"He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.'" Mark 16:15
It's pretty exciting to hear stories about mission trips. I love the Sundays at Central when we have mission reports from Ghana and India, two countries where we have invested in a sustained, visible presence. It's always fun to see pictures on Facebook and read the updates from the missionaries whose "lives are changed forever" by the experience they have had sharing the Gospel with total strangers half a world away. I especially love the pictures of the little children in the Vacation Bible Schools that typically are hosted by mission teams. There's nothing like those big smiles, great big hugs, and happy faces that just melt your heart.
Typically, foreign mission work involves building and improving structures such as homes, schools, and churches. Many times, people from many different churches and congregations work together to support foreign mission work. Often, there are medical teams who go and help people get the health care and medicines they need. Many times, job training and life skill classes are offered free of charge. Almost always, there are community meals hosted by the mission team and social gatherings to fellowship with the brothers and sisters in the local area. And, those Vacation Bible Schools are a great way to get kids excited about learning about Jesus.
I love this photo of our minister, Bill Perkins, and his new friend he met on his recent trip to Ghana.
The culmination of most mission trips almost always includes a large number of people gathering around a body of water to pray, repent, and be baptized into Christ. I love the pictures of the faces of people just as they come up from the water, fresh with the tears of grace, alive with the smiles of redemption.
I have never traveled to Ghana, India, Mexico or Ecuador, but I have prayed fervently for my dear friends who have. I love to hear their stories. I also pray that if it is God's will, that I will be able to go on one of these trips one day when my children are a little older. I would love to go together as a family and experience the joy of being an instrument of God's peace together with my husband and children. I can't wait for that experience.
In the meantime, am I excused from "going unto all the world" because I have young children and a busy job? I don't think so. I can "go unto all the world" across the street to my neighbors who don't attend church regularly. I can also "go unto all the wold" across town to help the children in a local school where 80% of the children are on a free or reduced lunch schedule. How about we "go unto all the world" in the local federal housing project, where there are dozens of kids living in poverty who need someone to inspire them to to work hard in school, love Jesus, and each other?
Mission Athens is all about "going unto all the world" right here in Athens, AL. It is astonishing to sit and ponder how many people we may meet in our daily lives who desperately need us as Christians to build and improve structures such as homes, schools and churches. These same people need help finding safe and affordable health care. The are yearning for someone to help them with job and life skills, parenting classes, etc. They would enjoy community meals and fellowship, and what kid wouldn't have fun at a good Vacation Bible School?
It is so easy for us to get excited, to write checks, to pray for our friends who are traveling across the globe to share the love of Jesus. It is much harder to get excited, to write checks, and to pray for our friends who are ministering to the "least of these" right here at home. You see, often our judgement clouds our mercy, and we cannot see the soul for the sinner.
When we are helping people here at home, we are faced with questions like, "How did this person get themselves into this mess?" "Do they not have a family to help them?" "Shouldn't the government pay for their bills? I already pay taxes to support the needy." "Why don't they just get a job?" "I don't know how I feel about us working with people from THAT church. What will people say about us in the newspaper this time?"
I don't think I have ever heard anyone ask these same questions about families living in Ghana, India, Mexico or Ecuador. I'm not saying these questions aren't valid. They are, and that is why we do background screening and often say no to people who we believe may be abusing our offers of help. But, for every one that is a "bad apple," there are ten who are desperate for someone, anyone, to care enough to lend a helping hand. They hear so-called Christians brag about how God has blessed them, yet these same people look away instead of jumping in to feed these children, love these widows, pray for these sick. And, do you think a family on the brink of disaster cares a bit about petty theological differences between churches? Think again.
Just this week, we have met two young mothers who cannot pay their bills or feed their kids. As my family gets excited about the summer, these families are facing big summer problems like how to replace the meals provided by school and how to afford childcare if and when they finally find a decent job. We have also met a mentally disabled woman whose house was robbed, and she lost all that she had. She has no family who will help her, and is living with her boss who took her in because she is such a hard worker at the fast food restaurant. A few weeks ago, we helped an elderly woman get emergency medical care that she desperately needed.
These souls sound an awful lot like the souls we meet in Ghana, India, and around the world. People who are piecing together meals, shelter, clothing, and security for their families. People who need medical care. Sinners who have souls. Souls that need to be loved. Souls that need to be saved.
This is one of my favorite Mission Athens photos as we delivered food boxes to our friends who needed a little extra help last Christmas.
Can you see the similarities in these two pictures? A hug, a smile, a helping hand. It is wonderful when we can share these gifts with strangers around the world. It is also wonderful when we share them with our neighbors right here at home.
So, my friends, my challenge to myself and to all of you is to get excited about Mission Athens. Go unto all the world by going across the street. Share the gospel. Live a missions-oriented life every day. Pray for the Mission Athens team, that we would not grow weary or become overwhelmed by the tremendous needs all around us, but that we would have the same zeal and passion we see from mission teams returning from their trips around the world.
Pray that God would open our eyes to opportunities to create a sustained, visible presence in the parts of town where His love is not so obvious. Pray that we can find ways to work together with other churches to reach the lost. Pray that we would share our abundant blessings of time, concern, patience, kindness, smiles, hugs, food, and money with people right here in our town who need these gifts of love. Pray that we would have a sense of urgency, that we can ignite a fire of compassion within our local community, to care as much for these "least of these" all around us as we would for our own families. Pray that God would change our lives as we are working to change the lives of those in need.
Pray that our eyes, minds, and hearts will be opened and full of grace and that we would be quicker to jump in than to judge.
Pray that we could take our own pictures right here in Athens as we gather together around a body of water. Pray that our hearts would be moved as we watch new souls being baptized into Christ, while we wipe the tears of grace from our own faces, fresh and renewed once again with the hope of redemption.
