10-19-26<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh! Those poor natives! All those tribes in Central America who don\u2019t know about Jesus! I want to reach them! They need to hear the Gospel!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman was in a group of faculty and staff at a get-together following a Christian Writers conference. Her wails, unprompted, were loud enough to startle the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her upper middle age, it was plausible that she had been to the region, or had a special connection to ministries there. No, she answered; not yet, but her heart bled for those people. I don\u2019t remember whether she had contributed to missionary organizations that focused on Central American tribal groups \u2013 there are many \u2013 but she sympathized with the spiritual void in tribal communities, and was moved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will leave my recollections there, but her concern is mirrored by many of us \u2013 not only for that part of the world; and not only for spiritual needs but in the areas of health, education, clean water, self-determination, and many other realms. \u201cThe poor you will always have with you,\u201d and the world is a hurting place. In the West \u2013 speaking generally \u2013 we have Wants, but much of the world has Needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet this woman, whom we shall call Cindy, represents a situation and a response that are challenges to us as responsible citizens and obedient Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I mean is this: Jesus issued the Great Commission \u2013 \u201cGo into all the world\u201d \u2013 a virtual command: how to respond once we are saved and become children of God. \u201cAll the world.\u201d And the exact instruction is to convert them to belief in Christ and baptise them unto redemption from sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Specifically: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n A short passage, but a momentous order. Not a suggestion, but a command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to ask people with a desire that \u201cCindy\u201d had \u2013 and I did in fact ask her \u2013 where specifically is this mission field; who are the people needing to be reached. Are they countries? Are they regions or specific tribes? Are they \u201cheathens\u201d or of organized religions different than Christianity? Closer to home, are there spiritually needy people in our country too? In your state, your town, on your street? Do you have neighbors who do not know Christ in even minimal ways?<\/p>\n\n\n\n How about in your own house, your family? Do you have a child or a parent or a sibling who does not know Jesus as Savior?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m afraid that most of us do have such a person, or people, close to us. Does that make your neighborhood a mission field? Well, yes. Should we have concern for them as much as many have for faceless tribal people on the other side of the globe? Yes! But\u2026 many of us have less concern, in practice. It is somehow easier to care for someone in an abstract way than face-to-face, maybe day after day. Human nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Jesus issued the Great Commission, it was shortly before His crucifixion, almost like His last will and testament. The timing was important. In essence: go, teach, preach, convert to obedience. No mention, then or from the Cross itself, to start committees, join organizations, perform works of charity, or become a member of a denomination, or the like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, I hasten to say that being a missionary, or supporting missionaries, are not mistaken paths for Christians. No! Some of my dearest friends engage in missions work, self-sacrificing, serving and ministering to bodies and souls. Beautiful, precious work \u2013 yes, obeying the Great Commission. Why I raise these questions, however, is to \u201ctake our temperature,\u201d to pray about motivations, commitments, and goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God cares about our comfortable Christian souls in the West as much as the \u201clost\u201d in remote places of the world. We often assume (or are casual about) the Truth; and meanwhile the unreached thirst for it. They might be a step closer to Glory! A monthly stewardship pledge is a vital thing, no doubt at all about it, but not as a substitute for caring for lost souls as Jesus described.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a soporific effect that Christians must avoid: believing (or being taught!) that \u201cthings\u201d can diminish Jesus\u2019s Great Commission or substitute for the Gospel itself. Denominationalism; church membership; attendance; offerings; committees; the \u201cSocial Gospel\u201d; the lies of contemporary secular life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the other end of the spectrum. Is \u201cCindy,\u201d or anyone else crying about the missions field from a suburban back porch, a hypocrite for? Not at all, if her heart really bled for the lost. As St Augustine said about Jesus\u2019 reference to \u201cthe poor always being with us,\u201d God is as concerned about the sense of Christian charity we each nurture, as much as the condition of people far away: we are all equal in the sight of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also have been reminded that not all are pastors, teachers, apostles, prophets, etc., and some special servants are missions-minded. Thank God. But they and the Holy Spirit \u2013 with our prayers and support! \u2013 will do their vital work\u2026 just as we need to find our own vital work in our towns, streets, and homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We often wonder whether God hears us when we pray. But I wonder instead whether God is grieved when we<\/em> don\u2019t hear Him<\/em>. His commandments, His gentle pleading, His loving call. Whether to be a missionary \u2013 and what kind \u2013 is not determined by a cookie-cutter process, but through deep prayer and with an open heart. The best example I know is the life of one of my heroes, Becky Spencer, singer, songwriter, missionary, author, warrior. Please click on this interview with her on the Colson Podcast a few years ago \u2013 her journey, her choices, her journey<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n