I stood with my hands opened before me, eager to receive the word of benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). After the “Amen,” I turned to pick up my things and head out to crawl through another week in the world when I heard the worship pastor continue speaking over the congregation: “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit you are sent.”
What was this? Did he just say what I think he said? I was familiar with a biblical blessing after a service, but here was an additional word, a commissioning word for pilgrims on the way. Turning to my wife with a look of surprise I asked, “Did he just commission us?” She confirmed that I heard him right. An older couple standing behind us knew that we were visiting and added, “That’s exactly what he said. We hear it every week.”
While I was still chewing on the blessing of the benediction, I was being commissioned to carry the good news I had just received into the world. This moment left its mark on me and shaped how our young church plant on the Westside of Indianapolis concludes our weekly worship gatherings to this day. But it so much more than a missional way to end things; the triune commissioning is a weekly reminder that we are a sent people; we are a sending church.
It was on my heart long before that day to plant a church that would be a sending church, someday. Someday we would identify gifted people, train them, and send them out. Someday we would commission members to labor among the nations after we had fully staffed ministry teams and elders in place. Someday we would be a sending church when we had matured and no longer needed the financial support of our sending church. Someday.
But standing in that worship gathering on that day, I began to rethink what it means to be a sending church—a congregation that is sent and sends its members… not someday, but today. Let me explain. Read More
Image: Church of the Holy Trinity (REC), Houston, Texas
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