Greater Works Than Jesus Did

We can do greater works than Jesus Christ. That sounds audacious doesn’t it…and it is! Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the greatest person in the history of the world was the One who voiced this truth about 2,000 years ago, as He stated to his followers in John 14:12: ”Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do because I am going to the Father.” Shortly after that, in John 14:16-17a, He said, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…”

Greater works…for a long time I wasn’t sure what to do with that verse of Scripture. How could we mere humans do greater works than Jesus Christ, the Son of God? Then, sometime over the years, one day I realized that Jesus wasn’t talking about the quality of works (no one could do greater quality works than Jesus did…He came back to life after being dead!)…Jesus was talking about the quantity of the works.

In this passage of Scripture, Jesus makes it clear that even though He is going to be leaving…He is sending another Helper, the Spirit of Truth…the Holy Spirit. So there must be some connection between Jesus leaving, the Holy Spirit coming, and these greater works that Jesus said His followers would do.

When Jesus was on earth, His Body was exactly that…His Body. When He would go from village to village, performing amazing miracles and preaching the good news regarding His Kingdom, his Body did exactly what Jesus (and God the Father) meant for it to do…His Body was operating in a unified, cohesive, and coordinated way.

Now we, Jesus’ followers, are the Body of Christ on earth…and the Holy Spirit lives in us. Jesus’ actual physical Body is not here now, but we, His followers, His Church, are His Body.

Imagine with me for a moment…this Body of Christ in a citywide context. This is very consistent with the 1^st century perspective reflected in the New Testament: with references to the Church of Jerusalem, the Church of Antioch, the Church of Ephesus, and so on.

Let’s pick on Kansas City because that’s the context of the home base for The Sending Project. Imagine the Body of Christ in the KC metro area. If we were going to describe that Body, how would we describe it? Is it sleeping, is it crawling, is it malnourished, is it injured, is it able to walk well, is it able to run? Although God is doing amazing things through His Body of believers in our city, I think you probably agree with me when I suggest to you that it is not functioning at a high level of strategic coordination and cohesiveness. (It is getting better, though!)

Here’s the transferable principle that is central to this blog post, based on these Scriptural truths: there is a direct correlation between the level of unity in a citywide Church and the level of missional sustainability and Kingdom-advancing transformation that the citywide Church is realizing.

When churches, ministry organizations, individual Christ-followers, etc, within a citywide Body of Christ are better connected, coordinated, and united, the synergistic impact is not only about the volume of Kingdom resources being added together, it’s about the diversity of Kingdom resources being collectively integrated.

Each church (just like each ministry organization and each individual Christ-follower) is unique and has its own strengths. For example, when several churches work together, allowing God to work through them as a unified part of the Body of Christ, there is astounding power for God’s Kingdom advancement. In fact, I would argue that the only way we’ll see the maximum possible Kingdom impact by a citywide Church is when that citywide Church is truly united around Jesus and His mission.

This doesn’t mean that any individual church should lose its identity…that would be detrimental to achieving maximum results. The goal is for each local church (and ministry organization, individual Christ-follower, etc) to maintain their own unique identity in Christ. We’re hoping for unity, not uniformity. As the diverse people, churches, and organizations within the citywide Body of Christ work together, united in Jesus and His mission, we can see more and more of these greater works realized…these greater works that Jesus talked about.

We believe we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg with this type of citywide Church unity and collaboration right now…and we’re hearing about citywide collaboration happening in other cities, too. God is clearly on the move, doing a new thing…bringing us back to an old way, an old paradigm…the citywide Body of Christ being united around Jesus and His mission, focusing on the essentials of the faith and working together as the Holy Spirit leads.

I believe there are greater works that God wants to do through the citywide Church of KC, and the only way we’ll see the maximization of those greater works will be when the Body of Christ is more strategically coordinated around Jesus and His mission.

We invite you into this journey–many of you are ALREADY on this journey–the journey of this new, yet old, paradigm of how the Church can work together in the context of a city to reach that city and beyond with the greater works of Jesus.

There is much to unpack with this theme. Contact us at The Sending Project to learn more about this. Here are just a few examples of amazing collaborative and unity-building ministries that are happening in the KC metro area. We are blessed!

Caring for Kids KC
KC Trauma Healing
Love KC
Mainstream Bible Outreach Society
ONE KC
Pray KC
Saturate KC Networks
The Family Table
Unite KC
What If The Church