Jesus hasn’t exactly given us an easy assignment. Take some of his last words on planet earth, for instance: “Go and make disciples of all nations [or people groups].” Now if Jesus would have just said, “Go and make disciples of Wheaton, or DuPage County, or even the greater Chicago land area” it would have sounded so much more manageable. But “go and make disciples of all nations”—or all of the approximately 12,000 distinct people groups on our planet? Whew, that’s impossible!
Oh, and let’s not forget that making disciples isn’t like just dropping tracts on people who don’t know Christ. Disciple making is more involved, more hands-on, more time-intensive, and more loving than just preaching or even just evangelizing. It takes one person being willing to walk beside another person over a period of time to truly make a disciple of Jesus.
But what if Jesus really meant it? What if Jesus really did want us to be part of his plan to reach all the people groups on the planet? What if that even includes the people who don’t have the presence of the church, the Bible, or the essentials of faith in Jesus Christ? What if God really does want to use us—his imperfect people—to be part of this daring plan to bless all the nations of the earth, the same plan that the Spirit has woven throughout the big story of the Bible?
I believe Jesus meant all of that. Of course Church of the Resurrection is only one piece in God’s plan to bring the gospel to all the nations. But God has asked us to do our part.
Right now we support eight missionaries around the globe. In a few weeks watch for more information about who we support and what they are doing. We also have two key global partnerships with Diocese of Jos, Nigeria and with the Diocese of Singapore, which oversees the Deanery of Cambodia. Again, in a few weeks watch for the exciting ways we’ll be partnering with the Deanery of Cambodia for our annual Good Friday offering.
But also keep in mind that in our present context global missions isn’t just from here to there. It isn’t just about the “West reaching the rest.” In the upside-down world of 2016, with global migration at staggering rates, the world has come to us in America. Church-based global missions models from 20 or even 10 years ago need to be scraped. Global missions may start right in your backyard.
How do make sense out of what God is doing in terms of global missions and how the church can respond? Here’s one practical way to learn and grow and warm your own heart for global missions:
Join us on Sunday, February 21st from 1:00-3:00 PM for an afternoon seminar with missions expert Dr. Pat Krayer.
Pat oversees the U.S. operations for Interserve, an organization that sends hundreds of “global partners” into places that often have little to no Christian witness and support. So join us on the 21st. Then let’s dream together about what God can do through us as we trust Jesus, the one who said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
