SMITCHing

The title of this post is also the "mandate" our church has adopted, about a year ago now. At a recent meeting of the Lead Team pastors, it was called into question. One pastor heard that it was critiqued as too broad. He asked, "Shouldn't all Christians do that?" Another pastor wanted something more concretely actionable, and pointed out their department's mission statement, which was concrete and actionable. I happened to write the line used in our mandate, so there were some sideways glances at me to see how I was reacting. I'm passed the point of being emotionally invested in the line as it's author. Besides, I never wrote it as a "mandate" or theme line. I wrote it to answer a simple question: how do you explain Christian discipleship to someone who is unfamiliar with the term in general, and with Christian jargon in particular. I wanted to encapsulate what it meant for the Church to obey Matthew 28 by going and making disciples...