Our Vision Statement: “Gospel Ambition exists to pursue the fulfillment of the Great Commission in this generation, with you.”
The Great Commission
The Great Commission is Christ’s final command to His disciples before His ascension. It is the Church’s mandate to make disciples.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)
As followers of Jesus, this is what we are to be about. So the Great Commission calls us to make disciples of all nations… baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, and teaching them everything that Jesus commanded, including the very command to go and make disciples.
This is a recursive, or repeating, pattern: disciples who make disciples who make disciples, in so doing reaching the whole world. Just like yeast in a lump of dough makes the whole dough rise.
When we say all nations, we mean people groups, groups that are ethnolinguistically different from each other. The goal of all nations is that every people group will have heard the gospel of Jesus. They will have access to, or knowledge of the announcement that the kingdom of God is here through Jesus.
Pursuing Fulfillment
By fulfillment we mean bringing something that’s not yet completed to completion. Matthew 28 says we are to make disciples of all nations. Matthew 24 affirms that the gospel will be proclaimed as a testimony to all nations. We also see in Revelation that there will be people from every tongue tribe and nation gathered around the throne. It will be completed. Since there are still those that have never heard, the Great Commission has not been fulfilled.
We hold the tension that fulfillment is going to happen in God’s mysterious timing, and we work toward completion alongside God, knowing it’s not within our power but through Jesus’ power with us.
Pursuit means actively working towards completion. Even if fulfillment isn’t within our control, completion remains our aim, and that’s precisely why we differentiate between fulfilling and pursuing fulfillment. We obey, labor, and multiply—trusting God with the timing of the end while refusing passivity in the present.
In This Generation
We speak of this generation because we want to live with expectancy, with a view and belief that the power of God is sufficient to accomplish his Great Commission in this generation. Revelation’s picture of the Spirit and Bride saying, “Come!” (Rev 22:17) captures our conviction that this is a partnership between God and His Church. We don’t presume on timing, but we act in faith as partners.
This generation is also pursued in light of the Great Commandment, we aim to see this in our lifetime because to truly love those around us is to work with strategic loving urgency that would bring this about in their lifetime.
With You
The Great Commission is a command to the entire body of Christ, a call for all. We aim to walk in partnership with Christ, and with His Church, in deep unity. All who are pursuing this we would call our partners.
Given billions of people on the planet, this work must be “multiplicative,” a small group can accomplish much, but will not be able to reach every nation. So we look for every part of the body to participate, knowing everyone is uniquely skilled and gifted. We equip others so that they can play their part better, and search for and invite closer partners to help us in the equipping, as we catalyze the Church to fulfill her call.
Practically, making disciples of “all nations” involves people going to the nation and learning the language to share. It also involves prayer, both interceding and mobilizing others to pray. It involves training people to go and sending them. In line with Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, everyone can play a part: mobilizing, welcoming the nations among us, going, supporting those who go, or praying for the nations. We want to help everyone be involved in one or more of those ways and to grow to be a disciple that makes disciples.