Cowell
My father passed away on Oct. 17, 2025, after suffering a massive stroke. His mind was clouded during his final days in the hospital, but he could still recall Scripture verses and hymn lyrics. Two pastor friends came to visit, and dad didn’t let them leave without telling them, “Jesus is everything!”
Even though he couldn’t tell us who currently occupied the White House, my dad still proclaimed the name of his Savior. Through prayer, he assured me he was ready to see Jesus.
I played music for him from my computer when he got tired in his hospital room. While listening to some of his favorites, I realized just how much I enjoyed them as well.
A wash of childhood memories flooded my mind as dad slept. Whether it was teaching me how to play guitar or how to throw a spiral with a football, I recognized how much of my life had been shaped by my dad’s instruction. Dad intentionally taught me how to grill the perfect steak, and he unintentionally taught me how to talk my way out of a speeding ticket.
Here is the point. At the basic level of humanity, God created mankind to learn and teach instinctively. Whether we are aware of it or not, we learn from and influence the people we’re around. Discipleship is both taught and “caught.” And because God has distinctly designed us as intuitive learners and teachers, why would He not use this aspect of His design to carry out His purposes?
In this way, the Great Commission is simply a grace from God that uses disciple-making to renew our minds and slowly reconnect us with the Edenic mandate to be fruitful and multiply.
This matters because pastors often get bombarded with marketing for the latest strategies that claim to be the key that unlocks ministry advancement. To be sure, there are many helpful tools that address a wide range of needs.
However, the advertising noise can make it difficult to plan yearly ministry objectives with a clear head.
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But what if clarifying the Great Commission is all that is needed? What if a major thread in the New Testament is explaining how Jesus’ disciples initially understood and carried out their commissioning? What if Jesus’ missional strategy was meant to reconnect His church to the creation order of God’s design for humanity?
I believe there is a reason why most programmed evangelism training loses steam over time. Because evangelism alone is an incomplete portrait of Christ’s mission for His followers. Discipleship completes the portrait. So, what if clarifying the Great Commission’s application through the local church is all that is needed to reclaim a congregation’s missional vibrancy?
Consider, for example, Paul’s letter to Titus. The context of this letter is clear from the beginning of the first chapter. Titus had been left to help lead this culturally compromised church on the island of Crete back to missional vibrancy. How? Through bringing clarity to Jesus’ Great Commissioning call.
Moreover, see what happens when we view this letter’s three-chapter division as a three-phased revitalization strategy.
In phase one (Titus 1:1-16), Paul instructs the appointment of faithful men, called and qualified by Scriptural guidelines, to oversee the preaching, teaching, and defense of the local church’s theological fidelity.
In phase two (Titus 2:1-15), Paul promotes faithful preaching and teaching in a manner that equips mature men to teach younger men, and mature women to teach younger women.
Then, in phase three (Titus 3:1-15), the Apostle mobilizes these lowly, humble in heart mature disciples into the community as products of gospel transformation to seek out and multiply new disciples.
In the same spirit of Ephesians 4:11-12, this approach transitions church members from consumers to co-laborers. The approach was effective in the first century and remains effective today.
No advertising campaigns and no marketing strategies, just discipleship and mobilization. B&R
