Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 28:18-20
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
- Acts 1:8 (NIV)
Jesus' command in Matthew 28:18-20 was not a vague suggestion. It was His expectation for all of His followers then forward. Then as a next and final piece of his physical investment with His followers He gave them a strategy. What may seem like simply a geographical road map starting with Jerusalem, was in practice the 'play' He was calling us, His followers, to run to achieve the mission of making disciples of all nations.
When you receive the Holy Spirit, start in Jerusalem, then take my story to the ends of the Earth.
For Jesus' followers that day on the Mount of Olives Jerusalem represented the city right outside their doors. The streets they already knew. The neighbors they already had. For us today, our "Jerusalem" is our circles of influence, those we do life with daily, those we have the most touchpoints with.
The strategy (play call using a sports term) is the same now as it was 2000 years ago, start where you are and build from there.
While there are still unreached people groups around the world, I wonder, what if every follower of Jesus was just simply winning their "Jerusalems?" My Judea (broader area) and Samaria (cross cultures within my realistic reach) are someone else's "Jerusalem!" What if we were all effectively making disciples in step #1 of the strategy laid out in Acts 1:8?! I would argue that we do not have enough churches, pastors and leaders trained to handle such an influx of new followers of Jesus! What a great problem that would be to have!!
Please note that I am not suggesting anyone eliminate the ministry you are doing regionally, cross culturally and/or globally. What I am saying is this, a truth and challenge I've shared at the end of most every mission trip I've ever led:
"The light that shines the farthest, shines the brightest at home"
So, why is it that so many churches, and the individuals and families within it, today have a more defined strategy for reaching the ends of the earth than they do for reaching the end of their block?
This isn't a new problem, but it's one worth naming honestly because until we understand why local mission gets overlooked, we cannot effectively do anything about restoring it.
My friend, the Church cannot afford to keep missing its closest mission field!
I've got 6 thoughts on why we're so far off on fulfilling Jesus' (co)mission for the Church and the strategy He gave us to accomplish it
1. We've Confused Distance with Significance
There's a widespread, largely unspoken assumption in many church cultures that real missions means going far away. Overseas trips, international partnerships, and cross-cultural travel carry a perceived spiritual weight that serving in your own zip code simply doesn't. The farther the distance, the more "serious" the mission feels.
I've seen this over the years as I've hosted student mission trips in my home, the Twin Cities, Minnesota. While many of my local youth pastor friends were and would have been eager to serve here they acknowledged what a hard 'sell' it was to get kids (and their parents) excited about a mission trip that was essentially local.
But Scripture never makes that distinction. Acts 1:8 doesn't elevate "the ends of the earth" above "Jerusalem." It presents them as simultaneous spheres of witness. The early church didn't wait until they had a global strategy to start serving their neighbors. They began exactly where they were, and the Gospel spread outward from there.
How about you? Have you found yourself confusing distance with significance?
2. Familiarity Has Made the Needs Invisible
When you drive past the same struggling neighborhood every day on your way to church, work, school, etc., you eventually stop seeing it. Unfortunately, the problems that are most present can become the ones most invisible, not because people don't care, but because the human mind adapts to what is familiar.
This is one of the quieter reasons local mission gets neglected. The need down the street doesn't have the urgency or novelty of need far away. It doesn't come with photos or presentations at a missions conference. It's just... there. Always has been. And, tragically, we've gone blind to it.
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act."
- Proverbs 3:27 (NIV)
The person in need of the Gospel and the help of the Church is often not across an ocean, they're right across the street! Seeing and discerning the needs within our proximity is not an excuse to wait, it's a call to act!
Will you act?
3. The Church Has Drifted Toward Gathering Over Going
Research from the Barna Group found that between 2015 and 2022, there was a 24-point drop in the percentage of pastors who felt their church was effective at reaching out to the unchurched, from 63% down to 39%. That's a significant decline in their confidence about outward-facing ministry of both theirs and the individuals/families within it. And, it reflects something that many church leaders feel but don't always say out loud: the rhythms of church life have increasingly become oriented around gathering rather than going.
When the entire week is built around come → worship → go home, members naturally begin to understand their faith as something practiced inside a building. Remember the Great Commission
"Go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19, NIV)
requires intentional disruption of that comfort-driven default.
David Platt and Francis Chan, in their collaborative discipleship resource Multiply, put it plainly: "We scatter to care for believers and to share the gospel with unbelievers." The gathering exists to fuel the going. When a church loses the "scatter" rhythm, it slowly loses its mission.
I love that. And am deeply convicted by it!
In my words, the Church isn't designed to be a refuge from the world, but a training ground for followers of Jesus to be launched back out into the world to reach it with God's love.
How about your church? Does it function more like a refuge, a walled fortress separating it's people from the world? Or is it "in the game" equipping followers of Jesus to fulfil their mission here on earth?
4. There Is No Clear On-Ramp To Local Mission
I do believe that most congregations would say they genuinely want to serve their community. What they often lack is not willingness, it's a pathway. Without a clear structure, a point person, pre-existing ministry partnerships, and a pastor who champions it, good intentions stall in the planning phase.
Ed Stetzer, editor-in-chief of Outreach magazine and professor at Biola University's Talbot School of Theology, has written extensively on this dynamic. Churches that move people from passive attendance to active mission don't do it by simply preaching harder about it. They build engagement pathways that move people from the middle rows to the front rows of ministry. Inspiration without structure rarely produces sustained action.
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
— Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
The good works are already prepared. What's often missing is the on-ramp that helps people walk into them.
What ministries are already in your area meeting the practical needs of your community?
Where has God shown you a need, whether practical/physical or spiritual? If there's no one meeting that need it could be your job to create that and provide the on-ramp for your church!! The vine needs the trellis! Perhaps God is calling you to craft some level of structure for the vine to grow and bear fruit?!
5. Proximity Can Feel More Threatening Than Distance
Here's something that doesn't get talked about enough: local mission is often harder emotionally than a structured trip to a distant location.
Going overseas carries a certain insulation. You're in an unfamiliar place, serving people you'll likely never see again, with a clear end date. There's safety in that structure. But local mission means engaging poverty, addiction, homelessness, or racial difference in your own neighborhoods, driving past those same people on your way to work on Monday morning. The stakes feel more personal. The discomfort is harder to leave behind, truly.
But that discomfort is not a reason to avoid local mission. I believe it is actually the best evidence for why it matters so much!
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"
— Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
The people our churches most instinctively avoid are often the ones Christ most directly identifies with. Local mission presses on that in a way that short-term, distant trips simply do not.
6. "Mission" Has Been Professionalized
One of the most subtle but pervasive barriers is the belief that mission is exclusively something done by specially called, trained, and sent professionals, pastors, church planters, missionaries, etc., rather than something, like Jesus taught us, that is the normal, everyday life of every follower of Jesus.
David Platt has addressed this directly, noting that many Christians are paralyzed because they believe they "don't know enough" to be of much help spiritually, so they sit in church services and watch the educated minister. Multiply, Platt's resource, was written to address that exact paralysis, equipping ordinary believers to make disciples in the ordinary moments of their everyday lives.
The person you sit next to at work, eat lunch near at school, or wave to across the fence, that person is your Jerusalem! You are already positioned for the mission!!
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."
— 1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
The mission doesn't require a passport. It requires preparation and intentionality! That is exactly what a church equipped for local mission can provide.
So what's the Solution? Obedience, intentionality, courage, and faithfulness
All of these barriers are real. Yet none of them are insurmountable!
What they all share is this: they dissolve when a church has an experience rather than just an exhortation. Telling a congregation that their neighborhood is their mission field rarely changes behavior long-term. But putting them in their neighborhood with structure, teaching, community, and reflection built in changes everything.
"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
— Matthew 5:16 (NIV)
This is exactly the vision behind Win Your Jerusalem events, a new offering from Enhance Ministries launching in 2026. Rather than sending a church away to do mission, WYJ events bring the mission experience to your church, fully embedded within your own community, with your own people, serving your own neighbors. Matt Swigart of Enhance Ministries, who has led over 60 mission trips across the country and world, will coach you through the entire process. Whether you lead it yourself or Matt comes to your church to lead and facilitate the entire experience (teaching, ministry site coordination, coaching, and daily reflection), making the investment and taking the time to get your people serving in their "Jerusalems" will have ripple effects that will echo throughout eternity!
The result isn't just a great weekend. It's a congregation that has seen their own city differently, served their neighbors alongside their church family, and gone home with the understanding that their everyday life is and has always been their biggest mission field.
Jerusalem isn't somewhere else. It's right outside your door.
Ready to Win Your Jerusalem?!
If your church is ready to activate your congregation for local mission in a meaningful, structured, and deeply transformative way, we'd love to talk!
Click here to fill out the Interest Form or reach out directly at matt@enhancemin.com.
Pastors who host a WYJ event also receive a year of free monthly coaching from registration through the event.
---
*Enhance Ministries exists to cultivate fruitful ministries and healthy leaders. Learn more at enhancemin.com.*
- Barna Group, *"How Are Christians Learning to Share Their Faith?"* (August 2023) — barna.com
- David Platt & Francis Chan, *Multiply* (2012) — radical.net
- Ed Stetzer, *"Everyone on Mission"* — Outreach Magazine (August 2023)
- Ed Stetzer, *"The Power of Small"* — Outreach Magazine (August 2024)
- Scripture quotations from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV), © 2011 Biblica, Inc.