THE GREAT COMMISSION

BUSINESS IS A MEANS. MISSIONS IS THE END.

We are marketplace Christians who believe deeply in the sacred role of business in God’s Kingdom, but the heart of our organization is the Great Commission. We are not a Christian business organization, we are a global missions organization that is rooted in the business world. We believe that’s a key distinction.

Business is a means. Missions is the end. Our ultimate objective is to advance the Great Commission through our role as believers in the marketplace. Great Commission engagement is our primary success measurement.

What is the Great Commission?

So if the Great Commission is what we are really all about here at The Stone Table, we should clarify what the Great Commission actually is:

The Great Commission is the last instruction of the resurrected Jesus to his disciples as he ascended into heaven. These instructions weren’t just for a certain subset of Christians or for “professional” pastors and missionaries. Jesus’ words were aimed at all who call Him Savior and Lord, including those of us with everyday marketplace jobs and businesses. The Great Commission is a commission for all believers! Let’s look at Matthew 28:19:

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Go and make disciples of all nations. Let’s break that down:

This word “ethnos” requires some attention and explanation. Most western translations use the word “nations,” which we naturally think of as geopolitical nation-states like we see on a map. But this really isn’t an accurate image.

Ethnos actually means a grouping of people joined by similar customs or culture. A better translation would be people groups. A nation-state could have hundreds or even thousands of different ethnos. And Jesus called us to go and make disciples of all of them.

THE DISCONNECT

And yet, two Barna Research studies on Great Commission awareness and global missions engagement revealed a growing number of Christians aren’t familiar with the term nor do they understand the all-encompassing command of Jesus that it references.

Perhaps this disconnect reflects the modern assumption that missions is just another form of Western colonialism. Perhaps it points to a progressive disdain of forcing your religion on others. Perhaps it’s the result of a shifting cultural ethos that values social issues over traditional evangelism.

Perhaps. But it may be something more disturbing.

• Are God’s people actually losing God’s heart for the nations?
• Have Christians wrongly assumed that global missions is only for a certain subset of believers?
• Have many in the Church turned the Great Commission into the Great Suggestion?

If we really love people, won’t we move heaven and earth to tell them how their sins can be forgiven, how they can find union with their heavenly Father, and how they can function in the fullness of the resurrection power of Jesus?

I hope that, for you, the answer is yes!

We passionately believe that awakening and mobilizing entrepreneurship, business, and the marketplace is a vital part of our Great Commission calling. As the Lusanne movement so powerfully states, “it’s the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.”

This is the Great Commission.