Today’s
post is written by my friend Steve Stone who attends The Community with his
wife, Tina. They are leading mission
teams to work in Nicaragua, and I will be part of a trip them lead in September. As you read I pray God will prick our hearts
for missions outside of our local community:
Matthew 28:19
Therefore,
go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The
words go, goest, going, goings, goeth, and gone appear in the King James
Version of the bible 2004 times! While
the words stay, stays, stayeth, and stayed appear 69 times! Any question of what God wants Christians to
do?
A
recent survey of professed Christians reveals that sadly, 95% of all Christians
have never led a non-believer to Christ; 80% of all Christians do not
consistently witness for Christ; and only 2% are involved in a ministry of
evangelism.
Acts 1:8
But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses,
telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
These
stats are sad because they reveal the true state of the modern church. Instead of taking the news to the end of the
earth as Jesus commanded, we don’t even take it to the end of our street. What has been termed as “The Great Commission”
by our early church fathers could now be described as “The Great Omission”!
Luke 10:2
These were
his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So
pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers
into his fields.
Blessings always follow
obedience! In September, a group of
people from our community will be traveling to Nicaragua, the second poorest
country in the western hemisphere, with Because We Care Ministries
(http://www.bwcm.org). The purpose of
this mission trip will be to share the love of Jesus Christ to these desperate people. We will do food distribution, evangelistic
rallies, provide much needed medical clinics as well as some home and church
construction. We will be called upon to
share our faith in word and action with many people who simply have never heard
of the good news of Jesus Christ.
James 2:15-16
Suppose you see a brother
or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good
day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or
clothing. What good does that do?
We need your help! It is an honor for us to ask you to
prayerfully consider joining us in this journey of faith. The two greatest needs for us as members of
the team are spiritual and financial. Would
you consider joining with us in offering your prayers and/or financial support?
Please know, we are required to raise
our own support through personal sacrifice and through the giving of our fellow
Christians.
If you are interested in
offering prayer or financial support to our team, please know we will be
keeping you updated on the needs and challenges (as well as the blessings) we
as a team are facing as they happen through Facebook and Twitter blogs.
If you would like to join
our team or form one of your own, we will be holding an informational meeting
at The Community Fellowship Church on January 10th at 7:00 PM. There are souls in the balance!
What if the missionaries
didn’t go?
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