World evangelization is not only for hyperactive missionaries
Some churches and missionary societies are working assiduously to ensure that the Gospel reaches all over the world. But as far as succeeding, it seems like they have a long way to go.
Far too many of the unreached are still unreached, and billions of people have still not heard about Jesus. Churches are always preaching about the Second Coming of Christ while half of the world hasn’t heard about His first coming.
The project of world evangelization is not only for hyperactive missionaries. It is the purpose of every Christian. Unfortunately, many Christians do not know that we become Christians so that we can be involved in the project of ensuring that everyone created by God hears the saving Gospel of Christ. This has seriously hindered the spread of the Gospel since many Christians are busy carrying out other spiritual assignments without recourse to the mandate of the Great Commission.
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The Great Commission is the instruction of Christ that believers should take the Gospel to the whole world; He was very definite about it. In fact, He gave us the same command five different times in the first five books of the New Testament. The most famous version can be found in the book of Mathew: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mathew 28:28-19).
This is a command; not a suggestion — and it is expected that every Christian obey it. According to Albert Benjamin Simpson, founder of Missionary Alliance, “The Christian is not obedient unless he is doing all in his power to send the Gospel to the heathen world.” Jesus made it clear that the only way that we can prove our love for Him is to obey His commands (John 14:15). If we really claim that we love Christ, we must obey this command by preaching the Gospel everywhere we are. No exceptions.
It is very important to note that many churches and Christian organizations do not have world evangelization in their mission statement and all their activities are localized and nationalized. There are only a few organizations that have their focus on global intervention and the majority of them do not deal with mission organizations outside their countries. These practices have grossly affected world evangelization negatively and the move of the Gospel has been stalled drastically. Shouldn’t every Christian and organization have the world as their field? Jesus made it categorically clear that the world is our field (Mathew 13:38).
A redefinition of our mission statements to include world evangelization will be the right step in the right direction. Even when the capacity to go global is not there, our thoughts and prayers can be with those making efforts in their small global village to ensure that everyone hears the Gospel. Christian foundations and charitable trusts should expand the scope of their grants to reach out to missionaries and organizations working among the unreached people’s groups, irrespective of their locations.
Ultimately, it is the inauguration of the new heavens and new earth we are all looking forward to as Christians. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). All hands should be on deck to ensure that all hear about Jesus. This is our Christian calling. We can do no other.
Oscar Amaechina is the president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network, Abuja, Nigeria. His calling is to take the gospel to where no one has neither preached nor heard about Jesus. He is the author of the book Mystery Of The Cross Revealed.
