Missions & the College Church
This evening, our missions ministry filled me & Julie in on the wonderful mission works of our congregation. It's great that we're able to partner with some exciting work in diverse parts of the world. An added bonus is that we are primarily supporting home-grown people.
Brady & Stephanie Smith have DEEP roots in Lausanne, Switzerland. They are an integral part of the French-speaking work within Churches of Christ. Historically, our churches have been unsuccessful in its efforts to evangelize Europe. The sectarianism of our fellowship doesn't translate well in countries that know 1000+ years of Christianity and have seen religious wars fought on their own soil. Still, Brady & Stephanie have persevered and embedded themselves as hard workers and great servants for the Lord there in Lausanne.
Marcus & Julia Rodriguez seem to be doing an incredible job in Beijing, China. They have hopped onto a moving freight train and found themselves in an incredibly fertile place at an incredibly fertile time. The bankruptcy of Communism and Confucianism is clear for the Chinese to see. Middle class and upwardly mobile Chinese of all kinds are flocking to Christian churches, many that meet clandestinely in homes. Sounds kind of neat, eh? Almost Biblical.
Finally, it's a privilege to partner with the Great Commission School in Nairobi. I don't know enough about the work there, but I know that the goals of this ministry are admirable. They are training African church leaders and sending them back to their home churches with training that would otherwise come very slowly and haphazardly. This kind of work has the potential to impact an entire generation of East African churches.
As a former missionary, it's great to be part of church that values overseas missions. Clearly, the church in America has to see its own world as a mission field. We can no longer simply send our money overseas and claim to have done our duty for global evangelization. That duty begins on our own city blocks, in our workplace, in our schools. But it doesn't end there. It must continue into all the world. Churches in the West that are rich -- yes, we are rich -- have an obligation to responsibly partner with churches abroad to further the mission of Christ.
Brady & Stephanie Smith have DEEP roots in Lausanne, Switzerland. They are an integral part of the French-speaking work within Churches of Christ. Historically, our churches have been unsuccessful in its efforts to evangelize Europe. The sectarianism of our fellowship doesn't translate well in countries that know 1000+ years of Christianity and have seen religious wars fought on their own soil. Still, Brady & Stephanie have persevered and embedded themselves as hard workers and great servants for the Lord there in Lausanne.
Marcus & Julia Rodriguez seem to be doing an incredible job in Beijing, China. They have hopped onto a moving freight train and found themselves in an incredibly fertile place at an incredibly fertile time. The bankruptcy of Communism and Confucianism is clear for the Chinese to see. Middle class and upwardly mobile Chinese of all kinds are flocking to Christian churches, many that meet clandestinely in homes. Sounds kind of neat, eh? Almost Biblical.
Finally, it's a privilege to partner with the Great Commission School in Nairobi. I don't know enough about the work there, but I know that the goals of this ministry are admirable. They are training African church leaders and sending them back to their home churches with training that would otherwise come very slowly and haphazardly. This kind of work has the potential to impact an entire generation of East African churches.
As a former missionary, it's great to be part of church that values overseas missions. Clearly, the church in America has to see its own world as a mission field. We can no longer simply send our money overseas and claim to have done our duty for global evangelization. That duty begins on our own city blocks, in our workplace, in our schools. But it doesn't end there. It must continue into all the world. Churches in the West that are rich -- yes, we are rich -- have an obligation to responsibly partner with churches abroad to further the mission of Christ.
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