Six Reasons We Need to Become Allies for the Great Commission
By Pastor Rick Warren
Caring About What God Cares About Most
When I’m talking to believers around the world, I often tell them that if they don’t get anything else from what I’m sharing, they need to get this:
If you want the blessing of God in your life—if you want the power of God through your life and the anointing of God on your ministry—you must care about what Jesus cares about most.
What he cares about most is that his lost children are found.
With arms outstretched, nail-pierced hands, and blood flowing down, Jesus was saying, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” He was saying, “I love you this much. I’d rather die than live without you.” That kind of love is what changes lives. That kind of love is what fuels the mission of the Church.
The Great Commission Requires Great Collaboration
The Great Commission—going and making disciples of all nations—is not the Great Suggestion. God has called every believer to share the Good News and make disciples. And yet nearly 2,000 years later, the task remains unfinished.
Why?
Because none of us can finish the task by ourselves.
If you think your church, your denomination, your network, or your organization is going to win the world on its own, you’re just kidding yourself. The only way this task will ever be completed is if we start working together.
That’s why Jesus prayed for unity. In John 17—his high priestly prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night before he went to the cross—Jesus wasn’t praying about his upcoming suffering. What was most on his heart was the unity of the family of God.
Twice he prayed, “Father, I pray that they will be one—so that the world may know… so that the world may believe.”
Unity is not about creating a kumbaya club.
Unity is about evangelism. It’s a witness to the world.
How would you like to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer? The prayer of Jesus will be answered when the Church learns to work together.
So why is collaboration so essential? Scripture gives us six clear reasons. I like to remember them with the acrostic A-L-L-I-E-S.
A — Collaboration Amplifies Our Witness
All of our voices together are louder than your voice by itself. All of our voices together are louder than my voice by myself.
The Bible says this in Romans 15:5-6: “May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That’s what Jesus wants. He wants all of us in one voice bringing glory to God. That’s why we need to collaborate.
L — We Learn From One Another
Just as iron sharpens iron, people sharpen one another.
If you only surround yourself with people who think like you, worship like you, and do ministry like you, you’re not learning very much. God intentionally designed the body of Christ with diversity so we would grow through one another.
The Church is healthier—and wiser—when we learn from brothers and sisters who are different from us.
L — We Leverage Our Gifts and Resources
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 says, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.”
Your gifts were not given for your benefit.
They were given for the benefit of the body.
When we collaborate, we stop competing and start complementing. The only way we will ever have unity in the body of Christ is to learn to love the variety God created.
I — Collaboration Increases Our Effectiveness
Scripture says that two are more effective than one because they can get more done by working together.
Philippians 1:27 says, “Be sure that you live in a way that brings honor to God and honor to the good news of Christ. I want to hear that you’re standing strong with one purpose, that you work together as one for the faith of the good news.”
That means that if I’m not doing that—working together with others—I’m sinning. It’s not just a matter of preference. If I’m not collaborating, I’m disobeying God.
E — We Embody Christ’s Love
When we collaborate, we embody Christ’s love. We show the world what love is really like.
In John 13, Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment. Love each other in the same way that I’ve loved you. You must love each other. Your love for each other will prove to the world that you’re my disciples.”
S — We Share the Burden
Ministry is heavy—but it was never meant to be carried alone.
Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each others’s burdens. By doing this, you fulfill the law of Christ.”
What’s the law of Christ? Love your neighbor as yourself. You love your neighbors as yourself when you share each other’s burden.
Ecclesiastes 4 says, “If you fall, another can help you get back up. But if you’re alone and you fall, no one can help.” It goes on to say, “One person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”
That’s why we need each other.
Now, here’s an interesting thing. We don’t realize how powerful this is. When you work with other people, it multiplies your efforts. It multiplies your talents.
Satan doesn’t want you doing this, which is why he says, “Don’t work with anybody. Just let your church be a good little church and don’t try to work with anybody else.” Why? Because he knows how powerful it is.
Overcoming Giants Together: The Gulliver Lesson
Three hundred years ago, a devout Irish pastor named Jonathan Swift wrote Gulliver’s Travels, the most famous satire in history.
If you don’t know the story, Gulliver was a surgeon on a ship that was shipwrecked in a terrible storm. He washes up on a magical, mythical island where everyone else on the ship has been killed. That island is inhabited by the Lilliputians—people who are about six inches tall. The book tells us that Gulliver is six feet tall, making him twelve times bigger than the people who live there.
Gulliver washes up on the beach and falls asleep. While he’s asleep, the small people say, “This is a big problem. He could step all over us.” So they decide to work together and, while he is still asleep, they tie him down.
The point Pastor Jonathan Swift is making is this: you may face a giant, but if you work together—if you collaborate, have a common goal, and stay organized—you can tie that giant down.
One drop of water has no impact.
But millions of drops can turn a desert into a garden.
This is how the task will be finished—church by church, village by village, movement by movement—working together.
One Mission. One Team.
We don’t need another denomination.
We don’t need another organization.
We need Great Commission allies—churches, networks, and movements committed to working together so that everyone, everywhere has the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news.
If you love Jesus, we’re on the same team.
A Simple Invitation
If you care about what God cares about most—and you want to see the Great Commission completed in our generation—we invite you to join believers around the world as Great Commission Allies.
Let’s work together so the world may know and believe.
To take your first step to become a Great Commission Ally, visit https://finishingthetask.com/signup/
