Texas pastor Bob Roberts uses this phrase a lot. I’m not sure if it is unique to him or if he is passing it on. I have heard others use it, too. I like it.
Traditionally, we think of the church as sending out missionaries. God raises them up, they are trained, raise support and the church sends them out to plant other churches where there are none. That’s more or less the image that we have. There’s nothing wrong with that scenario, and God will continue to do just that as he has for the past two thousand years. There is, though, a sense in which the entire church serves as the missionary. I want to begin talking about that little by little over the months ahead.
This morning I had a wonderful experience that may help to illustrate what I mean by speaking of the church as a missionary. I was walking around the lobby just before the first service. I turned around and saw a row of four Asian faces looking at me. Two were immediately recognizable. One was Elisha, a student from Japan who is studying at Calvary Bible College and in our Shepherd School of Ministry at the same time. Beside him was his girlfriend, Monica, who is a Chinese-American medical student at UMKC med school. They introduced me to two young ladies who have just arrived a month ago from mainland China.
One of these young ladies in particular spoke wonderful English. As I shook her hand she immediately said sincerely and with a smile, “I’m not yet a Christian, but I have been reading the Bible and am very interested! I am very glad to be here this morning.”
“Doesn’t she speak good English?” Monica asked. “She taught herself by listening to some tapes.”
I asked if they were Mandarin speakers. They were. Monica speaks Cantonese. “You’d better learn how to speak a bit of Chinese,” teased Monica.
“Yes, I suppose I should. With English, Spanish and a wee bit of German, I can’t keep up with the Chinese explosion.” I love being part of a multi-cultural church!
Both of these young women seemed so pleased to be here and so eager to learn the Bible. No one was trying to convince anyone, or trying to sell something. It was all so natural and authentic.
A few minutes later they met another one of our pastors. The articulate one announced proudly, “This is the first time I have been in a REAL church!” They already said they want to come back next week.
As churches we pray to send missionaries to China. That’s great! However, we need to remember that God can use the whole church as a missionary, just as he did this morning. In today’s world, God is bringing the whole world to our neighborhood. All we have to do is be sensitive to what he is doing. As Peruvian missiologist Samuel Escobar has said, this is the era of the the gospel going from everywhere to everywhere.
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Thank you, Pastor Jeff. I thank you for your message on Sunday morning as well. The messaged touched both the Mainland China girls, Elisha and myself. Much thoughtful conversation has sparked from your words. I pray that God would continue to move his Creation through our world-wide Church. I had great hesitation initally about Kansas City (my hometown is very different…), but God has never failed to teach me, to insipire me and to motivate me to keep on learning about His Ways.
Thank you for your diligence in serving Him.
Thank you for your comment, Jeff.
We met them at Conversational English (one of our ministry for international student) the day before yesterday. I found that the lady who speaks English very well was seeking truth from the Bible. She has been reading her Bible alone for 3 months. I asked Monica to talk with her.
Since this blog is public, I’m not sure if I can write about what Monica and they talked after church. But I was so excited about what they shared. They were so excited about your sermon.
The lady kept taking her note from your sermon during service and she whispered to Monica, “I’m so glad to be here today, thank you so much.” I believe that God has already chosen them to be his children.
That lady has met British missionary and Korean missionary in China. And also they went to Chinese church here in KC few times. Many people have sowed the seeds. We might see the fruits at KCBT one day.
Thank you, Jeff.
Thanks so much to both of you for your input! Both of these young ladies were so open about their spiritual journey, I am excited to share that with others. I feel the freedom to do that in a church where we are committed to love them and be their friends even if they were never to follow Jesus. There is no hidden agenda, no strings attached – only loving people unconditionally as God loves us.