The Great Commission Resurgence: Fulfilling God's Mandate in Our Time
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
“We want God to break our hearts over the lostness of the world.”
In the wake of the Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, SBC leaders and messengers agree that God is now calling us to a Great Commission Resurgence as the next key step toward genuine evangelistic renewal.
Research confirms the urgent, convicting need: millions in North America still don’t know Jesus, and more than 1.6 billion worldwide have likely never even heard of Him. Although the denomination’s membership has increased greatly since 1950, Southern Baptists are reaching fewer persons with the Gospel today than back then, suggesting many churches are making little eternal difference.
“Somehow, we have stood faithfully for a message that we have chosen to keep to ourselves,” co-editor Chuck Lawless writes in his introduction to The Great Commission Resurgence.
Featuring essays by Johnny M. Hunt, Ed Stetzer, Thom S. Rainer, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Jerry Rankin, Daniel L. Akin, David S. Dockery, and more than a dozen other respected SBC voices, this timely book clarifies the biblical, theological, and practical matters related to this compelling movement. It will help recapture an exciting missional vision for presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and making disciples of all the nations.
“Any genuine Great Commission Resurgence will occur only when God’s people–His church, gathered in local congregations–admit our apathy, confess our sin, turn to Him in brokenness, preach the Word in gratitude and obedience, invest personally in the lives of new believers, and give God alone the glory.”
- Seeks to spark discussions about the Great Commission that will also, in turn, lead to Great Commission actions
- Provides an opportunity to view the history of the Southern Baptist Convention and get glimpses of what its future may look like
- Invites readers to read prayerfully, positively, practically, and personally
Top Highlights
“A nonevangelistic church is denying before the nations that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (Page 117)
“Matthew’s record of Jesus’ last words before He ascended into heaven paints a portrait that forces us to recognize the operation of both sovereignty and responsibility in the Great Commission. We must believe both with equal fervency and at the same time. God is absolutely sovereign in the work of salvation, and we are absolutely responsible. Whatever else might be said in our effort to understand God’s part and ours in the work of evangelism, those two truths must never be separated or diminished in our thinking. Rather, we must integrate and honor both truths in the way we trust and obey the Lord Jesus.” (Page 152)
“It is at just this point that some get confused. Obviously, no one helped God plan salvation and no one assisted Jesus in atoning for sin on the cross, but people are involved in getting the good news of salvation to those who need it. Our participation, however, does not mitigate divine sovereignty in changing unbelievers into believers. A careful reading of Scripture reveals that God is just as sovereign in the application of salvation as He is in the planning and accomplishment of it.” (Page 154)
“Belief in both the absolute sovereignty of God and absolute responsibility of man seems irrational, but no more so than belief in the Trinity or in the complete deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ. The reason these latter two doctrines are received as true is that they are taught in Scripture. We submit our understanding to them not as an expression of irrationality but in recognition that they are suprarational—that they are revealed.” (Page 162)