Do you stand in the gap or jump on the bridge? (link) Throughout my Christian life I have believed our efforts to send missionaries and to share Jesus is standing in the gap of faith. There is a chasm as large as the Grand Canyon between our rejoicing over lost souls who come to Jesus and lost souls we've yet to reach. Our efforts seem so futile in the growing secularization of the world. Some churches seem satisfied to stay the same size and merely disciple those who attend their weekly assemblies. They find their mission is to simply learn more and more about Scripture and get deeper and deeper personal understanding of the Father and His Sovereign nature. Knowledge to them is everything. Without knowledge, there is no understanding of one's faith and beliefs, so when there is no understanding and knowledge, there is no direction. Basically, the church feeds itself and starves the world of Jesus.
Many Christians find the need to reach beyond their walls; they believe in going into all the earth to share the gospel message. However, their church is but one church with only a few who can go and set up missionary assistance a few weeks out of a year. So as well as going themselves, they take up offerings and send money to a missionary well of sorts. This well is used to support the daily, yearly, consistent work of missionaries around the world.
This is the time of year that Southern Baptists emphasize the Annie Armstrong Offering. Every dime of money collected is sent to the North American Mission Board (NAMB), to help those missionaries who are serving in America and Canada. They use the money to plant new churches, build buildings, purchase literature, and meet crucial outreach needs. This offering in particular makes the difference between having a gospel-centered, Bible-focused church in a community and churches that teach unorthodox doctrines. For me, the offering is a bit more personal.
You see, years ago that offering gave birth to a little New England church that grew and eventually shared God's love with me and my family, then provided the environment to hear the Gospel, to respond to the Gospel, and grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Without that offering, I wonder how I ever would have come to Jesus--given all the facts surrounding my circumstances. No other church in the area reached out to me or made the effort to share Jesus with me. No other church loved me in my unloveliness...my selfishness, brokenness and sin. One church even rejected me upon my arrival in New England. But that's another story.
As important as that offering was to the planting and building of that church, so were the prayers of God's people. It was through the call for ministers to come to New England that a dear man of God, Charles Conley, heard God's voice to give up his pastorate in Mississippi and go work in New England in that tiny little church meeting in the YMCA. He was teaching about New England's need for missionaries when he said God laid on his heart that someone from his church was being called to go and help. After prayer and discussion with his wife, he surrendered to that call and went to East Hartford, Connecticut. He served in the National Guard in order to supplement his income to raise five children. He labored for the Lord for several years in Connecticut before going back to his home in Tennessee to help care for his aging parents and become the DOM in his area of Whitwell, Tennessee. Charles Conley's heart for missions knew no bounds. He constantly emphasized missions. He preached about Paul's missionary journeys and he led people in his church to surrender to missions and ministry. His wife was the Director of women's missions in New England and traveled throughout the six states setting up missions groups of all ages. In my short stay under Charles Conley, I participated in worship times to encourage plants in surrounding cities and held VBS in my back yard. Conley encouraged us to join in lay-led renewals in New York, Massachusetts, and other parts of Connecticut.
It was during those times that my husband, a precision gage-maker, heard God's call to ministry. The response to his testimony of coming to Jesus late in life, was overwhelming. Through much prayer, my husband surrendered to Christ to go to Boyce Bible School in Louisville, Kentucky with the idea of returning to New England and entering some kind of full-time or bi-vocational ministry. Little did he know that God would keep him in Kentucky for his entire ministry. Through the years in Kentucky, we taught hundreds of people about Jesus. We taught them of His love, His goodness, His mercy, forgiveness, sacrifice and redeeming power. I have no idea how many people came to know Jesus through our leadership. Only God knows. You see, I often hear from members of our churches--youth who've gone on to take up the mantle of leadership as preachers, deacons, Sunday School Teachers, Music ministers, College ministers, Worship leaders and more. We even hear of those youth's own children going into ministries. For this I can praise the Lord and give glory to His name for all He has done. However....
I also cry. I cry because so much of what I was taught about standing in the gap of faith is considered less important these days. Going, reaching, sharing, ministering to the lost is not as important to some as staying, teaching, and ministering to the saved. Is this really what Jesus meant by going into all the world to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them all He taught us? Is that what our churches have come to?
"From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed." Isaiah 24:16
Do we betray His name when we dine on His Word and do not share it with those around us?Do we stand in the congregations and praise the Righteous One and fail to understand the importance of the "fields white unto harvest?" Do we coddle and cuddle those in the arms of God and ignore those sheep who've gone astray, and that one who is lost without a Shepherd's comfort? If so, woe is me. (to be continued) selahV