Go and Make Disciples

Go and Make Disciples

William Carey, often called the father of modern missions, was a cobbler in England who felt God's call to go to India in the 1790s. He is credited with saying: 'Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.' He spent over forty years in India without a furlough, translating the Bible into Bengali and other languages, founding schools and hospitals, opposing suttee (widow-burning). He made disciples — one at a time, slowly, in a culture deeply resistant to the gospel. His first convert came after seven years of labor. He kept going. The Great Commission, he said, was not a suggestion for people who felt like it. It was the last words of his King.

Matthew 28:18-20 is often called the Great Commission, and its structure is precise. The main verb is 'make disciples' — everything else is subordinate: going, baptizing, teaching. The commission is not to convert people but to disciple them — to bring them into a relationship with Jesus that is taught, nurtured, and practiced. 'All nations' (panta ta ethne) encompasses every ethnic and cultural group on earth. And the promise at the end is the fuel for the whole mission: 'And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' The Great Commission is not primarily a guilt trip about what we haven't done. It is an invitation to participate in the greatest project in history, accompanied by the presence of the risen Lord.