The Great Commission of our Savior is so clear: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
What does it look like to obey this command? If we produce maturing followers of Jesus Christ, is it enough that we leave new believers to study God's truth on their own? If they have become disciples of our Lord in a town distant from ours, with whom will they fellowship, pray, serve or praise God?
The answer is evident in the Book of Acts: the result of the Great Commission must be the planting of more local Churches in which people can continue in the Apostles doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer, ministry, giving, praise and evangelism (Acts 2:41-47), and thus produce more local Churches beyond themselves.
We believe that most helpful thing we can do for this region of Appalachia is to plant God-centered, Gospel-saturated, expository preaching local Churches that are on mission for the glory of Jesus Christ. This may take on different forms, depending on the distance from our Charleston campus. At times, this may also involve re-planting Churches who desire to refocus and network with us.
Pastor Mark Dever (of Washington D.C.'s Capitol Hill Baptist Church) did a tremendous job summarizing the Church-planting nature of the Great Commission in a sermon he preached at the 2011 PLANT Conference sponsored by Sovereign Grace Ministries, 9Marks, Acts 29, the SBC, PCA and others. Ten of our men attended this conference and were strengthened by it. Click below to hear the sermon: