Obeying The Great Commission | 6ps Of An Evangelist | Dr. Madana Kumar, Phd | Lausanne 2024

Obedience to the Great Commission

Six Personality Traits that will help us

For a video version of this sermon, please visit https://youtu.be/_8ayKMzSyu4

Pastor has initiated the series on the Great Commission and we will continue to focus on that theme today.

Many of you might have heard about the Lausanne Movement. This is the largest gathering of evangelists in the world to discuss “The state of the Great Commission”. What are the contextual challenges, what strategies can we adopt? What regions or people groups should we be focusing on etc. This was a movement started by Billy Graham in 1974, at Lausanne, Switzerland (and hence the name Lausanne movement. Since it began, the movement has had three global conferences, the last one being in Cape town, South Africa in 2010. Our own Dr. Ashish Chrispal had the privilege of attending the Cape Town Conference. The fourth congress is scheduled in Seoul, South Korea, in September this year. By God’s grace, I have been selected to attend the fourth congress and God willing should be able to do to. So please pray for me as I prepare to attend this conference and discuss strategies for fulfilling the Great Commission.

As a preparation for this conference, I have been researching on various topics related with this, and please permit me to share some of those with you this morning.

But first, let us start by reminding ourselves about the Great Commission. Let us read out the Great Commission together from Mathew 28:18-20 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)

The first thing that I realised is that the this is not a Great Suggestion. This is a Great Commission. It is meant for all of us. Many of us do this of course. However, many of us struggle to find the right ways to reach out, the right ways to convey the good news. We are faced with questions.. what is the right thing to do? What is the right thing to say, will they get offended if we say some thing? How open should I be about the gospel to others?

I am not talking about full time missionaries here. I am talking about you and me, who live among the quote unquote “pagans” and are called to influence them so that they may have same hope that we have too. Rick Warren says that all of us are SHAPEd for ministry.

We have all been given

? Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12)

? Heart or Passion

? Abilities or Natural Skills

? Personality

? Experiences

How do we use our SHAPE to obey the Great Commission?

My studies reveal to me that there are six aspects of the personality that we need to be conscious about to do ministry in our own space.

We need to be a person or family of the six P’s for us to be able to do ministry effectively.

The first P is the Person/Family of Peace.

One of the inheritances that Jesus left with us is peace. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27, NIV). And Jesus asks us to leave that peace with others. In Luke 10:5-6, Lord Jesus Christ asks the 72 messengers to offer peace to the house where they visit and he says “if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. Else it will return to you. “ So it is clear that Jesus wants us to be a man (or woman) of peace. Paul reaffirms this in Romans 12:18: NIV If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. So this is the first question we must ask ourselves when we think about the Great Commission. Am I seen as a Man of peace by others?

The second P is that of People relationships. When we hear the word relationships, we think of long term relationships. But it need not be always. There are several passing relationships that God puts us through. This could be some one we meet in the market, or in the lift, or may be a co traveler, a person whom you interviewed for recruitment. There is all possibilities that you may never meet that person ever again. The question that we need to ask ourselves is whether we are willing to make use of this passing relationship to plant a seed? (1 Cor 3:6, NIV I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.), or do we pass the opportunity saying that “hey.. I will never be able to take this forward, so why waste my time here?