What will it take to accomplish the mission of the church? What will it cost to realize our purpose as God’s people?
Perhaps we should ask the same question that Justinian von Welz, an Austrian nobleman asked in 1664.
“Is it right that we evangelical Christians spend so much money on expensive clothes, luxuries of food and drink, many unnecessary amusements and expensive habits, but until now have given no thought to spreading the gospel?”
Tags: evangelism, missions
July 9, 2008 at 8:48 am |
Guy- This is a question/statement I put to the girls a lot. Americans have a hard time realizing how good/easy we have it, as a whole. I know we have a large percentage living in poverty, but, as a whole, we all have more than we need. We let all this “stuff’ get in our way of seeing our purpose for God and accomplishing the mission of the church. We let all the sport events, busy schedule, etc. be excuses for what God really wants us to be doing. It comes down to priorities, and I am as guilty as the next person. If we focus on God and spreading the word, then everything else diminishes in it’s worth. Hopefully our next generation will be better at this than ours. Have a good day.
July 9, 2008 at 9:17 am |
Well put Nancy! This is a very simple question to answer, but very difficult to follow through with.
July 9, 2008 at 10:13 am |
Nancy, et. al,
For a fun link that is very sobering:
http://www.globalrichlist.com/
July 9, 2008 at 1:04 pm |
Have we really given it no thought? We who attend church regularly and participate in Bible study, this issue is in front of us often. We also have different offerings for just that purpose. We are just a spoiled lot of folks who need their Starbucks or ??? I am including myself as the we.
Thank you for making me think! I agree it is difficult to follow through with.
July 9, 2008 at 7:52 pm |
I sometimes wonder how much we, as Christians, really believe that our unbelieving friends and family will be judged and spend eternity in Hell. If we honestly acknowledge the fact that those we love will suffer in that way, wouldn’t we do anything to get the message across to them? Wouldn’t we give everything we own so that they come to the saving knowledge of Christ?
Instead of discussing the insignificant things like the weather, we should feel an overwhelming burden to share God’s message with them. But, yet, we continue to pursue our own desires and we continue to carry on shallow conversations that do nothing to bring them closer to salvation.