Dr. Marv Newell recently published Commissioned: What Jesus Wants You to Know as You Go with ChurchSmart. I recently did an interview with Marv regarding his book. You will definitely want to add this resource to your library!
Marv is the Excecutive Director of CrossGlobal Link, an association of over 90 mission agencies. I’ll share with you my endorsement, providing you my overall impression, and then you can read the interview:
“Marv has provided the Church with a fresh, biblically-grounded, and missiologically-guided book to assist us in understanding the essential elements of the Great Commission. He exegetes and synthesizes the biblical texts with the mind of a theologian and the heart of a missionary. I highly recommend Commissioned to anyone wanting an excellent understanding of how Jesus’ first century words apply to the 21st century world. Get this book; read it; and apply it!”
Tell us about your book.
This book is focused on the Great Commission. The goal of the book is to present a sound biblical exposition of the five Great Commission passages that were given by Jesus to the disciples after His resurrection. I wrote it on a popular level so any believer could easily understand it. Those instructions by Jesus are important because they contain the marching orders for the church on mission from Pentecost right up to the present. The second part of the book unfolds and informs contemporary issues surrounding the task of world evangelization based on Jesus’ commission. I tried to make it one of the most biblically coherent, complete, and comprehensive overviews of missions for our generation.
Why did you write this book?
I discovered from speaking around the country and teaching in the classroom that many believers know something about the Great Commission, but they don’t know how to go about the Great Commission. If you were to ask a typical group where the Great Commission is found, most would be able to say Matthew 28. If pressed for a second or third passage, most would come up with blank looks. Sometimes Acts 1:8 is mentioned. This book helps believers discover that Jesus gave the Great Commission five different times in five different settings to pass along five different emphases about His mission. That’s a revelation to most people! If it took Jesus a period of forty days to repeatedly convey the details of His mission, how can we expect believers today to adequately grasp the task by listening to only one or two sermons on it? It just cannot be done. Believers today need a systematic presentation of what is entailed in the mission, just as Jesus gave it to his disciples.
What makes this book different from others on the Great Commission?
This book uncovers something that I have yet to find in any other book written on the topic. That is this: not only are the Great Commission statements that Jesus gave multiple, but they are also sequential, not synoptic, and progressive. Over a period of forty days, Jesus incrementally gave to the disciples the model, the magnitude, the methodology, the message and the means of missions. He conveyed a little more information each time he met with the disciples after his resurrection so they could grasp its importance and the importance of their involvement in it.
Why is this book important for Church Planters?
The book has a chapter entitled “The Great Commission Diamond” where I tie together the four most important thematic threads that run throughout the Great Commission passages. One of those threads is identified as “a clear strategy.” That strategy is the DNA of our mission – which is best summed up with the acronym “EDP”: Evangelism, Discipleship, and Planting the Church. When evangelism results in new believers needing to be nurtured as disciples, the establishment of a church is the natural outcome. Therefore, church planting is considered the focal point of the Great Commission strategy. Local congregations are vital for conserving the fruit of evangelism and providing discipleship services necessary for transforming lives. Great Commission strategy has church planting at its core.
What other chapters are in the book that might be of particular interest to the readers?
I included a chapter “Common Questions about the Great Commission” so we wouldn’t shy away from some of the harder issues related to these passages. I answer such questions as, “Where are holistic ministries in the Great Commission?” “Since all ethnic groups have yet to be reached, can Jesus not yet return?” “Since God at times brings unbelievers to himself through visions an dreams, is human instrumentality necessary?” and so forth. The most important chapter focuses on the “why” of the Great Commission. Why do we even bother to exert ourselves to win lost souls? The chapter answers that question by way of an exposition on John 3:16 that answers five probing questions.
If readers are interested in teaching this book in their churches and small groups, how can they do that?
I wrote this book with the intent that it be used in small groups, Sunday school classes, mission orientation classes, mission committees, and even in the Bible school classroom. Therefore, anyone can teach this book by way of the accompanying Facilitator’s Guide. This guide contains lesson plans for either seven or twelve sessions and includes a CD that has Powerpoint, participant’s guide sheets and color maps and graphs. It is a complete package, all intended to get the church once again focused on what Jesus wants it to know as it goes on mission with him.
How does the alleviation of physical suffering fit into the Great Commission?
That’s a good question because there are some who confine their understanding of missions only to the Great Commission passages. They say that Jesus does not mention social responsibility or helping those who suffer. However, Jesus, indirectly deals with this matter in three of the five Great Commission passages. First we see the example of Jesus. John 20:21: “As the Father has sent me, so send I you.” Then, there is the implication of Jesus in Mark 16:15: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Jesus used the word “creation” instead of “mankind” because not only is mankind affected by the fall, but all of creation as well. It too is in need of redemption (Romans 8:18-23) and reconciliation (Colossians 1:19-20). Lastly there is Jesus’ teaching on compassion. Matthew 28:19 “…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” The “all” includes Jesus’ teachings on being compassionate and doing humanitarian acts of kindness. These passages reveal that although holistic ministries are implicit, not explicit in these passages, it is still there, although world evangelization is of primary concern.
John 3:16 is probably one of the most well known and most often quoted verses from the Bible. When most people think of the Great Commission they think of Matthew 28:19-20, not John 3:16. Why did you include a long section addressing this verse?”
Even though John 3:16 is the most recognizable verse of Scripture, I have discovered that most believers have only a sentimental not substantive understanding of it. The core message of this short verse is increasingly difficult for Christians to believe in the pluralistic environment in which they have been conditioned. Yet, the whole gospel is summed up in that one little verse, if truly believed; it is the theological underpinning for our engagement in the Great Commission. That is why I explain its meaning phrase-by-phrase, and then give a brief application story at the end. The message of John 3:16 is the core of our mission.
In chapter 3, “The Magnitude of Mission” you argue that evangelism can be sinful. What does sinful evangelism look like?
When we evangelize, we are not given blanket permission to do it any way that we want. The gospel is offensive to some, but our methods of delivering it should never be. We need to make concerted efforts to keep our evangelistic activities above reproach because a watching world is standing ready to accuse us if we do not. In our zeal to evangelize we need to be careful that our methods never discredit the glorious message we proclaim. When our methods are out-right offensive to the human spirit, when it is exploitative, when it is self-serving, and when it is insensitive to people’s feelings, it is sinful.
If you are interested in receiving Dr. Newell’s Newsletter, you can find it HERE:
I just started reading the book, and I am having a hard time putting it down…I needed a book such as this, to help confirm in our hearts that our desire to serve the Lord in the mission field is God’s desire for us, and what we need to do. Thank you!