You have asked several questions in your post and I can't begin to answer them all. I'll leave that to the more learned members of this group. But I'll certainly add my 2¢. I have spent the last 30 years in mainline evangelicalism where "saving souls" was the chief end of the church. The Great Commission was the be-all, end-all of the gospel, and the text of most sermons. (I wish I had a nickle for every message where the preacher said something like, "You can't MAKE diciples if you don't GO," or words to that effect.)

Ephesians 3:10, 11 says, "His [God's] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." This verse clearly tells what the purpose of the church is and doesn't even mention "soul winning" in the evangelical sense. Of course there are other verses that mention adding to their numbers daily and the necessity of preaching the gospel to the unsaved. Paul himself writes (Rom. 15:20), "It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known..." So even the most hyper-Calvinist would not totally disregard the importance of evangelism. But for me it's a question of emphasis and teaching the whole counsel of God.

I would appreciate the input of other members of this group who are more familiar with Reformed thought and practice in this regard.