Before William Carey popularized Matthew 28:18-20 as THE Great Commission, most Christians largely ignored this mandate. They neglected to make disciples of all nations. If God wants to convert the heathen (as one skeptic admonished Carey) He will do it without consulting you and me!
Is it possible that Western Christians have now made an equally devastating mistake concerning the Great Commission? We memorize Jesus’s words but ignore His command. We live in a globalizing and urbanizing world. Nations are increasingly scattered all around us. Are we neglecting the stranger next door?
In my own church, I have often used the “pray, give, go” as a mantra for global missions. But has that emphasis come at the expense of “welcome, love, and serve” local migrants? I’m not suggesting that we slow down on reaching the unreached in hard-to-reach distant lands. But in many of our urban, suburban, and even rural neighborhoods of North America, the unreached are living within reach.
Bottom line: the Great Commission is for “over here” just as much as it is for “over there”. God cares deeply about how we treat our immigrant, widow, orphan, or impoverished neighbor. As we seek to rediscover the Great Commission, we need to be reminded of the Great Commandment. We must love God and love our neighbor. We start by asking, in our diverse and multicultural neighborhoods right here in North America: Then who is my neighbor?
How do we think King Jesus will answer?
