lack of prioritizing or focusing on the work of the Great Commission, but may also indicate that the phrase, rather than the scriptures or the labor, has simply fallen out of favor with some," noted Barna.

Barna's report on the familiarity American Christians have with the term "Great Commission" comes a few months after the American Culture & Faith Institute released a study showing that American churches are not emphasizing evangelism.

An organization headed by Barna Group founder George Barna, the ACFI, noted last December that a decreasing number of churches "emphasize and equip people for evangelism these days, and the results are obvious and undeniable."

"The implications of ignoring gospel outreach — especially among children, who are the most receptive audience to the gospel — are enormous," stated ACFI.


"All the 'church growth' strategies in the world cannot compensate for the absence of an authentic transmission of the good news of what Jesus Christ has done for humanity."

https://www.christianpost.com/news/51-percent-of-american-churchgoers-unfamiliar-with-the-term-great-commission-barna-222234/

Yep!  The failure of the church in America over the last 50+ years has been the false belief that getting people to sit in our pews on Sunday will make them all disciples.

How about all of us?  Are we part of the 49% or part of the 51%?

Do we know that Jesus' plan for all of us is to BECOME His disciples and then go make other disciples...who can, in turn, go and make other disciples?

How many of us do that?

"Yea, but Dennis, I give money to my local church so they can hire pastors and staff so THEY can go and make disciples.  I don't want to do that myself, because I have never been to seminary and have never read my Bible so I'm not qualified to make disciples.  Besides that, I'm already saved....and isn't that really the main thing?"

As one pastor recently said, "Salvation is free and it costs you nothing.  But, discipleship is expensive because it costs you everything."