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What is Christian Missions?
Answer: Christian missions is following Christ’s call: sharing the
Gospel with the lost world through God’s wisdom and strength.
Christian missions is obeying Christ
After Christ’s death and
resurrection, He commanded the
disciples to share the Gospel, the message of His redemption. "Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Matthew
28:19-20).
This Great Commission applies to Christians today. Rather than a burden, obeying
His call brings joy and reward in heaven. We should fulfill our mission not out
of duty but love: “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this,
that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who
live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again
on their behalf. . . . Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to
Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation”
(2
Corinthians 5:14-21).
God could convert everyone using
a blinding light and the voice of Christ as He did with the apostle Paul.
Instead, He gives Christians the mission
of reconciliation (Acts
1:8-9). He works through us,
calling sinners to turn to Christ in repentance and faith.
Christian missions is sharing Christ
Our mission is proclaiming Christ as the only way to abundant, eternal life.
Whom do we tell? Jesus made it clear that Christians are to reach out to “all
the nations” (Matthew
28:19). Instead of countries, he was referring to people groups, those
ethnic cultures without a Gospel witness.
Christian missions, however, is not
limited to overseas ministry. While believers should faithfully support those
who go to the unreached, all Christians have the mission to share Christ on the
home field with family, friends, coworkers, and the community.
The Christian mission of sharing Christ does not end with a sinner’s salvation.
The commission was to make disciples
– not immature believers. Thus, Christian missions involves not only evangelism
but also discipleship.
Christian missions is relying on Christ
Sharing the Gospel humbly, boldly, and passionately is our Christian mission.
But we cannot do it alone. While our mission is sharing Christ, the power and
results come from the Lord. He gives us the wisdom, strength, and desire to
witness! Through our witness, He works repentance and faith in the sinner’s
heart (2
Corinthians 5:20-21).
Although it is God's work, Christians are responsible to understand the Gospel
and have a strong relationship with Christ. Such a relationship guards them from
hypocrisy. “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to
make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is
in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in
the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in
Christ may be put to shame. (1
Peter 3:15-16). Jesus assured that suffering would accompany missions, but
God uses it for good.
In sum, Christian missions is obeying Christ, sharing Christ, and
relying on Christ. Specifically, God sends missionaries through the support of
the church to the unreached. All
Christians, however, have the
mission of reconciliation. The Lord works through them to rescue the
lost. What greater mission can one answer?
Source:
http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-missions.html
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Acts 1:8-9 (King James Version)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A8-9&version=9
8But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost part of the earth.
9And when he
had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud
received him out of their sight.
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