Recently, I wrote an analysis about some of the shadow funders behind Project 2025. As part of that article, I pointed out how the form of evangelism embraced by many evangelicals is “dominating, colonialist and culturally offensive” and therefore “morally repugnant.”
I received a few questions about that assertion: “Is all evangelism bad? What about the Great Commission? We have to do what Jesus commanded!”
It’s time we begin a community conversation about the impact the Great Commission has had on a more faithful witness to Jesus and the harms this toxic form of “evangelism” has had in the world.
Those who take issue with criticisms about the practice of “evangelism” tend to fall into the more fundamentalist camp. This group believes the Bible is to be taken literally — from creation occurring in seven days to all of human and creature-kinds surviving on a boat 40 days. In this same vein, they take Matthew 28:19-20 literally when it says to “make disciples of all nations … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Taking these verses literally presents all kinds of problems, one of which is that too often the “making” of disciples has been interpreted as some kind of coerced conversion to a specific type of white Protestant Christianity. This kind of Christianity demands adherents mentally agree on specific dogma. As long as someone says, “I believe,” they’re in the Jesus-club, regardless of how they treat others.
Jesus wasn’t dogmatic. Over and over again, he is recorded as having said two things most frequently: “Do not fear” and “love.”
In Greek, the language in which the New Testament was written, the phrase “do not fear” or “fear not” is μὴ φοβέω. Jesus says this 15 times across the four gospels.
Even more frequent, though, is Jesus’ command to love (ἀγαπάω). Sixteen times in the four gospels, he commands his followers to love everyone — God, neighbors, enemies, themselves and more. This doesn’t include the other references of love that do not directly come from his mouth.
The gospels only record Jesus telling someone to “repent” or “turn toward” five times and “sin no more” two times.
By comparison, the gospels only record Jesus telling someone to “repent” or “turn toward” (μετανοέω) five times and “sin no more” (μηκέτι ἁμαρτάνω) two times.
Which brings me back to the problematic interpretation of Matthew 28:19-20. Like the examples above, the phrase translated as “make disciples” is a verb (μαθητεύω). Given that, a more accurate translation would be “discipling” because, like “love,” the action is to be performed by the Jesus-follower rather than the other person.
The word is found four times in the New Testament — three of which are in the Gospel of Matthew. The other is in the Book of Acts. While “discipling” can mean “teaching,” there is more to Jesus’ message to his followers.
Because these were supposedly Jesus’ last words to his disciples in the Gospel of Matthew, they’ve been given extraordinary weight. However, elsewhere in the New Testament, the writers give different accounts of Jesus’ final words to those who had followed him throughout his earthly ministry.
Mara Bim
For example, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Peace be with you” before telling the disciples they are “witnesses” to his life, death and resurrection and they should proclaim repentance and forgiveness to all the nations (Luke 24:36b, 48-49).
The Gospel of John has two endings written at different points in the transmission of the text. In the first, Jesus says to the disciples: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). He then breathes on them and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (vv. 22-23).
In Jesus’ earthly ministry, when he declared someone’s sins forgiven, Jesus was releasing that person from feelings of guilt, affirming their renewed relationship with God and declaring to the broader community that they were to be incorporated back into communal life. In this episode, Jesus says the disciples are to minister to others in the same way.
In the second ending of John, Jesus tells Peter to “Feed my lambs”; “Tend/take care of my sheep”; and “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). Like the first ending of John’s Gospel, the disciples are to tend to the spiritual and emotional needs of others.
Similarly, scholars agree Mark has a second ending wherein Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). And what good news is that? It is a kingdom message. God’s kingdom has come near (Matthew 10:7). In fact, if we love one another, God lives in us (1 John 4:11; Luke 17:21).
The good news is a message of peace (Ephesians 6:15) that tells us death is not the end (Acts 13:26-39; Ephesians 2:6; 2 Timothy 2:8). The good news invites us to emulate Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, by loving all and giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the stranger and comforting the oppressed (Hebrews 12:1; Matthew 25:34-36).
A better understanding of Matthew’s Great Commission, then, would align with the totality of the New Testament. Rather than “making” anyone do anything, rather than trying to accumulate converts like some perverse video game, the focus would be on the Jesus-followers and their requirement to abide in Christ’s love as servant-leaders while doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God (John 15:9; Micah 6:8).
Mara Richards Bim is serving as a Clemons Fellow with BNG. She is a recent master of divinity degree graduate from Perkins School of Theology at SMU. She also is an award-winning theater practitioner, playwright and director and founder of Cry Havoc Theater Company that operated in Dallas from 2014 to 2023.
Related Articles:
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Rick Warren wants to talk about the Great Commission
Embracing doubt for the sake of the Great Commission
Five qualities of good evangelism and good evangelists
Redefining evangelism: It’s not ‘us vs. them’