As moms, we often forget that fulfilling the Great Commission is not merely about going off to foreign lands to reach other people groups for Christ.
If we are being faithful- right where God has placed us- to share His Word with those in our particular circle of influence, then we are pleasing God and already fulfilling the Great Commission!
The Great Commission itself is simply about proclaiming God’s truth to the people around us. It’s about serving them in His name, discipling them along the way.
It is just as possible for a stay-at-home mom to spread the Gospel as it is for the missionary in the jungles of Africa.
There is a difference, however, between knowing this to be true and knowing how to live it out in a practical way daily.
1. Remember Children are Your Mission Field
Too often, we moms want to be out doing something “big” for the Lord when our first mission field is right under our noses, in the faces of the little people God has entrusted into our care. Your children are your disciples.
To forsake our God-given ministry to our children, because we want a more glamorous or popular or public or seemingly more productive ministry out in the world, is actually forsaking the Great Commission in our lives.
The Lord knew what He was doing when He entrusted our children to us, and He has called us to raise them up for His glory and the advancement of His Kingdom.
So the next time you are tempted to think that all you’re doing is just mothering, remember, sweet mama, the great impact for eternity your work as a mother is having.
You are raising the next generation and every story you read, every hug you give, and every verse you teach makes a difference as to how your children will view you and the God you serve.
Just think- you could be raising up the next Charles Spurgeon or Johnathan Edwards!
2. Practice Hospitality
We tend to underestimate just how powerful an avenue for the Great Commission is in the simple act of opening our homes up to others.
Whether it’s having a neighbor over for coffee, welcoming a friend into our home for a cup of tea and a nice long chat, or inviting the weary soul whom we may not know (after all, the Greek word for hospitality literally means “lover of strangers”).
Spending time with someone in the comfort of your own home and building relationships over food affords you the opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel with them, testify of ways the Lord has been working in your life, and offer verses of encouragement on hard days.
Interestingly, much of Jesus’ ministry was largely relationship-based, centered around the home and table.
Throughout the Gospels, we find Him dining with tax collectors and sinners, performing His first miracle at a wedding reception, spending His last special moments with His followers by sharing a passover supper, and using the picture of the future marriage supper of the lamb in His various parables about the Kingdom.
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. – Luke 10:2
If you are at a loss as to how to grow your Great Commission impact for the Lord, look no further than your hospitality ministry.
Our neighborhoods, communities, families, and churches are all ripe for the picking when it comes to people who need to hear of the Lord and be encouraged in His ways.
3. Volunteer Alongside Your Kids
Not only are you fulfilling the Great Commission as you raise your children up to be disciples of Christ, but you are also able to model how they, too, can fulfill it right alongside you as you do life together.
As we instruct our children in the ways of the Lord, instilling truth in them, we don’t just stop there. We then give them opportunities to actually put those truths into practice by sharing them with others who are in need of the Good News of Christ.
We take them with us to the soup kitchen, the church visitations, the homeless shelter, or the crisis pregnancy center. We fashion them into little Great Commission workers in their own right and simultaneously grow in family unity!
4. Write to Encourage Others
If there’s one thing that any mom can do to encourage others in the Lord, and so fulfill the Great Commission, it’s write something to point people to Him.
It doesn’t have to be something big like a blog, book, or Bible study, either.
It can be a quick text with an edifying Bible verse included, or a handwritten letter sent through the mail, or a note hidden in a lunch box. If you don’t feel gifted in writing, it can even be leaving an uplifting message on someone’s voicemail.
5. Host a Bible Study
This can be an aspect of your hospitality ministry or something that you do online, but either way, hosting a Bible study can be a wonderful way to disciple others. You don’t even have to be the one leading the study, if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.
You can simply be the one facilitating the study and actually see that it takes place. There is no end to the amount of fruit that such an endeavor could reap!
Even in this very busy season of your life, you can be about the work of spreading the Gospel. Your day-to-day work as a mom truly is fulfilling the Great Commission right where you are, precisely as God has asked you to do.
He is pleased with what you are doing for Him in being faithful to tend to your children and their needs, both physical and spiritual.
God views you as a missionary right where you are. Remember that on the hard days- it will make a difference!
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