When Jesus stood on a Galilean mountainside and gave his followers their final instructions, he didn’t offer a list of optional activities or spiritual electives. He gave them a clear, non-negotiable mandate:
By Tim Orr
With credit to Matt Scott, OneVillage.com, for data and insights
When Jesus stood on a Galilean mountainside and gave his followers their final instructions, he didn’t offer a list of optional activities or spiritual electives. He gave them a clear, non-negotiable mandate:
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
(Matthew 28:19–20, NIV)
This is what we call the Great Commission, and for nearly 2,000 years, it has served as the heartbeat of Christian mission. But today, that heart is barely audible in the modern Church.
In a shocking revelation from Barna Group and Mission India’s 2022 Great Disconnect report, 74% of practicing Christians could not correctly identify the Great Commission or explain what it means. Let that sink in. Nearly three out of four Christians who regularly attend church, read the Bible, and identify as followers of Jesus no longer recognize his final command.
This isn’t a minor doctrinal detail. It’s a spiritual identity crisis.
The Great Commission wasn’t merely recited in the early Church—it was embodied. The apostles risked everything to carry the message to hostile cities, foreign cultures, and distant lands. Acts 1:8 wasn’t a metaphor but a strategy: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth.
But now?
In many churches, global missions are relegated to a once-a-year “missions Sunday,” tucked between sermon series on anxiety and time management. There’s nothing wrong with addressing personal issues—we need gospel-centered wisdom for life. But if we only teach people how to cope and not how to go, we’re raising disciples who know how to survive, but not how to obey.
There’s a tragic irony here. The Church is more connected, resourced, and educated than ever in history—yet it is growing increasingly disconnected from its most basic assignment.
Let’s unpack the data further. According to the Great Disconnect report:
That’s a massive gap between leadership and laity. What pastors are preaching, people aren’t practicing. Why?
One reason may be that discipleship in many churches has become inward instead of outward. We’re forming consumers instead of ambassadors. We teach people how to navigate church culture but not how to engage in cross-cultural mission. We focus on healing without calling and formation without sending.
And the result?
According to The Traveling Team (2024), only 1 in 174,463 Christians becomes a missionary to the unreached.
That’s not a typo. That’s the statistical reality. If the apostle Paul were alive today, he’d probably weep.
And when you think it can’t get worse, 6.5% of missionaries leave the field each year (OMF, 2024). That means over 50% of the mission force turns over every decade.
We’re sending out fewer workers than ever—and losing half in ten years.
Let’s explore what might be causing this deep fracture between Christ’s call and the Church’s response.
In the West, Christianity is often more about values and lifestyle than sacrifice and mission. We’ve been catechized by comfort. The Great Commission sounds too radical and costly, so we recast it as a ministry specialty rather than a Christian norm.
Many Christians haven’t been taught why missions matter. They haven’t been shown how Genesis to Revelation tells a missional story—of a God who seeks the nations and calls his people to join Him. Without this biblical framework, the Great Commission feels like an extracurricular, not the epicenter of faith.
Too often, discipleship focuses on inward spiritual health without calling people outward to service and mission. But true discipleship isn’t complete until it becomes reproductive—until those discipled become disciple-makers.
If we want to reverse this trend, we need more than guilt or statistics. We need a reawakening—a return to first love, first call, and priorities.
Here are five steps churches and individuals can take right now:
We must help believers see that God’s heart has always beat for the nations from Abraham to Revelation. The Great Commission is not a New Testament idea—it’s the culmination of a story God has been telling.
Mission shouldn’t be a side theme—it should saturate our preaching. Every book points outward from the Psalms to the Prophets to the Gospels. Let’s preach the whole counsel of God, with the Great Commission as our lens.
Every believer must wrestle with the question: Where is God sending me? Whether across the street or the world, calling should be a regular part of the discipleship journey, not just a bonus track for the super spiritual.
We need stories. Stories of ordinary believers doing extraordinary things for God. Stories of the unreached finding Christ. Stories that show our people that the mission is not just possible—it’s beautiful.
The enemy doesn’t fear our programs. He fears our obedience. If the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37–38), prayer must become central again. Not filler. Not an obligation. But warfare.
If we truly believe Jesus is Lord, then the Great Commission is not optional. It’s not for a niche. It’s for all of us.
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b)
He is with us because he is sending us. Let’s not be part of the generation that forgot the mission. Let’s be the ones who remembered—and obeyed.
Barna Group & Mission India. (2022). The Great Disconnect Report.
The Traveling Team. (2024). Missions Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.thetravelingteam.org
OMF International. (2024). Annual Global Mission Report.
Scripture taken from the New International Version (NIV).
Credit: Data and insights provided by Matt Scott of OneVillage.com
Tim serves full-time with Crescent Project as the assistant director of the internship program and area coordinator, where he is also deeply involved in outreach across the UK. A scholar of Islam, Evangelical minister, conference speaker, and interfaith consultant, Tim brings over 30 years of experience in cross-cultural ministry. He holds six academic degrees, including a Doctor of Ministry from Liberty University and a Master’s in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College in London.
In addition to his ministry work, Tim is a research associate with the Congregations and Polarization Project at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis. His research interests include Islamic antisemitism, American Evangelicalism, and Islamic feminism. He has spoken at leading universities and mosques throughout the UK—including Oxford University, Imperial College London, and the University of Tehran—and has published widely in peer-reviewed Islamic academic journals. Tim is also the author of four books.