"Jesus, what is it you want us to do again?"

If there was ever a collection of people who had become confused about their purpose on earth and needed direction, it was Jesus' eleven surviving disciples in the days after His crucifixion and resurrection.

The disciples' own ""master plan"" for the future--Jesus' triumph over the occupying Romans and the arrival of the kingdom age for Israel--had been shattered by Jesus' announcement of His death and soon departure back to the Father. Now, Jesus' disciples didn't know what the future held. They needed to hear from the master Himself what He had in mind for them.

What Jesus had in mind for the disciples, and for us, was an intervening age before His return that we call the church age or dispensation of grace. The Lord gave His followers the basic strategy for this period just before His ascension.

Sometimes the church today seems as confused about its mission as the apostles were in those early days. There are plenty of voices telling us what the church ought to be: moral crusader, social reformer, even political power broker. But none of these captures the essence of the church's assignment, which, according to Jesus, is disciple-maker.

It's possible for us to hear the Great Commission quoted so many times that we lose the force and the finality of what Jesus told His body, the church, to be doing. The force of what Jesus said comes through in the command to ""make disciples.""

This is not an option for us. Christ's body is to reproduce itself the way the human body was made to reproduce itself and sustain the race. The church is to practice spiritual obstetrics, bringing new spiritual children to birth.

The church is also to be a nursery and a school where new disciples are nurtured, taught, and brought to maturity. We can make disciples by going into ""all the world"" to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15), baptizing those who respond in faith, and teaching the new disciples everything Jesus taught us.

There's a definite finality to the commission Jesus gave us. He promised us His presence throughout this age, but His instructions have never changed. Whatever else the church may do must conform to Jesus' command.