Proclaim The Gospel

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

I GIVE YOU a portrait of the church at its inception.

A small band of men responded to a life-changing invitation: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”^a Over the next three years, they watched Jesus, listened to him, and learned from him how to love, teach, and serve others the same way that he did.

Then came the moment when they saw him die on a cross for their sins, only to rise from the dead three days later. Soon thereafter, he gathered them on a mountainside and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”^b

True to his promise, Jesus sent his Spirit to his disciples, and immediately they began proclaiming the gospel. In the days that followed, they scattered from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth, and within one generation, their numbers grew to more than four hundred times what they were when they started.

Did they succeed because they had extravagant buildings and entertaining programs? No. The spread of the gospel took place primarily because ordinary people empowered by an extraordinary presence proclaimed the gospel everywhere they went. It was anonymous Christians (that is, not the original disciples) who first took the gospel to Judea and Samaria, and it was unnamed believers who founded the church at Antioch, which became a base for mission to the Gentile world. The Good News of Jesus spread through everyday people going from house to house, leading people to faith.

This is how the gospel penetrated the world during the first century: disciples making disciples. Christians were not known for association with Christ and his church; instead, they were known for complete abandonment to Christ and his cause. The great commission was not a choice for them to consider, but a command for them to obey. And though they faced untold trials and unthinkable persecution, they experienced unimaginable joy as they joined with Jesus in the advancement of his Kingdom.

Ask God to help you and your church leaders rely on his wisdom and power working through the church.