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Our Great Commission (Mark 16:15-18 and Matthew 28:16-20)
Preaching the Gospel
Our first commission is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We preach the good news of God's salvation in the marketplace, colleges, universities, and the surrounding areas, and we bear this commission to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8). While God desires all men and women to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), none can be saved without the preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:13-15). God has entrusted us with the gospel (1 Thessalonians 2:4), and through our preaching men and women are saved by Him. While God is always ready to save, we must be willing to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Feeding the New Believers
Our second commission is to nourish our new brethren. The individuals who have been recently saved require nourishing as they continue to develop throughout their lives. We have been commission to preach the gospel, yet we have to incorporate supporting the individuals who have been saved through us. The Lord Jesus instructed Peter to feed His sheep (John 21:15-17), and Peter followed His commandment, for a considerable length of time. Peter was encouraging the Lord's sheep through his letters. In one of the letters, he stated, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may develop unto salvation." (1 Peter 2:2), and he exhorted the main elders of the temples to "Shepherd the flock of God" (1 Peter 5:2). Paul demonstrated his care for the believers by feeding them as he writes in one of his letters: "But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children." (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
Building up and Encouraging the Saints
Our third commission is to build up and encourage the body of Christ through our weekly prayer meetings, small groups, and conferences throughout the year as directed by the Holy Spirit. The building up and encouraging are done mostly in the homes of the believers, in groups of about ten to fifteen weekly. During these small group meetings, the brothers and sisters ask questions to one another and answer each other in mutuality. There will not be any appointed speakers or teachers, for all the believers can perfect others to some extent. Please come with your open heart and mind to receive the good deposit from one another; all the saints can be perfected by all the members in these small groups. Paul speaks of this mutual perfecting in Ephesians 4:16: “From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supply according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."