Filling Holes
The Gospel of Mark is known for its fast-paced portrayal of Jesus’ life. This is especially true of chapter three where Jesus heals people, verbally spars with the Scribes and Pharisees, teaches great crowds of people, and reorients the definition of family. In the middle of all that activity (verses 13-19), Jesus creates his Mission Team.
Jesus is baptized and then begins his public ministry. We see in the first two chapters that he begins to call and gain disciples as he goes. But it is not until chapter three that he formalizes his team:
And he went up on the mountain and called to him those he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.
Simon (who he renamed Peter), James and John (who he gave the name Sons of Thunder), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddaeus, Simon and Judas.
Out of the larger community of disciples that were following Jesus, he personally invited—by name—a few chosen men into a more intimate relationship. These were the people he was going to live out the mission with, they were his team.
Often we get caught up in the organization and programming of the church and forget that The Church is nothing more than a network of relationships mutually surrendering to Jesus. We need to live out what Jesus modeled and proactively fill out our Mission Teams with a personal invite out of relationships in our lives.
In light of that charge, here are three quick learnings from Jesus and how he did this:
Invite out of the Crowd. There was a larger crowd following Jesus, and a small crowd of disciples. Jesus called the Twelve out by name. Every Sunday we have hundreds of people in our lobbies and new people showing up every week. Simply get to know people at your campus as a first step.
Invite from a mix of relational levels. Some of the Twelve were close personal friends. Some he had just met. One would prove to be an enemy. Jesus called to all and pulled from each relational dynamic.
Invite to mission. This is about the mission of God! Helping people far from God experience Jesus. Don’t ever forget that. Jesus called them so that they could be sent out to preach and heal. We are inviting to purpose.
WHO DO YOU FEEL CALLED TO PERSONALLY INVITE INTO YOUR TEAM?