Called to Go, Called to Stay

Sunday's sermon at my church was about getting up and being involved in what God is doing, rather than avoiding risk and hiding in the comfort of the La-Z-Boy chair. The text was, somewhat predictably¹, from the Great Commission:

¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

We discussed that idea in Sunday school. My teacher recounted the message of a missions conference speaker. With the Great Commission, a direct command of Jesus, all Christians are called to go. Biblically, you can't really argue with that - it is a direct, straight forward command. Go. Disciple all people groups.

Really, the question should not be "am I called to go?" but "am I called to stay?" Every Christian is called to be a part of going and discipling all the nations and people groups, teaching them to obey everything God has commanded. The only question is where has God specifically called you?

Many are called to stay at home, wherever that may be. But many are also called to go. Those not called to move geographically to spread the gospel have the the responsibility to support and encourage and assist those who are called to "go," all the while being faithful to spread the gospel through evangelism and cross-cultural ministry at home.

As for me, I'm called to go. And I'm currently struggling with my current season of staying home, but that's a story for a different blog.

Are you called to go or called to stay?



¹ Huge aside deserving of multiple future posts: the Great Commission is not the only call for Christians to go and be involved in what God is doing in the nations. All throughout Scripture, in every book, you can find God's heart for all the nations to know Him. In fact, the Great Commission is really a reflection of God's covenant with Abraham, way back in Genesis 12. Abraham was blessed and made into a great nation so that through him, "all peoples on earth will be blessed."

Defining definitions

I just came back from helping with a camp for 8th and 9th graders, in which the underlying theme of the week was missions. The first small group assignment began with the task of defining "missiology." You know its going to be a great week of camp when you start by defining seminary terms!

Missiology is the "study of religious (typically Christian) missions and their methods and purposes," which is great, but it does what my middle school English teacher never allowed us to do - use the root word in the definition. Missiology is great, but what is missions?

Missions is cross-culturally spreading the Gospel.

Okay, so what is the Gospel? The Gospel is the story of God's desire to create and redeem and have relationship with mankind. John Piper, using one sentence, puts it this way: "The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy."

Missions differs from evangelism, in that it is cross-cultural. It is not just sharing the Gospel with your neighbor, who looks just like you and has basically the same language and traditions and experiences. That is evangelism. Missions is going to a different culture, a different people group with their own language, customs, beliefs, traditions, and location.

More to come later...

Iran

In the midst of political turmoil, don't forget to pray for those who are waging the spiritual battles on the ground in Iran. Elam Ministries has been training Iranian pastors and Christians both in and out of Iran for the past thirty years. They report that more Iranians have become Christians since 1979 than in the previous 1300 years combined. Meanwhile, persecution has intensified recently. Two young ladies have been in solitary confinement for the past three months for their witness. While asking for prayer for their release, pastors emphasize praying that all Christians will be faithful during persecution.

Missions Moblization

Here’s how Wesley Tullis, formerly a Director of Prayer Mobilization for Youth With A Mission, helps churches and believers understand mobilization: "Essentially mobilization refers to any process by which God's people are awakened and kept moving and growing until they find their place for strategic involvement in the task of completing world evangelization. Mobilizers are those who channel key resources, training, and vision for world evangelization to the Body of Christ. It has been said, that to improperly appreciate and support the role of the mobilizer is to seriously hinder the functions of the goer, sender, and welcomer." So, mobilization is not exclusively focused on just raising up more cross-cultural missionaries. The ultimate objective is to recruit, train, and connect every believer to their most strategic role in fulfilling the Great Commission—whatever role that may be!

Phil Parshall, missionary and author, described mobilizers this way: "Someone must sound the rallying call. Those who desire to see others trained, prepared and released to ministry are known as mobilizers. Mobilizers stir other Christians to active concern for reaching the world. They coordinate efforts between senders, the local churches, sending agencies, and missionaries on the field. Mobilizers are essential. To understand the role of mobilizers, think of World War II as a parallel. Only 10% of the American population went to the war. Of those, only 1% were actually on the firing lines. However, for them to be successful in their mission, the entire country had to be mobilized!"

From "Mobilization: The Key to World Evangelization" by Steve Shadrach