It is amazing how the Lord puts things together...
A couple years ago, God put a thought/desire in my heart that we as a church (and I as a Christian) should begin to take seriously the command to take the Gospel to Jerusalem (home area), Judea (region), Samaria (cross-culturally), and the ends of the earth (every where else).
Our church has done a fair job of taking the gospel to Jerusalem (our home area). We see people saved and baptized the majority of Sundays in our church (We had at least one make a profession of faith last Sunday. He was a guest a man in our church had invited to come and hear the gospel.) We can see examples all around us of people whose lives have really been changed by the gospel. We share the gospel with hundreds if not thousands of people each year through Upward Basketball and AWANA. We have a youth ministry that reaches 'un-churched' kids weekly. We are seeing young adults and young families come into our church, many of whom have never had any sort of church background. Just this past Thursday, Pastor Wally led a 85+ year old lady to Christ during the day. (She had been coming to our support class for depression and also to our Monday night meal for the underprivileged.)
God has blessed, but of course there are many, many more people to reach.
So God struck me with this truth a couple years ago: The Great Commission does not say first go to Jerusalem, then when you are finished, go to Judea, then when that is done go to Samaria, then when there is no one else to share with, go to the ends of the earth. No! It says we should go to all of those places... now!
But God did not just put that thought in my mind. He began to do the same thing in the hearts and minds of many in our church.
Two years have passed now... and it is obvious that our church and our people are changing.
... in the church office last week as we were preparing for a service in an upcoming missions celebration, we were thinking through all of the people from our church who have gone on mission trips in the last year and it was overwhelming:
--- We've had multiple mission trips to rebuild churches in Mississippi and Louisiana...
--- We sent a missions team to Maine...
--- We sent a missions team to Kentucky a couple weeks ago...
--- We have had several families go down to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators this past Winter (and one family move there to serve full time)...
--- We sent a missions team to Kenya, Africa...
--- We sent our youth on a mission trip to some impoverished areas of Kentucky...
--- We've had people go on missions to the Dominican Republic...
--- And I'm sure I'm leaving some people and trips out...
... not only have we had people go on mission trips out of the area, but I think about all of the people who have helped with our soup kitchen/dental clinic in inner-city Columbus, our Monday night community meals, our daily food pantry and benevolence ministries, Christmas with the kids.
... and then I think of all of the missions efforts we have not gone on but have supported financially. Some are officially supported through the church and others through some generous above and beyond gifts from our members...
--- Stowe Center, our sister church in inner-city Columbus...
--- New Life, our church plant in Thornville...
--- Jeff Moore's new church plant in Zanesville...
--- Our church sponsorship in the Ukraine...
--- Heartbeats Outreach to troubled women...
--- Churches in Kenya...
--- Chafisi Orphan Outreach...
--- David and Amy Mozombite starting their new work in Peru...
--- And probably a dozen more...
... and things are just getting started. The Kenya team met this past Saturday to put together the organizational parts of the Chafisi Orphan Outreach. This will make our church the only group of Christians in the world with an open door to share the gospel with the unreached people group that we have adopted. (As you know, we can't mention the name of the group on the internet for security reasons.)
... I had a late night meal at Olive Garden last night with someone with a heart to go to Kenya with our team in July. We spent two hours talking about what has happened and what could happen there.
... There is talk of an upcoming trip back to the Ukraine.
... I think we have at least one family in our church that will leave job, home, and the comfort of life in America and go full time on the mission field this year.
... When I chat with people in the hallways at church, many people are talking about missions. How can I get involved? What can I do? How can I give?
So I say all that to tell you this: I was taking a break from studying this morning and I ran across a music video from one of my favorite singers, Sara Groves. The video shows pictures from her recent mission trip to Rwanda.
The video brought back lots of memories... and a few tears...
I think God is changing me.
I think God is changing our church.
I don't want to go back to the way I was...
I don't want our church to go back either...
------------
Want to see the video?
Pastor Noel
A couple years ago, God put a thought/desire in my heart that we as a church (and I as a Christian) should begin to take seriously the command to take the Gospel to Jerusalem (home area), Judea (region), Samaria (cross-culturally), and the ends of the earth (every where else).
Our church has done a fair job of taking the gospel to Jerusalem (our home area). We see people saved and baptized the majority of Sundays in our church (We had at least one make a profession of faith last Sunday. He was a guest a man in our church had invited to come and hear the gospel.) We can see examples all around us of people whose lives have really been changed by the gospel. We share the gospel with hundreds if not thousands of people each year through Upward Basketball and AWANA. We have a youth ministry that reaches 'un-churched' kids weekly. We are seeing young adults and young families come into our church, many of whom have never had any sort of church background. Just this past Thursday, Pastor Wally led a 85+ year old lady to Christ during the day. (She had been coming to our support class for depression and also to our Monday night meal for the underprivileged.)
God has blessed, but of course there are many, many more people to reach.
So God struck me with this truth a couple years ago: The Great Commission does not say first go to Jerusalem, then when you are finished, go to Judea, then when that is done go to Samaria, then when there is no one else to share with, go to the ends of the earth. No! It says we should go to all of those places... now!
But God did not just put that thought in my mind. He began to do the same thing in the hearts and minds of many in our church.
Two years have passed now... and it is obvious that our church and our people are changing.
... in the church office last week as we were preparing for a service in an upcoming missions celebration, we were thinking through all of the people from our church who have gone on mission trips in the last year and it was overwhelming:
--- We've had multiple mission trips to rebuild churches in Mississippi and Louisiana...
--- We sent a missions team to Maine...
--- We sent a missions team to Kentucky a couple weeks ago...
--- We have had several families go down to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators this past Winter (and one family move there to serve full time)...
--- We sent a missions team to Kenya, Africa...
--- We sent our youth on a mission trip to some impoverished areas of Kentucky...
--- We've had people go on missions to the Dominican Republic...
--- And I'm sure I'm leaving some people and trips out...
... not only have we had people go on mission trips out of the area, but I think about all of the people who have helped with our soup kitchen/dental clinic in inner-city Columbus, our Monday night community meals, our daily food pantry and benevolence ministries, Christmas with the kids.
... and then I think of all of the missions efforts we have not gone on but have supported financially. Some are officially supported through the church and others through some generous above and beyond gifts from our members...
--- Stowe Center, our sister church in inner-city Columbus...
--- New Life, our church plant in Thornville...
--- Jeff Moore's new church plant in Zanesville...
--- Our church sponsorship in the Ukraine...
--- Heartbeats Outreach to troubled women...
--- Churches in Kenya...
--- Chafisi Orphan Outreach...
--- David and Amy Mozombite starting their new work in Peru...
--- And probably a dozen more...
... and things are just getting started. The Kenya team met this past Saturday to put together the organizational parts of the Chafisi Orphan Outreach. This will make our church the only group of Christians in the world with an open door to share the gospel with the unreached people group that we have adopted. (As you know, we can't mention the name of the group on the internet for security reasons.)
... I had a late night meal at Olive Garden last night with someone with a heart to go to Kenya with our team in July. We spent two hours talking about what has happened and what could happen there.
... There is talk of an upcoming trip back to the Ukraine.
... I think we have at least one family in our church that will leave job, home, and the comfort of life in America and go full time on the mission field this year.
... When I chat with people in the hallways at church, many people are talking about missions. How can I get involved? What can I do? How can I give?
So I say all that to tell you this: I was taking a break from studying this morning and I ran across a music video from one of my favorite singers, Sara Groves. The video shows pictures from her recent mission trip to Rwanda.
The video brought back lots of memories... and a few tears...
I think God is changing me.
I think God is changing our church.
I don't want to go back to the way I was...
I don't want our church to go back either...
------------
Want to see the video?
Pastor Noel
