September 1997
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The last week of September marks this years Mission's Conference. This is always a special week for me. Not only do I enjoy meeting the Missionaries, finding out about their countries, and discussing practices and problems on the field, but it is also a time when God challenges me with my responsibility in world evangelism.
I have been called to be an ambassador for Christ, and have been given by God the ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:18-20). This was not bestowed upon me because I am a Bible college graduate, or because I have been ordained into the ministry, but rather it has been given to me as a child of God. As one who has received the greatest gift ever given: the remission of sins, I should want to share this glorious message with everyone that I can.
God has called each of us to "preach the gospel to every creature"
(Mark 16:15). Of course, none of us will ever have access to all the people of the world. So, how do we fulfill this command? First of all, we as believers need to be faithful to present the message of salvation whenever we can. Obviously, the best opportunity is to speak directly with an individual. This way, you can answer questions, explain verses completely, and make sure that the person understands. However, Christ can be presented through a tract. One of the reasons that we have chosen to use John/Romans for Operation Outreach is that we are putting the "quick and powerful" Word of God into the hands of people. It is a marked edition, which directs people to passages that deal with salvation. By these means, we can see to it that everyone in our community hears the message that Christ died on the cross to save them from sin. The decision to respond is between them and God; the responsibility to go is up to us.
What shall we do then about the unsaved world outside of our
Jerusalem? It is here that we function as a body of believers and work
together as a local church to evangelize across the globe. By praying, and pooling our resources, we can send Missionaries throughout the
continents proclaiming the Gospel. We can commission our own to go out and plant churches that will in turn send out Nationals to work with
their own people. My prayer is that Court Street Baptist Church will be blessed of God to be allowed to send forth many of its own into the harvest field. I pray that we will continue to expand our missions program, both by increasing the number of missionaries we support, and by increasing our support to the missionaries we already have. I would love to see the day when this church supports a missionary in every country of the world. My immediate goal is to at least support one missionary in each inhabited time zone of the world, so that the sun will never set on our mission's program.
As the conference approaches, be much in prayer about your role, and our church's roll, in world evangelism. Then, when God speaks, lets trust Him and obey.
Your Pastor,
Mark J. Montgomery
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