What is 750,000 miles long, reaches around the world 30 times, and grows 20 times longer each day? The answer?
The line of people who are without Christ.
By Douglas LeRoy
Two thirds of earth’s population are not Christian. Over 2.3 billion have never heard that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world.
We as believers in Christ must respond to His challenge given in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15, 16; Luke 24:47; John 20:21; and Acts 1:8. These verses are often referred to as the Great Commission. Great means “markedly superior in character.” Commission means “the authority to act for or in behalf or in place of another.”
Missions begins in God. It is a divine activity springing directly from God’s own nature. Missions is not a human intervention. The supreme argument for the Great Commission is not any word of Christ; it is Christ Himself. The Great Commission – missions – is in the very being and character of God.
No wonder it is said that the supreme task of the church is the evangelization of the world.
When Aimee Semple McPherson was questioned about the main task of the church, she responded, “To get the gospel around the world in the shortest possible time to every man, woman, boy and girl.”
A.T. Pierson reminded us “that the vitality of a local church may be measured by its interest in the evangelization of the world.”
The message of missions can be summarized in three imperatives: (1) Evangelize, (2) Disciple and (3) Send.
Evangelize
Psalm 126:5,6 challenges us to sow in tears and reap the harvest. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:6 to “Do the work of an evangelist.”
Every believer must tell the Good News to every person he can. As one man said, “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
Disciple
When a person discovers Christ as Savior, he or she must be discipled. Our responsibility does not end with evangelism. We must disciple believers. Every pastor is particularly charged with a responsibility to disciple believers and to help them reach maturity.
After the wall came down in Russia, a young lady told me about the numerous evangelistic crusades conducted. She was attracted by the crowds to attend. She said that after the meetings she knew two things – that there is a God, and that He loves her, but she said, “I didn’t know who God was.”
Because of the lack of Christian teaching she joined a cult who told her who God was.
Discipleship involves teaching about prayer, reading the Word of God, obedience, water baptism and tithing/giving. These principles help to develop a new believer in a walk with Christ.
Send
Romans 10 relates to us the importance of sending people into the harvest to share their faith. Thousands of people today are serving as short-term missionaries, using their talents and time to share their faith.
World Missions is focusing on 70 unreached people groups who have not heard of Jesus. We have successfully planted churches among ten of these groups.
As a church we must not just persuade people to “go.” We must pray for the Lord to send forth workers to His harvest (Matthew 9:38).
Our responsibility as the Body of Christ is to evangelize, disciple, and send forth workers. It is Christ’s responsibility to gather in the harvest, and to direct our paths.
Douglas LeRoy is General Director of Church of God World Missions
(Source: Church of God World Missions)