Missions Mag 1-4

My First Foreign Mission Trip
by Dr. Kevin Harris, Pastor of Poplar Spring Baptist Church, Murray
Foreign missions. For the average American Christian, foreign missions is what
others do. Serving God and serving people in faraway places is something they support
in both prayer and finances without knowing first-hand what it really means to
go on a foreign mission trip.
Until this past June, I was one of those average Americans. I have been
Christian for almost 30 years and have been in ministry for almost as long. I am
currently pastoring my third church in Murray, Kentucky. In all that time, I have
served in local missions to God’s glory. But I had never been overseas to preach
and teach to a people that didn’t understand my language and I didn’t understand
theirs. That changed this year when God led my family and me to serve
in Elblag, Poland. There, located just outside of this small town, is a place called
Marwica. There is a very large mansion that was built in the late 1,700’s and had
been converted into an orphanage, of sorts. Not the kind of orphanage that house
and care for children with no parents, but
rather children who are placed there by authorities
coming from broken and abusive
homes with ages ranging from very young
to older teens. For many of them, they
have never heard the Gospel even though
there is a religion that is prominent and
churches throughout the country (in that
regards, it isn’t much different in America).
Going there taught me much. It taught me
that everyone needs the Gospel. Whether
they are in our own household, next
door, or around the world. It taught me
to teach the Gospel of Christ in its simplest
of form. This may sound simplistic,
but I think that sometimes we tend to
intellectualize the Gospel, even though Jesus
taught us that it is so simple that a child
can understand it.
But I think the greatest lesson I learned
was to love them (and everyone) unconditionally
just as Jesus loves us unconditionally.
For the most part, people do not
care how much you know until they know
how much you care. For children coming
from homes that did not show love or
lacked a genuine love, knowing that they
are loved by our Heavenly Father is vitally
important. But, how were they going to
know unless they saw it in us? John 13:35,
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Please pray for the children at Marwica. Pray for hurt, lonely and abused
children all over the world that they, too, will know the true love of Christ. Pray
for missionaries whether they are local or foreign. Pray about becoming a missionary
to the people around you.
Matthew 28:19-20, “‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age. Amen’.”
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