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| Essays Missions Studies Recommended links Other Thile |
An
overview of Christian Missions Differing Roles, but Common goals: The Christian faith and experience is so varied in the area of how we serve. I find it frustrating at times, however, the Bible teaches that God has called us to different servant experiences according to how He made us. While our individual experience is going to be different, there should also be a core that applies to all of Christ's disciples, and that core should be our common experience. Romans 12 is a great overview of this principle: Rom 12:1-3 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. This then should be our common experience, right? Our bodies are no longer are own, but are a sacrifice to Him that gives us life. We must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, but because we are transformed by His grace, and nothing of our own doing, we must not think too highly of ourselves for where we are in the process. ROM 12:4-8 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Verses four through eight are encouraging us in our individual experience based on our gifts, and telling us that our work will vary according to how were made. All work for Him is valid and important to Him if done for His glory ROM 12 9-21 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. "BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Verses
nine through twenty-one focus back on our common experience
and especially our relationships with one another in light of
our different roles in the body. It is in the spirit
of my love for you, my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,
and the acceptance of our different roles in the body, that
I want to understand Christian Missions. I also want to develop
and understanding what my role should be in light of my gifting,
and how that will play out in what I do and how I live. The
Disciple of Christ: I
desire with all my heart to be a faithful follower of Christ
and I would like to be considered one of Christ's disciples.
Easton defines a Disciple of Christ as follows:
What an exciting, yet scary endeavor. I know I can only succeed with this through the Grace of God in Christ. Two Kinds of Disciples: Randy Alcorn has written extensively on these issues as they relate to missions and the stewardship of our resources. In an article entitled Choosing A God-Honoring Lifestyle, Randy outlines two kinds of disciples based on two Bible accounts. The first kind of disciple is from the passage In Mark 1:16-20, where Jesus called his first four disciples to leave their fishing business to follow him. These four disciples literally followed Jesus. To do so they left behind there possessions, but Randy teaches that, "this was neither inherently virtuous nor aimless. It was done with a clear purpose in mind, in order to practically facilitate the goal of the call. Christ's ministry was an itinerant one, requiring a great deal of traveling. To follow him, the disciples simply had to leave their boats and nets. The real point is not that they left their boats, but that they followed Jesus. That they left behind their major possessions was the inevitable result of their response to his call to physically follow him." Randy also points out that they apparently did not divest themselves of all of their possessions. It seems likely that the boats used for traveling throughout the Gospel accounts were the very boats these disciples used previously in their fishing businesses before their call to follow Jesus. This is substantiated by the fact that Peter and several of the others were back in a boat fishing again within days of Christ's death (John 21:1-3). Peter later said to his Lord, "We have left everything to follow you" (Mark 10:28-30). He did not say, "We have sold everything," though they may well have liquidated nearly all of their major possessions (Luke 12:32-33). The point is, they "left their possessions" to physically follow Christ. Randy concludes his teaching on this passage with the observation that, "The apostles were a distinct historical group who have no direct equivalent today. Nonetheless, I believe we can look at them as representatives of a particular calling of God to traveling missionary work. Such work necessitates leaving behind major possessions that would tie us to a specific location and prohibit our ability to go where Jesus calls us". The Second Kind of Disciple: Mark said that Jesus "saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him" (Mark 2:14). Randy states that, "we are not told Jesus commanded him to sell his possessions and give to the poor. On the contrary, in the very next verse Jesus and the disciples are having a dinner party in Levi's house, along with many other tax collectors and "sinners." Levi's house is used to introduce many people to Jesus. Given his profession and the number of people at the party, it was no doubt nicer and larger than the average house". Randy teaches that this is not merely an acceptable use of possessions but an explicitly God-ordained one. Levi represented a second type of missionary activity that does not involve divesting oneself of all one's possessions but utilizing them for the same ultimate cause of those called to the itinerant ministry. Not long after the account in Levi's home, while large crowds were following Jesus, he went up into the hills and chose twelve of his followers to be his apostles (Mark 3:13-19). This unique group would join him in his itinerant ministry, traveling, preaching, and casting out demons. But only these twelve were chosen to travel with him. Others of the large crowds were not chosen as apostles but still remained his disciples. Randy asks, "where did these 'disciples-but-not-apostles'go?. Where else but back to their families and homes and jobs! Just as Jesus had for many years served as a carpenter, owning a house and tools and likely a workshop, and lived on a piece of land, so they were to serve God, raising their families, living and working in their own communities". Clearly, the majority of Christ's followers did not rid themselves of all their possessions, nor were they expected to do so. There were two callings of Christ-one to leave family and possessions behind, and one to go back to them. But both callings served the same ultimate purpose-the glory of God and the advance of his kingdom. Summarizing the Two Calls of Christ:: In a probing call to discipleship, Jesus said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"(Mark 8:34-37) Randy observes that "the number of economic terms in these few verses is striking-save, lose, gain, forfeit, give, and exchange. Every disciple of Jesus is given a radical call as to how he views and handles his money and possessions and every other facet of his life. Whether one has been called to leave his possessions behind for kingdom purposes or to retain ownership for generous and sacrificial kingdom purposes, he must keep in mind that a wrong view of material gain in this world will lure him away from the next. The money and possessions of the present will be of no use on the day his soul is laid bare before his Creator. On that day, money and possessions will be seen as either having facilitated his mission or having blurred or hindered it". For
Randy Alcorn's full article see: Choosing
A God-Honoring Lifestyle at the Eternal
Perspective Ministries website. Randy has many articles on-line
on the subject of missions listed at: http://epm.org/missions.html So, where am I in all this? In June of 2002 I was visiting with a small group of men in preparation for praying together. These are the men of the group my wife and I have attended now for the last several years (thankfully our church, Christian Community Church in Murray, KY, encourages small group participation in order to facilitate more intimate fellowship and accountability). That night, our group facilitator mentioned that he felt that God had something for us beyond the experience we had currently enjoyed in the group. He didn't really know what, but something bigger, something more. I felt the Holy Spirit's prodding (at least I think it was Him) to say what I had been feeling for a long while. I simply do not find my experience, even as a committed Christian, is really anything like what I see written about in the New Testament. And that it appeared to me that the majority of Christian experiences (at least in this country) are the same as mine was. I explained that I thought we were all holding back, not wanting to give God all of our lives, and not wanting to make some of the hard changes that needed to be made for Him to be Lord of our lives. Perhaps we were hedging our bets, not wanting to give everything up due to a lack of faith in what God would do with us if we did give our lives completely over to Him. I'm not really sure why we hold back, but we certainly seem too; at least most of the Christians I know do. I also think that is why we don't see our lives having more of an impact on the lost. Another dear friend shared that he had experienced a level of fellowship and intimacy in a youth group several years ago that he had never experienced as an adult, and that he longed to be in a deeper more committed environment like the one he had experienced back then. He said it was empowering, he felt braver and bolder and more sure of what he was doing. More excellent discussion followed, and it was obvious to me that the Holy Spirit was right there with us, and I don't often feel that way even though I know He is with us always. I felt an undeniable power present beyond what any of us had to bring ourselves, and He was encouraging us in this probing discussion. We
prayed, and in my part of the prayer time that night I repented
of holding back, especially in the area of truly loving my fellow
Christians, and yielding to the kind of involvement and fellowship
with them we see in the New Testament accounts. I also prayed
that God would give me the strength to change. I was scared of
giving Him everything, and I still am, only now I'm also excited
about the change in my life as a result of taking steps in the
right direction. Truly loving my brothers and sisters in Christ After the loving one another issue it was the area of stewardship. Click the link for lots more on stewardship! Now it's missions. How are we to live in light of the great needs out there, most of which are not in Murray, KY, or even in the US! Yes, I know there is a lot to do here at home, especially in the inner cities. God's work is where ever we are. It's sometimes hard to see the work at home though, especially while engrossed in our daily obligations. A
group of us from CCC went
on a mission
trip to Mexico with Way of The
Cross. During that week we lived together; we worshiped, studied,
and prayed together; we worked together building a church building,
and we shared our faith with the lost together. For that week,
at least to me, it felt like we were living our lives like the
Christians described in the New Testament lived. It was a great
experience and I miss it! Each morning we rose early for some
time alone with God, and one morning I wrote the following in
my notes while reflecting on what was happening to me:
So dear readers, I find myself here in Murray wondering how to be a full-time missionary while also keeping all the plates spinning with my work and family. I think the key is to develop a missionary mindset, whether we are in the mission field or the work place, in or our homes and communities or in deepest Africa. God's work is wherever we are if we will just open our eyes to it! I think that short term mission trips like the one I was on in Mexico with Way of the Cross are a great way to discover this missionary mindset, or to renew one. Through God's grace I plan make many more of these trips and make them a priority in my life. I'm also committed to finding more ways to help with missions while I'm at home, and to doing more here with a missionary mind set. I also think the close daily contact with my fellow Christians was a big factor on the trip, and what I brought home from it, so I'm hoping to make that a part of life here somehow too. Thank you dear Jesus for Your grace and for allowing us, Your fallen but redeemed creation, to work with You and for You; working in what You alone have empowered us to do through Your justification of our lives; through Your gifting of us, and Your sanctification of us. Please lead us dear Lord in how and where we are to proceed with Your work. In the name of Your most precious Son, Jesus Christ, Amen. Click here to visit the page about the Way of the Cross missions trip on my site, or click the here for the CCC WOTC Missions site. In Thomas Wingfold, Curate, written by George MacDonald in 1876 (recently published under, "The Curate's Awakening") MacDonald writes about a young curate who has suddenly discovered that he is "unsure of many things which are taken for granted concerning clergymen". I think many of us who call ourselves Christians also taking some things for granted, even about ourselves. I have just read the second to the last chapter of this book and feel compiled to quote a passage from it here because it speaks so eloquently to the lukewarm experience I am awakening from as I have tried to describe above. Hang with it if you will, the really relaxant part for me is at the end, although it is all excellent, and you need it for context. In fact, you need the entire book. I think it is one of his best in terms of his theology woven into the story line:
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