Since the late 1800s, it has been common in Christian mission circles to have slogans or rallying cries around “finishing the task” or “fulfilling the Great Commission.” Whether it be “this generation” or “2000 AD” I have never liked the slogans. For one, they have often been used to promote one-sided missions (evangelism rather than holistic or integral missions), or to use fast sloppy methods because of the presumption that fast is a virtue.

But instead of dwelling on that issue, which I have before, I would like to focus on the issue of identifying when it is finished, if the term “finished” is at all appropriate.

First, I would say that only one of the Great Commissions (GC), the one in Matthew, really suggests a finish.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, 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

Technically, there is no fulfillment listed, but it could be argued that fulfillment or completion is “the end of the age.” That may be assuming a bit, but it seems like one could make the assumption that the return of Christ ends the age and establishes the Great Commission as finished. Acts 1:8, does speak of outward spreading of the Gospel Message until it reaches “the ends of the earth.” However, I don’t believe one can say that reaching the ends of the earth finishes the task. If it did, it undermines a bit of the Matthew version of the GC. Jesus says in Matthew that one is supposed to make disciples of all nations. Presumably these include those “nations” at the ends of the earth. At the very least then, taking the gospel message to the ends of the earth does not complete the task. At that point one is supposed to disciple these peoples “at the ends of the earth.”

I am aware that I am nitpicking here. However, if so many groups are focusing on finishing the task of the GC, it is worth getting a firm handle on what the GC is, and what identifies it as finished. And if I am going with this “nitpickiness,” then I would also use the same argument against Matthew 24:14.

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” -Matthew 24:14

Matthew 28 speaks of the call to disciple the whole world, and so preaching to the whole world the gospel of the kingdom is not a completion of the Great Commission.

There are certainly evidences of the Great Commission being done. (1) being witnesses of Christ to the ends of the earth, (2) preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world, and (3) discipling of all nations, teaching them to obey everything Christ commanded. In the end, however, we only really know that we are done because Christ has returned.

Second, We are not supposed to know when Christ returns, so we are not supposed to know when we have finished beforehand. Jesus made it clear that we are not supposed to know when He will return. I know some like to fight about that, but that is what Jesus said, and we have close to 2000 years of evidence (going back to Paul’s writing to the church of Thessalonica) that WE JUST DON’T KNOW. Frankly, there are a number of parables of Jesus that reinforce that point quite dramatically, so I struggle to see why some people keep trying to work around that key point. If we don’t know when Jesus is returning, we don’t know when we are done. Jesus tells us when we are done.

Third, our lack of knowledge about Christ’s return is supposed to motivate us to always be ready and always be faithful and always be obedient. I have written before about how the emphasis on trying to time Christ’s return leads many of us to make bad plans in our own lives as well as in our ministry methods (For example: https://munsonmissions.org/2025/06/22/eschatology-and-christian-missions-is-it-a-healthy-relationship-part-1/). I don’t want to rehash that here. But if that is true— then the lack of knowledge about the timing of Christ’s return should guide our missions with regard to readiness, faithfulness, and obedience. If we start date-setting or establish false criteria for identifying the end, it is likely to lead us to making bad decisions about how to do missions.

Suppose, for example, that we fully convinced that Jesus will return in 2030 (approximately 2000 years after He ascended into the clouds)— how would that affect our mission work. We probably would stop Bible translation. Integral missions would be trimmed back, except perhaps for some short-term charity work. Spreading the Gospel would probably drift towards rapid dissemination of a superficial version of the gospel into the eyes and ears of as many as possible.

Fourth, I would like to bring up another point that bothers me but is not tied to the line of thinking of the other three points. These slogans are focused on inaction. “Finish” means get towards a stopping point. “Fulfill” might be a little better, but still keeps one focused on an endpoint. Curiously, the Great Commissions are not like that. The key verb in Matthew is “Disciple.” Acts has the verb “Be Witnesses.” John’s version has “send.” Mark has “go and preach.” Luke’s seems to be the least active with “will be preached.” None of them focus on stopping or ending their work.

I am working on a book with a chapter that goes into this a lot more. However, I do believe that our mission work would be much stronger if we had a better “eschatology”— emphasizing faithfulness to the end, rather than focusing on the end.