divineinsight:BY HUMPHREY MTANDWA
As Jesus was about to go, he spoke to the disciples and instructed them to go into the world. Strangely the disciples did not immediately go out as commissioned, but gathered in Jerusalem under the pastorship of James. Jesus was not in support of this action because he had told them to go into the world.
The master’s instructions said they should go, yet they wanted to remain in Jerusalem. Jesus desired the men he had trained to go with the message to all the corners of the world. We are not called to build churches, but to raise disciples. The mandate is not to build physical structures, but to build people and if we are building the structures, it’s only to aid us in building men. But it seems the church is more comfortable with the four walls than they are with accomplishing the mandate of the master, which is to go into the world and make disciples.
The disciples were later scattered throughout the world as the master desired, but this only happened because they were now being persecuted and could no longer stay in Jerusalem. It seems in our time the church is now being chased again from the temple and because we are used to the comfort of being in the church building, we have forgotten the true mandate of the church, which is to go and raise disciples. It’s time to break down the four walls of the church and focus on building people.
The current world events emanating from the Covid-19 outbreak have forced world governments to institute laws that seem to work against the church because the church is used to congregating in buildings, just like the church at Jerusalem. The new laws make it impossible to meet and gather even for prayer, but is this a curse or a blessing? Some churches last gathered as groups nine months ago.
When the early church was scattered because of persecution, it seemed like an attack on the body of Christ and though the enemy intended it for bad, that pushed the disciples into God’s plan. As the church, though we cannot meet physically, this has pushed us to grow in other areas we had neglected and it seems the shift at the end will be beneficial to the church.
As the church, our primary focus is to go into the world and we have to use everything at our disposal to accomplish this mandate.
Because of the current regulations which bar the church from meeting physically, the church is now growing in media and online platforms. The church had neglected media and online, but the world has been migrating towards those platforms for years now and because of these current regulations the church is finally coming in and re-establishing.
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Apostle Peter is believed to have travelled to Rome and because of his visit, the church was able to impact Europe and, later on, the world. The Bible says all things work together for good to those who love God. No matter what will happen, the church will not be disadvantaged, but will come out stronger than before. It’s time to take back those areas which we had neglected which are paramount to reaching people. We are called to build people and not to settle in physical buildings.
God bless you.
l Humphrey Mtandwa is an anointed minister of the gospel and teacher of the Word based in South Africa. He has written several books including The Enoch Generation, Truthfulness and Theophany. He blogs at mtandwa.blogspot.com and can be contacted via e-mail or WhatsApp on +27 610286350.
