Marks of a Missions-Minded Church
General Dwight Eisenhower used to enjoy telling a story at the expense of one of his aides, George Allen. Allen had the dubious distinction of playing halfback in a record-setting football game at Cumberland College, in which his team lost 222 to 0! As the score mounted, the team became dramatically demoralized. Then came one of the few plays in which Allen's team had the ball. The ball was snapped back to the quarterback --who immediately fumbled it. Opposing linemen were charging in, the ball was bouncing around the backfield, and the quarterback screamed at George Allen, "Pick it up! Pick it up!" Allen took one look at those charging linemen and said, "Pick it up yourself. You dropped it!"
In missions today we may wonder, "Who dropped the ball?" Why are there so many who still have not received the good news of the Gospel? Who will replace the thousands of missionaries retiring by the end of this century? Where lies the responsibility of continuing to carry out the Great Commission of Jesus Christ? (Matthew 28:18-20)
"You are a chosen race," wrote Peter, "a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (I Peter 2:9 RSV) Peter speaks of God's people as having a privileged position: special, royal, holy. The privilege is for a particular purpose: that they might declare the wonderful deeds of the One who called them from darkness to light.
God's people must be the instruments to carry the Gospel message to the ends of the earth. The church, made up of ordinary but privileged people, must be the source of multitudes of "players" who will successfully "carry the ball." Such a church will be a mission-minded church—made up of mission-minded individuals. Is yours a mission-minded church? Are you a mission-minded Christian? How can you tell? What are the marks of mission-minded churches and mission-minded Christians?
INFORMATION: A mission-minded church is made up of people who are informed about what God is doing in our world. With the easy availability of information today, no one needs to be ignorant about missions. Studies have been done which give an up-to-date picture of the needs in our world.
Every Christian home should have a copy of Patrick Johnstone's OPERATION WORLD. It gives a listing of the countries of the world, information about that country, its political structure, its economy and its religious life. In addition, specific prayer items are listed. Many other books are available which will greatly increase the awareness level of missions around the world. Others give eye-opening accounts of the state of Christianity in North America.
Mission-minded churches hold missions conferences to keep Christians up to date. They keep in touch with their missionaries. They give them opportunities to report to the church, both formally and informally, when on furlough. Missions and evangelism are priorities in the church life.
INTERCESSION: A mission-minded church is an interceding church.
Dick Eastman wrote: "Somehow the simple act of prayer links a sovereign God to a finite man. When man prays, God responds. Difficult situations change. Unexplained miracles occur." (THE HOUR THAT CHANGES THE WORLD, p.13)
In her book, THE SECRET OF EFFECTIVE PRAYER, p. 15, Helen Shoemaker quotes E. Stanley Jones: "In prayer you align yourselves to the purpose and power of God and He is able to do things through you that He couldn’t do otherwise. For this is an open universe, where some things are left open, contingent upon our doing them. If we do not do them, they will never be done, for God has left certain things open to prayer—things which will never be done except as we pray."
Patrick Johnstone put it well in OPERATION WORLD: "Prayer is fundamental in the Kingdom of God. It is not an optional extra, nor is it a last resort when all methods have failed. Prayerlessness is a sin; without prayer God’s plan for the world cannot be achieved…. Prayer lifts Christian activities from the realm of human effort to the divine. Someone made the statement, 'When man works, MAN works; when man prays, GOD works.' Through prayer we become co-workers with the Lord God Almighty. We move from time to eternity…"
An informed church will tend to be an interceding church because it realizes full well that unless God works, battles will be lost and people will be doomed. The world will never be reached unless we, the people of God, work. The world will never be reached unless God is at work. We work, and God works --we are workers together with God. A vital link in this is intercessory prayer.
Praying churches are made up of praying individuals. Do you have a systematic way of praying for the needs of the world? Do you receive and read missionary prayer letters and mission periodicals? Do you pray about the requests you find there? Do you expect God to work in answer to your prayers?
To become an effective world-changer, become a prayer partner with missionaries whose work you can follow with intense interest and intelligent intercession. Correspond with them. Support them financially to whatever extent possible. Invite them to your home when on
furlough. Pray for them on a regular basis.
INVOLVEMENT: An informed, interceding church must also become an involved church. This includes corporate involvement of the church by such things as missions conferences and missions budgets. It particularly includes personal involvement of individuals in the church body. To reach the still unreached will require the personal involvement of the thousands who claim to be true followers of Christ.
Mark became personally involved. A carpenter by trade, he was part of a mission work team to the Philippines. When the building project was completed, he still had a few weeks left before his return flight. Mark, a quiet man who doesn't like speaking to a crowd, is also a very caring person and one who desired God to use Him. Seeing a slum (squatter) area in the city of Manila, he decided he would like to get first-hand experience of living with these people for the next few weeks. The barrio chief didn't care for the idea, saying that no one had room for him. His own 5-member family was crowded into a 2-room shack. However, when Mark offered to add a room to the shack, the chief agreed he could stay.
Mark, living in that barrio for three weeks, found much to do. He met the people, listened to them, became their friend. He fixed a roof here and a window there, built this item or that for a neighbor. Then he left, but his brief stay opened the door for a Bible study to begin in that squatter area. After some weeks of teaching, the Bible study leader asked the group what they considered to be the greatest event history. She was looking for something related to the Bible teaching they had been receiving--the birth of Christ? His death or His resurrection? However the people related her question to their own experience and quickly answered, "Oh, that’s easy...it was when Mark came to live with us."
Mark's tremendous impact was due to his willingness to be personally involved in the lives of these people.
The Great Commission is for all Christians. God asks each of us to be personally involved in spreading the Gospel. There are countless opportunities to give to the work of the building His kingdom around the world. God may call you to live and work among unreached people in another country. Or He may call you to become involved in the lives of unreached people in your own community. People in your town, your neighborhood, your place of employment, your school need the Lord. are You can touch their lives with the love of Christ by becoming personally involved.
Is yours a mission-minded church? Is it informed, interceding and involved? Are you as an individual informed about missions? Are you interceding? Are you personally involved in the lives of those you need Christ? May we be faithful in "carrying the ball" in fulfillment of a task yet far from done: "...go and make disciples of all nations..."