discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

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245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 186 186 Mobilizing the Local Church Missions Books for Pastors From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya by Ruth Tucker Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper Loving the Church, Blessing the Nations by George Miley Mission on the Way by Charles Van Engen Missions in the Third Millennium by Stan Guthrie Missions in the 21st Century by Tom Telford The New Global Mission by Samuel Escobar The Open Secret by Lesslie Newbigin Operation World by Patrick Johnstone Unveiled at Last! by Bob Sjogren Pastors who become truly mission-minded will model, guide, and lead in at least three ways related to world evangelism. 1. Guiding Congregations into Seeing the Bible as a Missionary Book It is a mistake to allow believers to continue to think that the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 is the only scriptural foundation for mission. As pastors see how replete the Bible is with references to God’s heart for world evangelism, they should begin passionately preaching and teaching until people in their congregations see it as well. While a missions committee or council can do a lot of educating about the status of world mission work, it is the pastor who carries the most weight in pointing out the biblical and theological foundations for global mission. A church that neglects mission will—sooner or later—die out. 8 —Jan A. B. Jongeneel, professor of missions, Utrecht University The richness of material on Christian missions in books like those listed in the “Missions Books for Pastors” sidebar can aid pastors as they search for sermon ideas and illustrations. Mission committees can help both their pastors and their cause by watching for sermon material that relates to global evangelism and passing along that material to their pastor. 2. Helping Congregations See That a Church Is Most Healthy When It Is Passionate About Reaching Lost People Everywhere Unselfish global outreach and a healthy, growing local program often go hand in hand. Occasionally a pastor, not realizing how those two things com-
245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 187 plement each other, will become fearful that a focus on anything other than local ministries weakens a congregation. That was not the case with Harold John Ockenga when he became pastor of Boston’s Park Street Church. At one of his first board meetings, Ockenga asked that church to allow him to challenge church members to give sacrificially in a special offering for world evangelism. At that time, Park Street Church was giving only a tiny fraction of its income to others while struggling to keep its building painted. Although it seemed like the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference church needed every bit of its income just to survive, Ockenga pleaded for it to get out of a survival mind-set. The church board accepted their new pastor’s challenge to make global mission a priority and that decision fueled a transformation of Park Street Church. On the crest of an expanding missionary program that sprouted from Ockenga’s call for a sacrificial missions offering, Park Street Church became a strong and influential church. Today that congregation has a full-time global outreach coordinator and gives twice as much to missions as what it keeps to run its local programs—an amount that, incidentally, has been more than sufficient to keep the church’s building painted! The real problem of foreign missions, then, is the home churches, and without the pastor it cannot be solved. . . . The multitudes of the distant nations cannot come to speak for themselves, even were they conscious of their need. Nor can the missionary do so. The missionary visitor may arouse temporary interest. But it is the missionary pastor who makes a church a missionary power the year through. 9 3. Modeling Mission Passion Mobilizing the Local Church 187 —John R. Mott People respond to what pastors say; they respond even more enthusiastically to what pastors do. Global missions concerns need to be a part of worship service prayer times. During their public pastoral prayers, pastors should pray often for missionaries by name and enthusiastically model for their congregations what it means to passionately support global mission. In the early days of Paul Cunningham’s pastorate of a tiny, struggling church in Olathe, Kansas, he had a vision of his congregation stretching itself to give a record missionary offering. Cunningham, fresh out of seminary, decided he needed to lead the way for his flock. To that end, he got a personal
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discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

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