Every Church assembly must be ACTIVELY interested and engaged in the assignment of REACHING THE LOST.
This divine mandate goes far beyond running “shop-for-free” events, distributing bags of rice, or even engaging in humanitarian good works – which are not bad in themselves; we ought to do GOOD WORKS actually.
Of course, helping people break free from addictions, providing shelter, securing employment for the unemployed, and offering scholarships to underpriviledged students are all commendable and definitely reflect the GOODNESS of Christ, they don’t define the FULLNESS OF OUR MISSION – they are not primary to the task of preaching the Gospel.
The heart of THE GREAT COMMISSION is clear spells out that we must preach the GOSPEL of Christ, make disciples of all nations, and EQUIP them for the work of ministry (Matthew 28:19–20; Ephesians 4:11–12).
Meeting physical needs is valuable, but without the Gospel, we only end up making people have food while they become spiritually starved, giving them clothes while they are still in the filthy rags of sin, we build them houses but they still remain outside like the dogs in the Kingdom.
In recent years, there has been a subtle yet dangerous deception that crept into the Church – the assumption that the Church has erroneously believed that DOING GOOD DEEDS alone is equivalent to fulfilling the work of mission. But Scripture tells us that “FAITH COMES BY HEARING, AND HEARING THE WORD OF CHRIST” (Romans 10:17), and that it is the only kind of Gospel that is able to bring salvation unto men.
The true essence of the Church is not merely to improve the external conditions of men, but to see that their hearts are TRANSFORMED, their minds RENEWED, and their lives SURRENDERED to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Good works are the FRUITS of the Gospel but the Gospel itself must remain the ROOT. Without it, we will definitely have SOCIAL CHANGE but there will still be inner corruption that will eventually show up because the SOCIAL CHANGE lacks ETERNAL SALVATION, and that is not the mission Christ died to give us.
