Welcome to the PMF Workshop for March 2022. I’m your host, T. M. Moore. Each month we provide teaching, encouragement, activities, and resources to help you in working your Personal Mission Field, so that you can become more consistent and effective in realizing the presence, promise, and power of God’s Kingdom in your daily life.

This month’s Workshop is entitled, “Remit Review.” Our text is Matthew 28.18-20.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, eaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Your life – make it count!
In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, the late Dallas Willard wrote, “We were built to count, as water is made to run downhill. We are placed in a specific context to count in ways no one else does. That is our destiny.” Which begs the question, “What does it mean for me to ‘count’?” To matter, that is? To make a real and lasting contribution? Leave a legacy? Do meaningful work? Lay my head down in gratitude and satisfaction each night?

In a Christian context, and especially when we’re thinking about mission and Personal Mission Field, we may be inclined to think that our lives “count” mainly to the extent that we are used of God to bring others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. People who lead others to Jesus, they’re the ones whose lives count for the Kingdom and matter for all eternity.

And, of course, as the Lord leads in the “as-you-are-goings” of our lives, we want to be ready with a Word of Good News to give reasons for the hope that we have in Jesus (1 Pet. 3.15).

But let’s keep one important thing in mind: Our remit as believers is not to “win people to Jesus.” Anyone who’s going to be won to Jesus will be won by the Spirit of God, working with the Word of the Gospel. Our duty and calling is to “make disciples” wherever we go, whatever we’re doing, with whomever God places us at any given time. Making disciples and leading people to Jesus may be the same thing, but making disciples involves much more than that.

All believers are called to make disciples, and making disciples is a process, not an event. You and I, who are already disciples, are works in progress. There remains a good bit of “making” to be done in us to help us increase in the likeness of Jesus (2 Cor. 3.12-18). This is the work of God’s Spirit, and He chooses to use other people to help in the disciple-making process in our lives. Put another way, we who are disciples need others to help make us more the disciples Jesus calls us to be. One implication of this is that we need to make sure we are in the Personal Mission Fields of folks who are committed to this calling.

And it’s our calling as well. If you’re like most Christians, the majority of people in your Personal Mission Field, where God has placed and sent you to count for the work of making disciples – most of the folks you see throughout the week are already Christians. You might be tempted to think you have nothing to offer them. Whatever is going to help them increase as disciples will come through preachers, Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, and so forth.

And, of course, we all need such people in our lives. But the many “one another” passages in the New Testament strongly suggest that we have something to contribute to helping the Christians we know increase in Jesus and in following Him. Love one another, bear one another’s burdens, teach and admonish and correct one another, pray for one another, consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works – these are all “disciple-making” tasks, and they indicate that we should focus more earnestly, intentionally, and consistently on helping the believers in our Personal Mission Field become more the people God has called them to be for His Kingdom and glory.

Some implications
So what does this require of us? How should we think about working our Personal Mission Fields for the purpose of making disciples?

First, we need to pay attention to every opportunity to make disciples. Paul instructs us to “walk circumspectly” so that we can “redeem the time” of our lives for God’s Kingdom and glory (Eph. 5.15-17). We must prepare for the times we’re going to be with other Christians, and do what we can to bring Jesus into the time of our lives, by sharing, prayer, asking questions, and talking about His many excellencies.

But, second, we also need to have a good idea about what it means to be a disciple. We can’t contribute to making disciples if our understanding of what it means to be a disciple is vague and abstract. Jesus calls us to follow Him, to take up our cross, deny ourselves, live as servants to others, pray without ceasing, seek His Kingdom and righteousness, and be always ready with a word of witness. We also need to have a good idea about the kind of good works that characterize disciples of Jesus – the holy and righteous and good works outlined in the Law of God. The clearer our picture is of what it means to be a disciple, the more likely we will be to grow into that picture, and to be available to help others grow into it as well.

Surely one of the most important aspects of the disciple-making process is the work of prayer. We should pray regularly for all the people in our Personal Mission Field. Pray for them to see Jesus and desire Him more earnestly. Pray that they will map out their own Personal Mission Fields and get busy about the work of making disciples. Pray for Jesus to meet their needs, fill them with His Spirit, create in them a desire to be His witnesses, and meet their daily needs. Then, tell these folks that you are praying for them, and tell them what you’ve been praying and that your great desire for them is that they might grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what Paul did, so he must have considered this to be an important part of the disciple-making process.

Our mandate from Jesus is to make disciples. There are myriad ways we can do something every day to encourage, edify, affirm, teach, counsel, direct, and learn from the believers in our Personal Mission Field, so that together we increase in Jesus and thus make Him more visible in our world. Make your life count every day by taking making-disciples as a defining focus of all your work in your Personal Mission Field.

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Here are some activities you can practice to help you improve your disciplines for working your Personal Mission Field.

1. First – and we remind you of this every month – make sure you have mapped out your Personal Mission Field. Keep your map with you, so you can take it out and pray for the people you’ll be seeing throughout the day.
2. Pray specifically for the believers in your Personal Mission Field, (1) that they might devote themselves daily to Jesus; (2) that His Spirit would work to make them more like Him; (3) that they would pursue the work of making disciples in their own Personal Mission Field. Steep yourself daily in God’s Word, to feed and fortify your soul for making disciples.
3. Whenever you pray for a believer in your Personal Mission Field, send them a text or email to let them know that you are praying and what you are praying.
4. Share this link to the Personal Mission Field presentation and worksheet with other believers in your Personal Mission Field. Urge them to watch it and to map out their own PMF.
5. Find a Personal Mission Field partner who will meet with you regularly for encouragement, accountability, and prayer. This is a great way to fulfill the instructions of Hebrews 10.24, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works”.

Your time in the Word of God each day is a crucial component of the work of making disciples. Our book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart, can show you how to get more out of that time so that the Word increases in you and you increase in Him. A free copy of this book available at our bookstore (click here).

That’s it for this month’s Personal Mission Field Workshop. Share your stories and ideas, or send your questions to the website, www.ailbe.org. Until next month, for the Fellowship of Ailbe, and for the Personal Mission Field Workshop, this has been T. M. Moore.

We ask the Lord to move and enable many more of our readers to provide for the needs of our ministry. Please seek Him in prayer concerning your part in supporting our work. You can contribute online by using the Contribute button at the website; or you can send a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 360 Zephyr Road, Williston, VT 05495.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.