THE GREAT COMMISSION IS NOT OPTIONAL! Research shows that the unchurched, saved or unsaved are not staying away from church because they think it is boring or not relevant. Their lack of confidence isnt directed against God and the Bible; but it is with the church and its leaders. People dont want to experience church. They want to experience Gods presence. Today you cant get away with just talking about what the Bible says. The church today must see its mission as one of reflecting Gods holiness, revealing Gods glory, and witnessing to the reality of Jesus Christ. The early church did so by demonstrating sacrificial love, both toward those within the church and those on the outside. Likewise, the risen Christ came to transform us into a loving, compassionate people, but not through a political agenda. His strategy gives the individual a new birth, a new spirit, a new nature, a resurrection life, and the death of self and selfishness. There is a cause! Believers are here, Jesus said, to do greater things than these (see John 14:12). This is the calling of the church.