Jesus said 'Come follow me'. He calls people to discipleship ... to following. He commissions us to 'Make disciples', i.e. bring others to a maturity whereby they are also following Jesus.
Yet all the while Jesus honoured and respected the God-given free-will that we are given. We can, at any time, simply say 'no thank you' and wander our own way. In fact in some clearly recorded occasions in the gospels thats exactly what people did (e.g. end of John 6).
Ultimately Jesus honoured the gift of free-will to the point of letting people cruelly execute him.
In mission we lead. Whether it is just one person to Jesus-discipleship, a group, a whole church, or even to speak missionally into society, we find ourselves as leaders. Since the direction of our leadership is towards-Jesus, we rightfully hope that all will journey together. We want to take as many with us in that Spirit-led direction as possible.
Yet we are limited, and it is not solely dependent on us. Each person must make their own decision, exercising their free-will. Even if we are leaders gifted with the strongest Christ-like message, we must recognise this fact. Romans 12:18, in its call for living at peace with those around us, reminds us that we can only do that as far as it depends on us - i.e. there are limitations.
The skill of Jesus' mission that we pursue is therefore to call people towards Jesus as best we can, yet simultaneously laying down any sense of coercive power. We must call people to follow Jesus, completely honouring their free-will.
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And that is it in a nutshell - when we try to use power coercively we break things all around us - people included.
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