Navigating the Great Commission in the postmodern world: Mentoring project for pastors designed to help local churches stay on course

In light of the alarming statistics detailing the decline in membership in North America compared to the encouraging statistics of the Church's phenomenal growth in other parts of the world, a reevaluation of the approaches to the Great Commission is under way. This situation is embedded in the current literature circulating within North America featuring the rise of the missional movement and apostolic congregations attempting to empower the entire body of Jesus' followers and balance a predominate focus on the paid specialist in the clergy.;This project highlights the binary reality of the Great Comission, which operates as a joint venture between humankind's physically limited resources and the unlimited spiritual resources of the eternal God. God prefers to manifest His influence in this world through the human body, humanity's greatest resource. The Apostle Paul's metaphorical use of the human body conveys the transcendent concepts of service in the kingdom of God. Paul's metaphor portrays the all-inclusive function each follower of Jesus contributes to His spiritual body.;God's mission to reconcile men and women began immediately after their fall. The heart of the Great Commission aims to reach every person with the good news of salvation. This project argues that God desires to reflect His influence through every willing human body by birthing in them spiritual DNA in order to equip them to function as ministers of reconciliation.;The North American church needs a schema that differentiates between function and office and is able to measure the results in order to adjust to God's missional plan to reconcile the world. Every follower of Jesus functions in the spiritual organism of the church and is a participant in the Great Commission. Certain men and women are elected to service within leadership offices of the organized church. These binary qualities of Jesus' church must work together to effectively stay on course and advance God's mission in the world.