7 Reasons to Love and Support Christian Missions
Photo by Belikova Oksana / Shutterstock.com; a Christian preaching in the Papuan village of Baliem Valley on New Guinea Island, Indonesia on December 31, 2010.
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Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from the “Biblical and Confessional View of Missions Study Committee Report Recommended to the churches by Synod Escondido of the United Reformed Churches in North America 2001.”
1. It is Christ’s Great Commission to go and teach and baptize in every nation.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
2. The means God has given us to teach the good news of Christ Jesus is the “foolishness” of preaching, the proclamation of the Gospel whether to a group of people or individually. Christ Jesus, “Him we proclaim.”
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Colossians 1:27-28)
3. The Gospel of Christ Jesus should be proclaimed throughout the entire world.
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15 )
4. The Holy Spirit is given to empower the proclaiming of Christ to the end of earth.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
5. The church is the official agent of missions. In the power of the Holy Spirit, it is the church that commissions and sends missionaries to establish churches by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. (Acts 13:2-5)
6. The central work of missions is preaching Christ because it is the means God has given for salvation of sinners. “Christ has nowhere promised to produce the same results—namely the building up of His Church—through any other church program as He does through the preaching of His word.” [1]
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
7. All believers in Christ’s church are also given the mission to proclaim Christ Jesus. All of us are fellow workers in mission work laboring together in ministries such as mercy, caregiving, hospitality, encouraging missionaries, and working in local domestic missions as one body united together by Christ.
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:9)
I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:2-3)
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Notes:
[1] From the “Biblical and Confessional View of Missions Study Committee Report Recommended to the churches by Synod Escondido of the United Reformed Churches in North America 2001," p. 4; https://www.urcna.org/urcna/StudyReports/Biblical%20and%20Confessional%20View%20of%20Missions.pdf.
