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Missionary
Missionaries
It is a mistake to suppose
that a dull and second-rate man is good enough for the heathen. The worst-off
need the very best we have. God gave His best
even His only begotten Son
in
order to redeem a lost world. The most darkened and degraded souls need the
best thinking.—Adoniram Judson
Missions
Where do you like to fish
best? Where thousands of people are stepping all over each other with
oftentimes the same bait in a lake known to have been heavily fished day after
day for decades? Where fish are gorged with bait
and most of them swim wearily
or disdainfully away as bait aplenty splashes near them from hordes of
fishermen jockeying desperately for position and stumbling all over one
another?
Or
would you prefer to fish where the terrain may be difficult
danger may lurk in
the vicinity
the lake is attainable only after sacrifice and hardship
but
oh
the hungry fish!
Multitudes
fight and starve for even one morsel of food
and many have never so much as
seen one time the bait you have to offer. If you prefer the latter fishing
scene
that is missions.—Harold J. Westing
Missions
A deacon was briefed
beforehand on what his role would be at an upcoming missionary banquet and was
told to be sensitive to the fact that there would be guests from foreign
countries who were not accustomed to American culture.
During
the banquet
the deacon found himself seated next to an African man who was
hungrily devouring his portion of chicken. Trying to think of some way to
communicate with the man
the deacon leaned over and said
“Chomp
chomp
good
huh?” The man
gazing back at the deacon
simply replied
“Mmmmm good!”
A
few moments late
as the African man savored a delicious cup of coffee
the
deacon leaned over and commented
“Glug
glug
good
huh?” The man
a little
uncertain
replied
“Mmmmm good!”
To
the deacon’s dismay
when the speaker for the evening was announced
it
happened to be the African gentleman next to him. The gentleman got up and
delivered a flawless message in Oxford-accented English. Upon concluding
he
headed toward the deacon
whose face was aglow with red. The speaker simply
said
“Blab
blab
good
huh?”
Missions
In the early days of
Wycliffe Bible Translators in Mexico
Cameron Townsend
the founder
tried to
get permission from the Mexican government to translate the Scriptures into the
languages of the Indian tribes. But the government was adamantly opposed to it.
The official to whom he had to appeal told him
“As long as I am in this office
the Bible will never be translated into the Indian languages-it would only
upset them.” Townsend did everything he could think of
went to every official
he could find
and had all his Christian friends praying that God would open
this door. But it seemed to remain totally closed.
Finally
Townsend decided to give up pressing the issue. He and his wife went to live in
a little
obscure Indian village
learned the language
ministered to the
people as best they could
and waited for God to move. It was not very long before
Townsend noticed that the fountain in the center of the village plaza produced
beautiful
clear spring water
but that it ran off down the hill and was
wasted. He suggested that the Indians plant crops in an area to which the water
could easily be diverted and thus make use of it. Soon they were growing twice
as much food as before
and their economy blossomed as a result. The Indians
were grateful. Townsend wrote this up in a little article and sent it to a
Mexican paper he thought might be interested.
Unknown
to him
that article found its way into the hands of the President of Mexico
Lazaro Cardenas. The President was amazed that a gringo would come to live in
and help a poor Indian village where he couldn’t even get many of his own
people to live. The President wanted to meet Townsend
so he
his limousine
and his attendants drove to that little Indian village and parked in the plaza.
Cameron
Townsend is not one to miss an opportunity. He went up to the car and
introduced himself and
to his amazement
heard the President say
“You’re the
man I’ve come here to see! Tell me more about your work.” When he heard what it
was
he said
“Of course you can translate the Scriptures into the Indian
languages!” That began a friendship that continued throughout the lifetime of
President Cardenas. His power and authority were used of God all those years to
open doors to Wycliffe Translators throughout
Missions
Where do you like to fish best? Where
thousands of people are stepping all over each other with oftentimes the same
bait in a lake known to have been heavily fished day after day for decades?
Where fish are gorged with bait
and most of them swim wearily or disdainfully
away as bait aplenty splashes near them from hordes of fishermen jockeying desperately
for position and stumbling all over one another?
Or would you prefer to fish where the
terrain may be difficult
danger may lurk in the vicinity
the lake is
attainable only after sacrifice and hardship
but
oh
the hungry fish!
Multitudes fight and starve for even
one morsel of food
and many have never so much as seen one time the bait you
have to offer. If you prefer the latter fishing scene
that is missions.— Harold
J. Westing
Missions
A deacon was briefed beforehand on
what his role would be at an upcoming missionary banquet and was told to be
sensitive to the fact that there would be guests from foreign countries who
were not accustomed to American culture.
During the banquet
the deacon found
himself seated next to an African man who was hungrily devouring his portion of
chicken. Trying to think of some way to communicate with the man
the deacon
leaned over and said
“Chomp
chomp
good
huh?” The man
gazing back at the
deacon
simply replied
“Mmmmm good!”
A few moments late
as the African man
savored a delicious cup of coffee
the deacon leaned over and commented
“Glug
glug
good
huh?” The man
a little uncertain
replied
“Mmmmm good!”
To the deacon’s dismay
when the
speaker for the evening was announced
it happened to be the African gentleman
next to him. The gentleman got up and delivered a flawless message in
Oxford-accented English. Upon concluding
he headed toward the deacon
whose
face was aglow with red. The speaker simply said
“Blab
blab
good
huh?” ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Missions
In the early days of Wycliffe Bible
Translators in Mexico
Cameron Townsend
the founder
tried to get permission
from the Mexican government to translate the Scriptures into the languages of
the Indian tribes. But the government was adamantly opposed to it. The official
to whom he had to appeal told him
“As long as I am in this office the Bible
will never be translated into the Indian languages-it would only upset them.”
Townsend did everything he could think of
went to every official he could
find
and had all his Christian friends praying that God would open this door.
But it seemed to remain totally closed.
Finally
Townsend decided to give up
pressing the issue. He and his wife went to live in a little
obscure Indian
village
learned the language
ministered to the people as best they could
and
waited for God to move. It was not very long before Townsend noticed that the
fountain in the center of the village plaza produced beautiful
clear spring
water
but that it ran off down the hill and was wasted. He suggested that the
Indians plant crops in an area to which the water could easily be diverted and
thus make use of it. Soon they were growing twice as much food as before
and
their economy blossomed as a result. The Indians were grateful. Townsend wrote
this up in a little article and sent it to a Mexican paper he thought might be
interested.
Unknown to him
that article found its
way into the hands of the President of Mexico
Lazaro Cardenas. The President
was amazed that a gringo would come to live in and help a poor Indian village
where he couldn’t even get many of his own people to live. The President wanted
to meet Townsend
so he
his limousine
and his attendants drove to that little
Indian village and parked in the plaza.
Cameron Townsend is not one to miss an
opportunity. He went up to the car and introduced himself and
to his
amazement
heard the President say
“You’re the man I’ve come here to see! Tell
me more about your work.” When he heard what it was
he said
“Of course you
can translate the Scriptures into the Indian languages!” That began a
friendship that continued throughout the lifetime of President Cardenas. His
power and authority were used of God all those years to open doors to Wycliffe
Translators throughout
Missionaries
It is a mistake to suppose that a dull
and second-rate man is good enough for the heathen. The worst-off need the very
best we have. God gave His best
even His only begotten Son
in order to redeem
a lost world. The most darkened and degraded souls need the best thinking.— Adoniram
Judson
In 1912 William Borden
a graduate of Yale University
left one of
America's greatest family fortunes to be a missionary to China. He got as far
as Egypt and died of cerebral meningitis. He died--and was only in his 20s--but
there was "no reserve
no retreat
no regrets" in his consecration to
God.
Source Unknown.
But
for me personally
being anything but a missionary would be
second best. Perhaps a story I recall hearing years ago explains it best. It
seems the old Standard Oil Company offered an enormous sum of money to a
missionary in China to work for them
to help with the development of Standard
Oil in China. The missionary turned them down. So they doubled the salary
offer. He turned them down again. They said
"What do you want? We can't
give more money than that.: He said
"The money doesn't have anything to
do with it. The job is too small."
SimNow.
In his book Facing Loneliness
J. Oswald Sanders writes
"The round of pleasure or the amassing of wealth are but vain attempts to
escape from the persistent ache...The millionaire is usually a lonely man and
the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience."
Sanders goes on the emphasize that being successful often fails to
produce satisfaction. Then he refers to Henry Martyn
a distinguished scholar
as an example of what he is talking about. Martyn
a Cambridge University
student
was honored at only 20 years of age for his achievements in
mathematics. In fact
he was given the highest recognition possible in that
field. And yet he felt an emptiness inside. He said that instead of finding
fulfillment in his achievements
he had "only grasped a shadow."
After evaluating his life's goals
Martyn sailed to India as a
missionary at the age of 24. When he arrived
he prayed
"Lord
let me
burn out for You." In the next 7 years that preceded his death
he
translated the New Testament into three difficult Eastern languages. These
notable achievements were certainly not passing "shadows."
Our Daily Bread
January 21
1994.
John G. Paton
a missionary to the South Sea Islands
often lived
in danger as he worked among the hostile aborigines who had never heard the
gospel. At one time three witch doctors
claiming to have the power to cause
death
publicly declared their intentions to kill Paton with their sorcery
before the next
Sunday. To carry out their threat
they said they needed some food he had
partially eaten. Paton asked for three plums. He took a bite out of each and
then gave them to the men who were plotting his death.
On Sunday
the missionary entered the village with a smile on his
face and a spring in his step. The people looked at each other in amazement
thinking it couldn't possibly be Paton. Their "sacred men" admitted
that they had tried by all their incantations to kill him. When asked why they
had failed
they replied that the missionary was a sacred man like themselves
but that his God was stronger than theirs. From then on Paton's influence grew
and soon he had the joy of leading some of the villagers to the Lord.
Source Unknown.
LIVINGSTONE
DAVID
Sometimes marriage to a great leader comes with a special price for his wife.
Such was the case for Mary Moffatt Livingstone
wife of Dr. David Livingstone
perhaps the most celebrated missionary in the Western world. Mary was born in
Africa as the daughter of Robert Moffatt
the missionary who inspired
Livingstone to go to Africa. The Livingstones were married in Africa in 1845
but the years that followed were difficult for Mary. Finally
she and their six
children returned to England so she could recuperate as Livingstone plunged
deeper into the African interior. Unfortunately
even in England Mary lived in
near poverty. The hardships and long separations took their toll on Mrs.
Livingstone
who died when she was just forty-two.
Today in the Word
MBI
January
1990
p. 12.
Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son close to her
heart. Tears welled in her eyes as she began slowly walking toward the river's
edge. She stepped into the water
silently making her way out until she was
waist deep
the water gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood there
for a long time holding the child tightly as she stared out across the river.
Then all of a sudden in one quick movement she threw the six month old baby to
his watery death.
Native missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the crowds
who gather at the Ganges. It was he who came upon Alila that day kneeling in
the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt
down next to her and asked her what was wrong.
Through her sobs she told him
"The problems in my home are
too many and my sins are heavy on my heart
so I offered the best I have to the
goddess Ganges
my first born son." Brother Varghese's heart ached for the
desperate woman. As she wept he gently began to tell her about the love of
Jesus and that through Him her sins could be forgiven. She looked at him
strangely. "I have never heard that before
" she replied through her
tears. "Why couldn't you have come thirty minutes earlier? If you did
my
child would not have had to die."
Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city of
Hardwar to bathe in the River Ganges. These multitudes come believing this
Hindu ritual will wash their sins away. For many people like Alila
missionaries are arriving too late
simply because there aren't enough of these
faithful brothers and sisters on the mission field.
Christianity Today
1993.
When Hudson Taylor was director of the China Inland Mission
he
often interviewed candidates for the mission field. On one occasion
he met
with a group of applicants to determine their motivations for service.
"And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?" he asked one.
"I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature
" was the reply. Another said
"I
want to go because millions are perishing without Christ." Others gave
different answers. Then Hudson Taylor said
"All of these motives
however
good
will fail you in times of testings
trials
tribulations
and possible
death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing;
namely
the love of Christ".
Source Unknown.
A missionary in Africa was once asked if he really liked what he
was doing. His response was shocking. "Do I like this work?" he said.
"No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonable refined
sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse...But
is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him
if not.
Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to 'Go
' and we
go. Love constrains us."
Our Daily Bread.
Last night I took a journey
To a land far 'cross the seas;
I didn't go by boat or plane
I trusted on my knees.
I saw so many people there
In deepest depths of sin
And Jesus told me I should go
That there were souls to win.
But I said
"Jesus
I can't go
And work with such as these."
He answered quickly
"Yes
you can
By traveling on your knees."
He said
"You pray; I'll meet the need
You call and I will hear;
Be concerned about lost souls
Of those both far and near."
And so I tried it
knelt in prayer
Gave up some hours of ease;
I felt the Lord right by my side
While traveling on my knees.
As I prayed on and saw souls saved
And twisted bodies healed
And saw God's workers' strength renewed
While laboring on the filed.
I said
"Yes
Lord
I have a job
My desire Thy will to please;
I can go and heed Thy call
By traveling on my knees."
Sandra Goodwin.
One afternoon author Patsy Clairmont found herself on an airplane
sitting next to a young man. She writes
"I had already observed something
about this young man when I was being seated. He called me "Ma'am."
At the time I thought
'Either he thinks I'm ancient
or he's from the South
where they still teach manners
or he's in the service.' I decided the latter
was the most likely
so I asked
"You in the service?" "Yes
Ma'am
I am." "What branch?" "Marines." "Hey
Marine
where are you coming from?" "Operation desert Storm
Ma'am."
"No kidding? Desert Storm! How long were you there?" I asked. "A
year and a half. I'm on my way home. My family will be at the airport." I
then commented that he must have thought about returning to his family and home
many times while he was in the Middle East. "Oh
no
Ma'am
" he
replied. "We were taught never to think of what might never be
but to be
fully available right where we were."
Focus on the Family
July
1993
p. 5.
Alila stood on the beach holding her tiny infant son close to her
heart. Tears welled in her eyes as she began slowly walking toward the river's
edge. She stepped into the water
silently making her way out until she was
waist deep
the water gently lapping at the sleeping baby's feet. She stood
there for a long time holding the child tightly as she stared out across the
river. Then all of a sudden in one quick movement she threw the six month old
baby to his watery death.
Native missionary M.V. Varghese often witnesses among the crowds
who gather at the Ganges. It was he who came upon Alila that day kneeling in
the sand crying uncontrollably and beating her breast. With compassion he knelt
down next to her and asked her what was wrong. Through he sobs she told him
"The problems in my home are too many and my sins are heavy on my heart
so I offered the best I have to the goddess Ganges
my first born son."
Brother Varghese's heart ached for the desperate woman. As she wept he gently
began to tell her about the love of Jesus and that through Him her sins could
be forgiven. She looked at him strangely. "I have never heard that
before
" she replied through her tears. "Why couldn't you have come
thirty minutes earlier? If you did
my child would not have had to die."
Each year millions of people come to the holy Indian city of
Hardwar to bathe in the River Ganges. These multitudes come believing this
Hindu ritual will wash their sins away. For many people like Alila
missionaries are arriving too late
simply because there aren't enough of these
faithful brothers and sisters on the mission field.
Christianity Today
1993.
A one-legged school teacher from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor
to offer himself for service in China. "With only one leg
why do you
think of going as a missionary?" Asked Taylor.
"I do not see those with two legs going
" replied George
Scott. He was accepted.
Pillar of Fire
January First
1983.
"It is the impassioned pleading of a quiet little Scottish
lady that linked my life with the Soudan
" wrote Rowland Bingham (a
founder of S.I.M.). "In the quietness of her parlor she told how God had
called a daughter to China
and her eldest boy (Walter Gowans) to the Soudan.
"She spread out before me the vast extent of those thousands of miles and
filled in the teeming masses of people. Ere I closed the interview she had
place upon me the burden of the Soudan."
A year and a half later Bingham returned to Canada
alone. Walter
and Thomas Kent lay buried in Nigeria's interior. "I visited Mrs. Gowans
to take her the few personal belongings of her son
" he recalled.
"She met me with extended hand. We stood there in silence.
"Then she said these words: 'Well
Mr. Bingham
I would
rather have had Walter go out to the Soudan and die there
all alone
that have
him home today
disobeying his Lord.'"
Our success in this venture means nothing less than the opening of
the country for the gospel; our failure
at most
nothing more than the death
of two or three deluded fanatics. Still
even death is not failure. His
purposes are accomplished. He uses deaths as well as lives in the furtherance
of His cause.
Source Unknown.
Walter Gowans
1983
a founder of SIM. On Dec. 4
1893
Walter
Gowans and Rowland Bingham of Toronto
Canada
and Thomas Kent of Buffalo
N.Y.
landed at Lagos
Nigeria. Their aim was to establish a witness among the
60 million people of what was then commonly known as the Soudan
the area south
of the Sahara between the Niger River and the Nile. Gowans and Kent died in the
first few months. Bingham returned to Canada
formed a council
and went back
to Africa in 1900. That attempt
too
was unsuccessful. In 1901 Bingham sent
out a party that succeeded in establishing the Mission's first base
at Patigi
500 miles up the Niger River. When these first SIM pioneers landed in Nigeria
Gowans was 25 years old
Bingham was two weeks away from his 21st birthday
Kent
was 23.
Source Unknown.
The following article is based on a sermon by missionary Del Tarr
who served fourteen years in West Africa with another mission agency. His story
points out the price some people pay to sow the seed of the gospel in hard soil.
I was always perplexed by Psalm 126 until I went to the Sahel
that vast stretch of savanna more than four thousand miles wide just under the
Sahara Desert. In the Sahel
all the moisture comes in a four month period:
May
June
July
and August. After that
not a drop of rain falls for eight
months. The ground cracks from dryness
and so do your hands and feet. The
winds of the Sahara pick up the dust and throw it thousands of feet into the
air. It then comes slowly drifting across West Africa as a fine grit. It gets
inside your mouth. It gets inside your watch and stops it. The year's food
of
course
must all be grown in those four months. People grow sorghum or milo in
small fields.
October and November...these are beautiful months. The granaries are
full -- the harvest has come. People sing and dance. They eat two meals a day.
The sorghum is ground between two stones to make flour and then a mush with the
consistency of yesterday's Cream of Wheat. The sticky mush is eaten hot; they
roll it into little balls between their fingers
drop it into a bit of sauce
and then pop it into their mouths. The meal lies heavy on their stomachs so
they can sleep.
December comes
and the granaries start to recede. Many families
omit the morning meal. Certainly by January not one family in fifty is still
eating two meals a day. By February
the evening meal diminishes. The meal
shrinks even more during March and children succumb to sickness. You don't stay
well on half a meal a day. April is the month that haunts my memory. In it you
hear the babies crying in the twilight. Most of the days are passed with only
an evening cup of gruel.
Then
inevitably
it happens. A six- or seven-year-old boy comes
running to his father one day with sudden excitement. "Daddy! Daddy! We've
got grain!" he shouts.
"Son
you know we haven't had grain for weeks."
"Yes
we have!" the boy insists. "Out in the hut
where we keep the goats -- there's a leather sack hanging up on the wall -- I
reached up and put my hand down in there -- Daddy
there's grain in there! Give
it to Mommy so she can make flour
and tonight our tummies can sleep!"
The father stands motionless. "Son
we can't do that
"
he softly explains. "That's next year's seed grain. It's the only thing
between us and starvation. We're waiting for the rains
and then we must use
it."
The rains finally arrive in May
and when they do the young boy
watches as his father takes the sack from the wall and does the most
unreasonable thing imaginable. Instead of feeding his desperately weakened
family
he goes to the field and with tears streaming down his face
he takes
the precious seed and throws it away. He scatters it in the dirt! Why? Because
he believes in the harvest.
The seed is his; he owns it. He can do anything with it he wants.
The act of sowing it hurts so much that he cries. But as the African pastors
say when they preach on Psalm 126
"Brother and sisters
this is God's law
of the harvest. Don't expect to rejoice later on unless you have been willing
to sow in tears."
And I want to ask you: How much would it cost you to sow in tears?
I don't mean just giving God something from your abundance
but finding a way
to say
"I believe in the harvest
and therefore I will give what makes no
sense. The world would call me unreasonable to do this -- but I must sow
regardless
in order that I may someday celebrate with songs of joy."
Copyright Leadership
1983.
When Hudson Taylor was director of the China Inland Mission
he
often interviewed candidates for the mission field. On one occasion
he met
with a group of applicants to determine their motivations for service.
"And why do you wish to go as a foreign missionary?" he asked one.
"I want to go because Christ has commanded us to go into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature
" was the reply. Another said
"I
want to go because millions are perishing without Christ." Others gave
different answers. Then Hudson Taylor said
"All of these motives
however
good
will fail you in times of testings
trials
tribulations
and possible
death. There is but one motive that will sustain you in trial and testing;
namely
the love of Christ."
Source Unknown.
A missionary in Africa was once asked if he really liked what he
was doing. His response was shocking. "Do I like this work?" he said.
"No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably refined
sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse...But
is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him
if not.
Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to 'Go
" and
we go. Love constrains us."
Source Unknown.
Love is a Costly Thing
by Dick Hillis
She was lying on the ground. In her arms she held a tiny baby
girl. As I put a cooked sweet potato into her outstretched hand
I wondered if
she would live until morning. Her strength was almost gone
but her tired eyes
acknowledged my gift. The sweet potato could help so little -- but it was all I
had.
Taking a bite she chewed it carefully. Then
placing her mouth
over her baby's mouth
she forced the soft warm food into the tiny throat.
Although the mother was starving
she used the entire potato to keep her baby
alive.
Exhausted from her effort
she dropped her head on the ground and
closed her eyes. In a few minutes the baby was asleep. I later learned that
during the night the mother's heart stopped
but her little girl lived. Love is
a costly thing.
God in His live for us (and for a lost world) "spared not His
own Son" to tell the world of His love. Love is costly
but we must tell
the world at any cost. Such love is costly. It costs parents and sons and
daughters. It costs the missionary life itself. In his love for Christ the
missionary must give up all to make the Savior known. If you will let your love
for Christ
cost you something
the great advance will be made together.
Remember
love is a costly thing. Do you love enough?
OC International.
The average Christian in America gives less than $.20 a week to
foreign missions.
Larry Lutz
Partners International
1987.
Americans give $700 million per year to mission agencies. However
they pay as much for pet food every 52 days. A person must overeat by at least
$1.50 worth of food per month to maintain one excess pound of flesh. Yet $1.50
per month is more than what 90 percent of all Christians in America give to
missions.
If the average missions supporter is only five pounds overweight
it means he spends (to his own hurt) at least five times as much as he gives
for missions. If he were to choose simple food (as well as not overeat)
he
could give ten times as much as he does to missions and not modify his standard
of living in any other way!
Ralph Winter of the William Carey Library
1705 North Sterra
Bonita Avenue
Pasadena
CA 91104
in Leadership
IV
4
p. 64.
97% of the world has heard of coke-a-cola
72% of the world has seen a can of coke-a-cola
51% of the world has tasted a can of coke-a-cola
Coke has only been around 80 years (1984).
If God had given the task of world evangelization to the Coke company
it would probably be done by now.
Source Unknown.
Single woman outnumber single men 7 to 1 on the mission field
according to EFMA
IFMA.
EFMA
IFMA.
William Carey had to overcome great odds to obey the call of God. In
The Challenge of Life
Oswald J. Smith noted that "even the Directors
of the East India Company opposed [Carey's] work. Following is the idiotic
resolution they presented to Parliament:
'The sending out of missionaries into one Eastern possession is
the maddest
most extravagant
most costly
most indefensible project which has
ever been suggested by a moonstruck fanatic.'"
Smith added
"In 1796
the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland passed the following infamous resolution: 'To spread the knowledge of
the gospel amongst barbarians and heathens seems to be highly preposterous.'
One speaker in the House of Commons said that he would rather see a band of
devils let loose in India than a band of missionaries. Such was the opposition
to missions when Carey set forth. And yet
he was able to write
'Why is my
soul disquieted within me? Things may turn out better than I expect. Everything
is known to God
and God cares.'" William Carey stood the test
and became
the father of modern missions.
Daily Bread.
Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.
C.T. Studd.
Some years ago
a very good friend of mine
Dr. E. Myers Harrison
gave a missionary message that I cannot forget. It was to a small group of
people
but I will never forget the sermon. Dr. Harrison is now at home with
the Lord
but he was a great servant of God and a great missionary statesman.
He said that each of us as Christians must hear what God has to say. There is
the command from above: "Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel
to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Have you heard that?
I've heard people say
"But God wants our church to be
different. We're not supposed to have a missionary program." I don't
believe that. I believe the command from above is given to every Christian and
to every assembly that God has raised up. Then there is the cry from beneath.
Remember the rich man who died and woke up in hell and begged for someone to go
and tell his brothers? (see Luke 16). "I pray thee
therefore
father
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house (for I have five brethren)
that he may testify unto them
lest they also come into this place of
torment" (vv. 27
28). There is the cry from beneath. If you and I could
hear the cries of people in a lost eternity right now
we'd realize how
important it is to get the Gospel out. There's the command from above. Have you
heard it? There's the cry from beneath. Have you heart it?
Then
according to Dr. Harrison
there is the call from without.
Acts 16:9 says
"Come over into Macedonai
and help us." People
around us are saying
"Please come to help us!" So much money
time
and energy is being spent on routine church matters in America when there is a
whole world to reach for Christ! We face so many open doors!
W. Wiersbe
Something Happens When Churches Pray
pp.102-3.
Association of Church Missions Commissions definition of a
"mobilizing church:" 1) 10% of the church's members are regularly and
systematically praying for missions. 2) 10% of the church's members are
regularly and systematically sharing their faith. 3) 10% of the church's budget
is spent on cross-cultural outreach. 4) 1% of the church's members are entering
cross- cultural service. 5) The church is working to involve one neighbor
church in missions.
ACMC Newsletter
Autumn
1989
p. 1.
I had known about Jesus dying for me
but I had never understood
that
if He had died for me
then I didn't belong to myself. Redemption means
buying back
so that if I belong to Him
either I had to be a thief
and keep
what wasn't mine
or else I had to give up everything to God. When I came to
see that Jesus had died for me
it didn't seem hard to give up all for
Him.
C.T. Studd.
If Jesus Christ be God and died for me
then no sacrifice can be
too great for me to make for Him.
C.T. Studd.
Henry Martyn (1781-1812)
Following a brilliant student career at Cambridge
rejected
several opportunities in order to go to the mission field. He prayed
"Here am I
Lord; send me to the ends of the earth
send me to the rough
the savage pagans of the wilderness; send me from all that is called comfort in
earth; send me even to death itself if it be but in Thy service and in Thy
kingdom."
Donald Campbell
Nehemiah: Man in Charge
Victor Books
1979
p. 13.
A clear mission statement answers three questions: a) who is your
ministry focus group? b) what needs are you seeking to meet? c) how will you
accomplish your mission?
Ministry focus group: Age and income ranges
marriage patterns
number of children
ethnic groups
educational level
typical occupation
percent of spouses who work
housing patterns
hobbies
leisure activities
music preferences
social concerns
felt needs
basis for social relationships.
Clarify what needs you'll seek to meet: what are their felt needs
what needs are we uniquely qualified to meet
how
when?
Identify 3-5 key ministry areas: what will attract your focus
group.
Draft a mission statement (25-30 words--"We're trying to
reach these people with these needs by these means.").
Popularize it in 5 to 10 words. A vision statement pictures the
future. A mission statement tells how to get there.
Peter Drucker's three "musts" of a successful mission:
1) look at strength and performance. Do better what you do well--if it's the
right thing to do. 2) Look at the opportunities
the needs. Where can you
with
limited resources
really make a difference? 3) Look at what you really
believe. "I've never seen anything being done well unless people were committed."
Bob Logan.
This longer story has been placed first due to the quality of the
illustration:
The
following article is based on a sermon by missionary Del Tarr who served
fourteen years in West Africa with another mission agency. His story points out
the price some people pay to sow the seed of the gospel in hard soil.
I
was always perplexed by Psalm 126 until I went to the Sahel
that vast stretch
of savanna more than four thousand miles wide just under the Sahara Desert. In
the Sahel
all the moisture comes in a four month period: May
June
July
and
August. After that
not a drop of rain falls for eight months. The ground
cracks from dryness
and so do your hands and feet. The winds of the Sahara
pick up the dust and throw it thousands of feet into the air. It then comes
slowly drifting across West Africa as a fine grit. It gets inside your mouth.
It gets inside your watch and stops it. The year's food
of course
must all be
grown in those four months. People grow sorghum or milo in small fields.
October
and November...these are beautiful months. The granaries are full -- the
harvest has come. People sing and dance. They eat two meals a day. The sorghum
is ground between two stones to make flour and then a mush with the consistency
of yesterday's Cream of Wheat. The sticky mush is eaten hot; they roll it into
little balls between their fingers
drop it into a bit of sauce and then pop it
into their mouths. The meal lies heavy on their stomachs so they can sleep.
December
comes
and the granaries start to recede. Many families omit the morning meal.
Certainly
by January not one family in fifty is still eating two meals a day.
By
February
the evening meal diminishes.
The
meal shrinks even more during March and children succumb to sickness. You don't
stay well on half a meal a day.
April
is the month that haunts my memory. In it you hear the babies crying in the
twilight. Most of the days are passed with only an evening cup of gruel.
Then
inevitably
it happens. A six-or seven-year-old boy comes running to his father
one day with sudden excitement. "Daddy! Daddy! We've got grain!" he
shouts. "Son
you know we haven't had grain for weeks." "Yes
we
have!" the boy insists. "Out in the hut where we keep the goats --
there's a leather sack hanging up on the wall -- I reached up and put my hand
down in there -- Daddy
there's grain in there! Give it to Mommy so she can
make flour
and tonight our tummies can sleep!"
The
father stands motionless. "Son
we can't do that
" he softly
explains. "That's next year's seed grain. It's the only thing between us
and starvation. We're waiting for the rains
and then we must use it." The
rains finally arrive in May
and when they do the young boy watches as his father
takes the sack from the wall and does the most unreasonable thing imaginable. Instead of feeding his desperately
weakened family
he goes to the field and with tears streaming down his face
he takes the precious seed and throws it away. He scatters it in the dirt! Why?
Because he believes in the harvest (Italics added).
The
seed is his; he owns it. He can do anything with it he wants. The act of sowing
it hurts so much that he cries. But as the African pastors say when they preach
on Psalm 126
"Brother and sisters
this is God's law of the harvest.
Don't expect to rejoice later on unless you have been willing to sow in
tears." And I want to ask you: How much would it cost you to sow in tears?
I don't mean just giving God something from your abundance
but finding a way
to say
"I believe in the harvest
and therefore I will give what makes no
sense. The world would call me unreasonable to do this -- but I must sow
regardless
in order that I may someday celebrate with songs of
joy."
Leadership
1983.
Fritz
Kreisler (1875-1962)
the world-famous violinist
earned a fortune with his
concerts and compositions
but he generously gave most of it away. So
when he
discovered an exquisite violin on one of his trips
he wasn't able to buy it.
Later
having raised enough money to meet the asking price
he returned to the
seller
hoping to purchase that beautiful instrument. But to his great dismay
it had been sold to a collector. Kreisler made his way to the new owner's home
and offered to buy the violin. The collector said it had become his prized
possession and he would not sell it. Keenly disappointed
Kreisler was about to
leave when he had an idea. "Could I play the instrument once more before
it is consigned to silence?" he asked. Permission was granted
and the
great virtuoso filled the room with such heart-moving music that the
collector's emotions were deeply stirred. "I have no right to keep that to
myself
" he exclaimed. "It's yours
Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the
world
and let people hear it."
Our
Daily Bread
February 4
1994.
I
was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax
Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was
to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat
on the grass at the rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses
no one recognized him.
Directly
in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to
my presentation. When I invited people to come forward as an open sign of
commitment
Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man
on the shoulder and asked
"Would you like to accept Christ? I'll be glad
to walk down with you if you want to." The old man looked him up and down
thought it over for a moment
and then said
"Naw
I think I'll just wait
till the big gun comes tomorrow night." Billy and I have had several good
chuckles over that incident. Unfortunately
it underlines how
in the minds of
many people
evangelism is the task of the "Big Guns
" not the
"little shots."
Lieghton
Ford
Good News is for Sharing
1977
David C. Cook Publishing Co.
p.
67.
Sometimes
telling a story has as much effect on the teller as it does the listeners.
Martin Buber
the Jewish philosopher
recalls: "My grandfather was lame.
Once they asked him to tell a story about his teacher
and he related how his
master used to hop and dance while he prayed. My grandfather rose as he spoke
and was so swept away by his story that he himself began to hop and dance to
show how the master had done. From that our he was cured of his lameness."
When we tell the story of our Master
we too experience His power.
Timothy
K. Jones.
The
Albanian Palace of Congresses
in the capital city of Tirana
was once a
virtual shrine to atheistic communism. But late last year the featured
attraction there was not communist ideology but the Jesus film
a Campus
Crusade for Christ evangelistic project. An estimated 2
000 people turned out
for the first Albanian showing of the film in mid-December
including the
country's top government officials. More than 700 indicated decisions for
Christ. "What once was a temple of communism is now being used as a temple
of the holy God
" exclaimed the head of the government- controlled
Albanian film industry.
Christianity
Today
March 9
1992
p. 62.
The
Times-Reporter of New Philadelphia
Ohio
reported in September
1985 a
celebration of a New Orleans municipal pool. The party around the pool was held
to celebrate the first summer in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans
city pool. In honor of the occasion
200 people gathered
including 100
certified lifeguards. As the party was breaking up and the four lifeguards on
duty began to clear the pool
they found a fully dressed body in the deep end.
They tried to revive Jerome Moody
31
but it was too late. He had drowned
surrounded by lifeguards celebrating their successful season.
Times-Reporter
September
1985.
All
souls are equally precious but not all are equally strategic.
Dr.
Joe Aldrich.
Many
years ago in St. Louis
a lawyer visited a Christian to transact some business.
Before the two parted
his client said to him
"I've often wanted to ask
you a question
but I've been afraid to do so." "What do you want to
know?" asked the lawyer. The man replied
"I've wondered why you're
not a Christian." The man hung his head
"I know enough about the
Bible to realize that it says no drunkard can enter the kingdom of God; and you
know my weakness!" "You're avoiding my questions
" continued the
believer. "Well
truthfully
I can't recall anyone ever explaining how to
become a Christian." Picking up a Bible
the client read some passages
showing that all are under condemnation
but that Christ came to save the lost
by dying on the cross for their sins. "By receiving Him as your Substitute
and Redeemer
" he said
"you can be forgiven. If you're willing to
receive Jesus
let's pray together." The lawyer agreed
and when it was
his turn he exclaimed
"O Jesus
I am a slave to drink. One of your
servants has shown me how to be saved. O God
forgive my sins and help me
overcome the power of this terrible habit in my life." Right there he was
converted. That lawyer was C.I. Scofield
who later edited the reference Bible
that bears his name.
Source
Unknown.
One
Sunday evening
William Booth was walking in London with his son
Bramwell
who
was then 12 or 13 years old. The father surprised the son by taking him into a
saloon! The place was crowded with men and women
many of them bearing on their
faces the marks of vice and crime; some were drunk. The fumes of alcohol and
tobacco were poisonous. "Willie
" Booth said to his son
"These
are our people; these are the people I want you to live for and bring to
Christ." Years later
Bramwell Booth wrote
"The impression never
left me."
W.
Wiersbe
The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers
p. 185.
It
is easy to determine when something is aflame. It ignites other material. Any
fire that does not spread will eventually go out. A church without evangelism
is a contradiction in terms
just as a fire that does not burn is a
contradiction.
Christian
Theology in Plain Language
p. 162.
The
late Sam Shoemaker
an Episcopalian bishop
summed up the situation this way:
"In the Great Commission the Lord has called us to be--like Peter--fishers
of men. We've turned the commission around so that we have become merely
keepers of the aquarium. Occasionally I take some fish out of your fishbowl and
put them into mine
and you do the same with my bowl. But we're all tending the
same fish."
Em
Griffin
The Mindchangers
Tyndale House
1976
p. 151.
While
D.L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism
he
asked his song leader Ira Sankey to meet him at 6 o'clock one evening at a
certain street corner. When Sankey arrived
Mr. Moody asked him to stand on a
box and sing. Once a crowd had gathered
Moody spoke briefly and then invited
the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall. Soon the auditorium was
filled with spiritually hungry people
and the great evangelist preached the
gospel to them. Then the convention delegates began to arrive. Moody stopped
preaching and said
"Now we must close
as the brethren of the convention
wish to come and discuss the topic
'How to reach the masses.'" Moody
graphically illustrated the difference between talking about doing something
and going out and doing it.
Source
Unknown.
The
Order of the Mustard Seed founded by Count Zinzendorf had three guiding
principles
namely:
1. Be kind to all people. 2. Seek their welfare. 3. Win them to Christ.
Source
Unknown.
The
young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale
and as he talked with
his sales manager he lamented
"I guess it just proves you can lead a
horse to water but you can't make him drink." The manager replied
"Son
take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to
make him thirsty." So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled
with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel.
Preaching
November-December 1985.
Dr
Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on "Let your light
so shine before men that they may behold your good works and glorify your
Father." In front of the lectern was a oil lamp
with its cotton wick
burning from the shallow dish of oil. As he preached
the lamp ran out of oil
the wick burned dry
and the smoke made him cough. He immediately used the
opportunity. "Some of us here are like this wick
" he said.
"We're trying to shine for the glory of God
but we stink. That's what
happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness rather than the Holy
Spirit. "Wicks can last indefinitely
burning brightly and without
irritating smoke
if the fuel
the Holy "Spirit
is in constant
supply."
Philip
Yancey.
D.L.
Moody made an covenant with God that he would witness for Christ to at least
one person each day. One night
about ten o- clock
he realized that he had not
yet witnessed; so he went out in to the street and spoke to a man standing by a
lamppost
asking him
"Are you a Christian?" The man flew into a violent
rage and threatened to knock Moody into the gutter. Later
that same man went
to an elder in the church and complained that Moody was "doing more harm
in Chicago than ten men were doing good." The elder begged Moody to temper
his zeal with knowledge. Three months later
Moody was awakened at the YMCA by
a man knocking at the door. It was the man he had witnessed to. "I want to
talk to you about my soul
" he said to Moody. He apologized for the way he
had treated Moody and said that he had had no peace ever since that night on
Lake Street when Moody witnessed to him. Moody led the man to Christ and he
became a zealous worker in the Sunday school.
W.
Wiersbe
The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers
p. 205.
Even
if people reject the gospel
we still must love them. A good example of this
was reported by Ralph Neighbour
pastor of Houston's West Memorial Baptist
Church in Death and the Caring Community by Larry Richards and
Paul Johnson:
Jack
had been president of a large corporation
and when he got cancer
they
ruthlessly dumped him. He went through his insurance
used his life savings
and had practically nothing left. I visited him with one of my deacons
who
said
"Jack
you speak so openly about the brief life you have left. I
wonder if you've prepared for your life after death?"
Jack
stood up
livid with rage. "You *** *** *** Christians. All you ever think
about is what's going to happen to me after I die. If your God is so great
why
doesn't He do something about the real problems of life?" He went on to
tell us he was leaving his wife penniless and his daughter without money for
college. Then he ordered us out. Later my deacon insisted we go back. We did.
"Jack
I know I offended you
" he said. "I humbly apologize. But
I want you to know I've been working since then. Your first problem is where
your family will live after you die. A realtor in our church has agreed to sell
your house and give your wife his commission. "I guarantee you that
if
you'll permit us
some other men and I will make the house payments until it's
sold. "Then
I've contacted the owner of an apartment house down the
street. He's offered your wife a three-bedroom apartment plus free utilities
and an $850-a-month salary in return for her collecting rents and supervising plumbing
and electrical repairs. The income from your house should pay for your
daughter's college. I just want you to know your family will be cared
for."
Jack
cried like a baby. He died shortly thereafter
so wrapped in pain he never
accepted Christ. But he experienced God's love even while rejecting Him. And
his widow
touched by the caring Christians
responded to the gospel
message.
Van
Campbell.
We
conducted a three-phase experiment at Rockford College
and used over 100
college graduates who were preparing for youth ministry.
In
the first phase: We took a young volunteer from the room and blindfolded him.
We simply told him that when he returned
he could do anything he wished. He
remained outside the room while we instructed each audience member to think of
a simple task for the volunteer to do. When the volunteer returned
they were
to shout their individual instructions at him from where they sat. Prior to
this
we privately instructed another person to shout a very specific task at
the blindfolded volunteer as though it were a matter of life and death. This
person was to attempt to persuade the blindfolded volunteer to climb the steps
at the back of the auditorium and embrace an instructor who was standing at the
door; he had to shout this vital message from where he sat in the audience. The
volunteer was oblivious to all instructions and previous arrangements. The
volunteer represented our young people
the audience represented the world of
voices screaming for their attention
and the person with the vital message
represented those of us who bring the message of the Gospel to youth. The
blindfolded student was led back into the room. The lecture room exploded in a
din of shouting. Each person tried to get the volunteer to follow his or her
unique instructions. In the midst of the crowd
the voice of the person with
the vital message was lost; no single message stood out. The blindfolded
student stood paralyzed by confusion and indecision. He moved randomly and
without purpose as he sought to discern a clear and unmistakable voice in the
crowd.
The
second phase: We told the audience about the person attempting to get the
volunteer to accomplish the vital task. At this point we chose another person
from the audience to add a new dimension. This person's goal was to
at all
costs
keep the volunteer from doing the vital task. While the rest of the
audience was to remain in their seats
these two people were allowed to stand
next to the volunteer and shout their opposing messages. They could get as
close as they wished; however
they were not allowed to touch the volunteer. As
the blindfolded volunteer was led back into the room
the shouting began again.
This time
because the two messengers were standing so close
the volunteer could
hear both messages; but because the messages were opposed to each other
he
vacillated. He followed one for a bit
then was convinced by the other to go
the opposite direction. In order for young people to hear our message we must
get close to them. Even then
there are others with opposing messages who also
are close enough to make their messages clear. Sometimes they are peers
relatives...The main lesson: only the close voices could be heard. Even though
the volunteer took no decisive action
at least he heard the message.
The
third phase: The response to the third phase was startling. In this phase
everything remained the same except the one with the vital message was allowed
to touch the volunteer. He could not pull
push or in any way force the volunteer
to do his bidding; but he could touch him
and in that way encourage him to
follow. The blindfolded volunteer was led into the room. When he appeared
the
silence erupted into an earsplitting roar. The two messengers stood close
shouting their opposing words. Then
the one with the vital message put his arm
gently around the volunteer's shoulder and leaned very close to speak directly
into his ear. Almost without hesitation
the volunteer began to yield to his
instruction. Occasionally he paused to listen as the opposition frantically
tried to convince him to turn around. But then
by the gentle guidance of
touch
the one with the vital message led him on. A moment of frightening
realism occurred spontaneously as the one with the vital message drew close to
the goal. All those in the audience
who up to this point had been shouting
their own individual instruction
suddenly joined in unison to keep the
volunteer from taking those final steps. Goose bumps appeared all over my body
as students began to chant together
"Don't go!" "Don't
go!" "Don't go!" So many times I've seen the forces that pull
our youth in different directions join together to dissuade them from a serious
commitment to Christ. The chant grew to a pulsing crescendo
"Don't
go!" "Don't go!" But the guiding arm of the one with the vital
message never left the volunteer's shoulder. At the top of the stairs in the
back of the lecture hall
the one with the vital message leaned one last time
to whisper in the ear of the volunteer. There was a moment of hesitation
then
the volunteer threw his arms around the instructor and the auditorium erupted
in cheers and applause.
When
the volunteer revealed how he felt as he went through each phase
it became
apparent that if our message is to be heard
we cannot shout it from the
cavernous confines of our church buildings. We must venture out and draw close
to those with whom we wish to communicate. If we really seek a life-changing
commitment from our young people
we also must reach out where they are and in
love
gently touch them and lead them to that commitment. We asked the
volunteer why he followed the one with the vital message
the one who touched
him. After a few moments he said
"Because it felt like he was the only
one who really cared."
Ken
Davis
How To Speak To Youth
pp 19-23.
A
model from the world of real estate becomes instructive at this point. A firm
in Salem
Oregon
assigns 500 families to each agent. Agents are expected to
contact each assigned family once per month for a year. The contact may be
personal
a telephone call
or a letter. Research indicates that it takes at
least six contacts for people to remember who the agent is and the firm
represented. During this time of "building relationships
" agents are
encouraged not to go in the house (good psychology
everyone else is trying to
get their foot in the door). Furthermore
they are encouraged not to ask for a
listing during this "get acquainted" time. Obviously
there would be
exceptions to these restrictions
but they do illustrate an understanding of
what it takes to create a favorable climate for selling real estate. After the
initial year of regular contacts
the agent continues to communicate with the
assigned families on a scheduled
systematic basis. Research reveals that if
this pattern is followed consistently for one-year-and-a-half
the agent will
secure 80% of the listings.
What
does the real estate firm know that we either do not know or overlook? First
people do not like to be confronted by strangers seeking entrance into their
homes. In fact
in many communities this is socially unacceptable. The sales
person or any other unknown professional who arrives at the door is
automatically confronted with a high sales resistance. If the door is opened
it is done with a determination not to be "taken in" by sales talk.
The salesperson professionally represents the product
and consequently the
sales pitch is discounted at least 50 percent. However
if a friend comes over
and shares a glowing personal testimony concerning the value of the agent's
product
the reaction is apt to be markedly different. A satisfied customer
makes the most effective salesperson. Second
people are more inclined to do
business with acquaintances than strangers. Third
it takes time and effort to
build a healthy decision- making climate. Fourth
there is no substitute for
time. Often it is necessary to "make haste slowly."
Joe
Aldrich
Friendship Evangelism
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
On
a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur
there was once a little
life-saving station. The building was primitive
and there was just one boat
but the members of the life-saving station were committed and kept a constant
watch over the sea. When a ship went down
they unselfishly went out day or
night to save the lost. Because so many lives were saved by that station
it
became famous. Consequently
many people wanted to be associated with the
station to give their time
talent
and money to support its important work.
New boats were bought
new crews were recruited
a formal training session was
offered. As the membership in the life-saving station grew
some of the members
became unhappy that the building was so primitive and that the equipment was so
outdated. They wanted a better place to welcome the survivors pulled from the
sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in
the enlarged and newly decorated building.
Now
the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members. They
met regularly and when they did
it was apparent how they loved one another.
They greeted each other
hugged each other
and shared with one another the
events that had been going on in their lives. But fewer members were now
interested in going to sea on life-saving missions; so they hired lifeboat
crews to do this for them. About this time
a large ship was wrecked off of the
coast
and the hired crews brought into the life-saving station boatloads of
cold
wet
dirty
sick
and half-drowned people. Some of them had black skin
and some had yellow skin. Some could speak English well
and some could hardly
speak it at all. Some were first-class cabin passengers of the ship
and some
were the deck hands. The beautiful meeting place became a place of chaos. The
plush carpets got dirty. Some of the exquisite furniture got scratched. So the
property committee immediately had a shower built outside the house where the
victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At
the next meeting there was rift in the membership. Most of the members wanted
to stop the club's life-saving activities
for they were unpleasant and a
hindrance to the normal fellowship of the members. Other members insisted that
life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still
called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if
they wanted to save the lives of all those various kinds of people who would be
shipwrecked
they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. And
do you know what? That is what they did.
As
the years passed
the new station experienced the same changes that had
occurred in the old. It evolved into a place to meet regularly for fellowship
for committee meetings
and for special training sessions about their mission
but few went out to the drowning people. The drowning people were no longer
welcomed in that new life-saving station. So another life-saving station was
founded further down the coast. History continued to repeat itself. And if you visit
that seacoast today
you will find a number of adequate meeting places with
ample parking and plush carpeting. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters
but
most of the people drown.
Thomas
Wedel
Ecumenical Review
October
1953
paraphrased in Heaven Bound
Living
Knofel Stanton
Standard
1989
p. 99-101.
Evangelism
is communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ with the immediate intent of
converting the hearer to faith in Christ
and with the ultimate intent of
instructing the convert in the Word of God so that he can become a mature
believer. Evangelism
A Biblical Approach
M. Cocoris
Moody
1984
p. 14 How
then should evangelism be defined? The N.T. answer is very simple. According to
the N.T.
evangelism is just preaching the gospel
the evangel. Evangelizing
therefore is not simply a matter of teaching
and instructing
and imparting
information to the mind. There is more to it than that. Evangelism includes the
endeavor to elicit a response to the truth taught. It is communication with a
view to conversion. It is a matter
not merely of informing
but also of
inviting.
J.I.
Packer
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
pp. 41
50.
A
survey done by sociologists Glock and Stark found that among evangelicals
over
1/2 of their close friends are likely to belong to the same congregation
whereas among liberal churchgoers
such as Presbyterians and
Congregationalists
few or none of their close friends are likely to be members
of their local church.
Rifkin
and Howard
The Emerging Order
p. 115.
Pollsters
report that 72 percent of Americans don't know their next-door neighbors.
Bill
McKibben
in "the Age of Missing Information"
Signs of the Times
February
1994.
In
a yet-to-be-released poll
George Gallup
Jr.
reported seven needs of the
average American:
1.
The need for shelter and food
2. The need to believe life is meaningful and has a purpose
3. The need for a sense of community and deeper relationships
4. The need to be appreciated and respected
5. The need to be listened to and be heard
6. The need to feel one is growing in faith
7. The need for practical help in developing a mature faith.
National
and International Religion Report
May 29
1991.
Hence
we find in non-Christian religions a restless sense of the hostility of the
powers of the universe; an undefined feeling of guilt
and all sorts of
merit-making techniques designed to get rid of it; a dread of death
and a
consuming anxiety to feel that one has conquered it; forms of worship aimed at
once to placate
bribe
and control the gods
and to make them keep their
distance
except when wanted; an alarming readiness to call moral evil good
and good evil
in the name of religion; an ambivalent attitude of mind which
seems both to seek God and to seek to evade him in the same act.
Therefore
in our evangelistic dialogue with people of non-Christian religions
our task
must be to present the biblical revelation of God in Christ -- not as
supplementing them but as explaining their existence
exposing their errors
and judging their inadequacy.
James
Packer
Your Father Loves You
Harold Shaw Publishers
1986.
Nineteenth
century Scottish preacher Horatius Bonar asked 253 Christian friends at what
ages they were converted. Here's what he discovered:
Under
20 years of age - 138 (54.5%)
Between 20 and 30 - 85 (33.6%)
Between 30 and 40 - 22 (8.7%)
Between 40 and 50 - 4 (1.6%)
Between 50 and 60 - 3 (1.2%)
Between 60 and 70 - 1 (.4%)
Over 70 - 0
Our
Daily Bread.
Return
the Cross to Golgotha
I simply argue that the cross be raised again
at the center of the marketplace
as well as on the steeple of the church.
I am recovering the claim that
Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral
between two candles;
But on a cross between two thieves:
on a town garbage heap;
at a crossroad of politics so cosmopolitan
that they had to write His title
in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek...
And at the kind of place where cynics talk smut
and thieves curse and soldiers gamble.
Because that is where He died
and that is what He died about.
And that is where Christ's men ought to be
and what church people ought to be about.
Source
Unknown.
For
God so loved the world
not just a few
The wise and great
the noble and the true
Or those of favored class or rank or hue.
God loved the world. Do you?
Source
Unknown.
"THE PARABLE OF THE LIFESAVING STATION"
INTRODUCTION
1. Songs that may be used to introduce this lesson... a. "Throw Out The Lifeline" b. "Let The Lower Lights Be Burning" c. "Send The Light" 2. As Jesus often taught in parables
we begin our study with one
called... "The Parable Of The Lifesaving Station" On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut
and there was only one boat
but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea
and with no thought for themselves
they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station
so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved
and various others in the surrounding areas
wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little lifesaving station grew. Some of the new members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members
and they redecorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club. Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions
so they hired life boat crews to do this work. The mission of lifesaving was still given lip-service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the lifesaving activities personally. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast
and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold
wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick
some had skin of a different color
some spoke a strange language
and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting
there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal pattern of the club. But some members insisted that lifesaving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters
they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did. As the years went by
the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another lifesaving station was founded. If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters
but now most of the people drown! -- Taken from Personal Evangelism 101
by Brent Hunter 3. As the songs and the parable point out
the mission of the church is similar to that of a lifesaving station; unfortunately
with the passing of time many churches... a. Lose sight of their original mission b. Gradually evolve into something different than what Christ intended when He said: "I will build my church..." - Mt 16:18 [Lest we forget and succumb to the dangers that can befall a growingchurch
let's review...]