Missions
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesPart 1
When we think about the word “missions” what naturally comes to our mind are specific works (primarily in other countries) in which the church participates by either contributing funds or sending individuals to be involved. The Latin root behind the English word “mission” simply meant “to send.” In the secular sense, the word has the idea of a specific task charged to an individual or group. In the religious sense the word entails a work of the church intended to propagate spiritual growth either spiritually or numerically. As I mentioned, we usually think of missions as being outside of the local congregation in some foreign country, or at least, away from our doorstep. However, there is a great mission to be done at home as well and we need to not only be mission minded locally as well as remotely.
When we look into the scriptures, we find the first Christian mission given to the apostles in Matthew 28:18-20 and respectively in the other gospel accounts as well. In this mission, Jesus told the apostles to go out and make disciples of all the nations. They were to do this by baptizing them and by teaching them to observe all things that Jesus had commanded. In Acts 1:8 Jesus told the apostles that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. That is what we find the apostles doing in the book of Acts as the gospel is preached in these places. At the end of the book of Acts, Christ’s mission as given to the apostles has been accomplished. There remains only to subsequently perpetuate the Christian faith from generation to generation (2 Timothy 2:2).
We see, however, in the history of the church that apostasy occurred and men fell away from the faith. Such was prophesied by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 and 1 Timothy 4:1-3. The implication of such is that there would be a need to once again pursue the mission originally given by Jesus to the apostles to take the gospel to all the nations. Moreover, there is the ongoing need of perpetuating the faith to the next generation as well. In our lifetime, we have to attend to both of these missions. Unlike the apostles, however, we have faithful brethren throughout the world to aid us in this endeavor. What then, is our part, in this great mission?
In our efforts to participate in the mission Christ has given us, we have two fronts. There is first of all the local front. It is impossible for us to accomplish any missions outside of our local congregation if there is no local congregation. Such should be self evident. We must at least maintain what we have if we desire to continue to do missions remotely. This means an effort must be put forth locally to preach and teach the gospel to 1) keep our own members faithful to the Lord, and 2) increase the number of members we have through local evangelistic efforts. Such is simply indispensable when considering our mission to the Lord.
Part 2
Last week we took a look at the definition of missions. A mission is a work of the church intended to propagate growth spiritually or numerically either locally or remotely. Jesus gave the church her great mission in Matthew 28:18-20 and we must respect that mission today. We noted last week that the church has a mission to make disciples both locally and remotely. The remote work depends upon the success of the local work. It is, however the remote work more often than not that excites us when we speak of missions.
In the New Testament we see that Paul and Barnabas were sent out from the church at Antioch on a remote mission trip (Acts 13:1-3). Paul made two subsequent such missionary journeys and one as a prisoner to Rome. In these missions, he preached the gospel and was instrumental in establishing dozens of congregations in the Gentile world. His example leaves a pattern for us to follow in working in foreign countries for the purpose of preaching the gospel and establishing the church.
This congregation supports remote missions in Costa Rica and in India. The congregation has supported works in Africa as well in the past. We also support Truth for Today, Apologetics Press, In Search of the Lord’s Way, and The Living Word TV Program. These are all missions in as much as they extend remotely beyond our own town to those around us, some near and some far away. The congregation has also supported me to go on specific mission trips to Costa Rica, Panama, and Brazil. Each of these works produces fruit for the Lord in one way or another and they are good works.
It is so often these remote missions that excite us because they are often areas of the world that to us are exotic and different. Many times also, these areas have individuals whose hearts are open to the truth of the gospel and have a desire to study and learn about God’s word and it is certainly thrilling for us to be able to teach and baptize those who want to obey the gospel when so many are apathetic to God’s word around us today. Such missions can give us a proverbial shot in the arm to be motivated with our own program of local work. For these and many other reason, we especially enjoy the remote missions.
A healthy congregation will be active in missions, both locally and remotely. As a congregation, we have such works. There is, however, one final question left to ask. What are we doing as individuals to participate in these works? Let us examine our own lives to ensure that our role in missions is not being neglected.