Behold! Now is the time for the Laity

Missions is going through a paradigm shift, a field that has been in the last 40 years predominantly played by the big and small mission organizations, churches and mega churches, evangelists, tele-evangelists and full time missionaries till now, is going through a silent but distinct shift to the common lay believer. Recently I was listening to the transformational story of a young engineer from a non-Christian background and he told me that he came to know Jesus and became his follower because one of his team members who was a follower of Jesus, lived out Christ in his work place. His life, words and attitude attracted this engineer to him and that guy took the initiative to introduce Christ to him.

This is happening all around us in rapidly increasing frequencies especially in the work places, in IT and other professional sector, in business domains and among students in schools and colleges where the disciples of Jesus are becoming witnesses of the Lord as a way of life and influencing their peers, friends and co-workers. I know of college students who are seeing four to five generations of multiplying disciples from other faiths who are now ardent followers of Jesus.  Isn't that exciting? Isn't that the mandate given to us when Jesus commanded the disciples just before He ascended to heaven – to make disciples of all nations?

I have a feeling that we are living in the most exciting and epochal phase of Christian missions, when the whole church is increasingly taking the mandate of making disciples seriously and getting knee deep into that process. Imagine the power of multiplication even if just one percentage of believers in this nation gets involved in making disciples, the results can be staggering.

There is an unprecedented move of the Holy Spirit as never before in the hearts of common lay people, church leaders and elders to empower, equip and unleash the laity into evangelism and discipleship. There are many initiatives national and regional that have come up in the last couple of years, all across the nation, focused on releasing the laity despite the rising radicalism and persecution to see the fulfilment of that great task. In fact the rise of fundamentalism and persecution has only accentuated the paradigm shift to this dimension of lay evangelism and discipleship instead of organized and visible structures like mission organization or Churches which are finding it increasingly difficult to get into these public spaces of discourse where an individual believer has easy access.

Another silver lining in the horizon is the slow and visible shift from the maddening rush to establish mega personality cult churches to smaller but multiple church plants or bible centred communities across a broader scope. I am hearing from more of more pastors their passion and need of envisioning and training their lay people to engage in disciple making and to see multiple churches planted in unreached and unengaged places. It is like a whiff of fresh air, we are witnessing a return to the basics, to the first century church paradigm as in the book of Acts.

The Key here is to empower and release the laity to be the salt and light, as a way of life where ever they are placed. Evangelism and discipleship should not be seen as an extra activity which needs to be done on a separate day in a place outside ones common domain of work which will defeat the whole idea. Off course that in itself has great value and needs to be done in a target place as planned and as time allows. But the mandate was, “as you go make disciples” that means as you  interact with your colleagues or a co-worker or a batch mate or a friend or relatives 'make disciples' which is exactly what being Salt and Light imply. One common quality that stands out for both Salt and Light is “it permeates” and becomes part of the environment, never barges in nor stands out. Along with this there is also the element of proclamation and persuasion which needs to be done as and when one gets opportunity, not to hit and run with the Gospel or see him as another number in the stats to be ticked off but because of the love of Christ that compels us to share that amazing love which we personally experienced.

Imagine if the millions of believers in our churches mainline, independent and others who come in every Sunday to attend the service and go back to their weekly routines, if they are envisioned and equipped to be these catalyst of transformation then the day is not far when our nation will hear the name of Jesus and every one will have a chance to respond to that Name.