Is the Commission Still Great?   •   Week 4

Does Missions Compete against Everything Else?

Facilitator Tip
2:26
Ice Breaker & Snacks

Ice Breaker Activity

Imagine you have to permanently choose one item from each of these pairs and give up the other for the rest of your life. Which would you pick?

  • Sneakers or flip-flops
  • Chocolate or peanut butter
  • Fruit or vegetables
  • Music or TV (including streaming services!)
  • Google or YouTube
  • Sports on TV or sports in real life

Snacks

For a traffic-themed snack, either slice up red, yellow, and green bell peppers or display red and green grapes. Place them in round bowls to create a stoplight. Offer your guests the alternative of a roundabout snack: either mini bagels with cream cheese or round crackers with peanut butter.

Chapter Summary
Facilitation Recommendations

“Regardless of the particular work God has for each of us to do, the one aim of us all in doing our particular job for the Lord must be the evangelization of the whole world.” –G. Allen Fleece

Perception

Pursuing missions comes at a cost to other important things. A global focus reduces our local impact.

Chapter Summary

Facilitation Recommendations

Under stress, we tend to simplify our options into binary categories. We can’t do everything, so we must choose between the needs of our families and the needs of the world, between home-culture ministry and international missions, between evangelism and social justice. But binary thinking can be a trap. Missions and other ministries are not mutually exclusive, and pursuing missions does not have to come at the expense of everything else. A focus on God’s big picture plan for the nations will also strengthen our personal faith, our families, our churches and our local ministries. We can serve our local communities well as we disciple the nations.

Discussion Questions
Need some extra questions?

Questions from the Book

  1. What tensions do you personally feel as it relates to global missions?
  2. How might a global mindset benefit your family, local ministry and congregation?
  3. How could an abundance mentality change the way you or your church make ministry decisions?

Additional Questions

  1. Can you think of a time when stress or busyness caused you to think in binary terms rather than considering creative options? Or have you seen others caught in an unnecessarily either/or mindset?
  2. Have you ever felt that getting involved in global missions would be a detriment to your wellbeing or that of your family?
  3. Do you think it’s possible to give the unreached the right-of-way without implying that missions is more important than local ministry?
  4. How could the ministry you are most involved in at church contribute to fulfilling the Great Commission, directly or indirectly? How could you bring it more into alignment with God’s global purposes?
  5. What or who do you think your church would be willing to sacrifice in order to have an impact like the church at Antioch?
  6. Does a heart for the unreached strike you as a good gift to pass on to the children you love and invest in?
  7. What is your key takeaway from this week’s discussion? What are you going to do differently this week as a result of what you learned?