Editor's note:
Mission is what God commands us to do. It is very important to the development of Christianity in China over the past 2000 years. Along with the revival and growth of China's church in the past 30 years, mission has never ended.
A China for Mission has become the dream of many people. We shall think about and explore how to build China into a large missionary country in the world.
The CCD published an article Keeping an Wary eye on the Great Leap forward of Evangelism in China. The author talked about his ideas of mission. Then we also published some comments of pastors and fellow workers who have read the article. We think that more attention to mission of China is good for the development and evangelism of churches in China.
This article is from a pastor of a family church. He has many ideas of the transformation of churches nowadays. He sent us the outlines of his speeches calling for the update of the church. The outlines conclude his feelings after reading the journey of apostles.
Below is his content:
Apostles used to only evangelize in Jerusalem while God commanded them to spread gospel in other regions. He thinks that churches in China today are facing the same situation with apostles. We shall strengthen the understanding of cross-cultural mission and try to command the law of evangelism.
Jesus came in and said to apostles: "Authority in heaven and on the earth has been given to me. So you are going to make all citizens be my disciple and baptize them in the name of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. If you teach them to observe all that I commanded you, I shall be with you until the end of the world." (Matthew 28)
Apostles gathered together with Jesus. He said: "Don't leave Jerusalem and wait for my command. When the Holy Spirit falls on your body, you have to be my witness in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the earth pole."
We can see that the area of mission is constantly expanding. Jerusalem is the original region of evangelism and culture. Judea is close to Jerusalem and has the same culture; Samaria is close to Jerusalem but the culture is different; the pole of the earth is a remote area with different culture. Why apostles at that time didn't want to leave Jerusalem?
The reasons can be seen in some chapters of Bible. The first chapter is filled with the Holy Spirit; In the second chapter the church revived and received three thousand new believers. In the third chapter Peter offered medical help to a lame man. The fourth chapter said that another five thousand believers joined the church. In the fifth chapter Peter's shadow fell on the patients and their diseases were all cured.
At that time, the apostles were drunk with the rejuvenation of the church. We Christians often feel more satisfied and safe in the church compared with other places. However, what happened next?
In the sixth chapter problems appeared inside the church. The seventh chapter said that Stephen was martyred for God. In the eighth chapter apostles in the church were forced to disperse everywhere. Then some apostles went to Judea and Samaria.
Why apostles didn't want to leave Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the center of religion. The place is where the holy temple is located. Jesus used to live here. He was also nailed to death and revived here. Jerusalem was so meaningful to apostles! It was natural that they didn't want to leave. However, always staying in Jerusalem goes against God's mission. The church didn't arrange them to leave. They were forced to do that.
Peter was praying on the roof when all sorts of beasts, insects and birds fell down. A voice said: " Peter, eat them". Peter said that he had never eaten secular or dirty things. The voice then said these things were not secular because God regard them as clean.
Peter didn't know what the incident meant. Afterwards he realized that God was letting him spread gospel to foreign countries and regions.
Peter was invited to evangelize in Cornelius' home. He saw the Holy Spirit falling on those who were listening to him. Peter thought: "These people are the same to us. Who can ban them from being baptized?"
It is an important adjustment of Peter's original notions. However, Judah said that apostles were not familiar with the outside world. They thought that evangelism in other areas might cause conflicts. They wonder if people in other regions would accept Jesus? Will God love them, too?
We live with personal experience and knowledge just like apostles. We think that nothing is more important than praying and sermons. What on earth is the most important job in the church?
Jesus gave his answer: "A man used to leave Jerusalem for Jericho. He fell in the hands of robbers. They stripped his clothes and beat him to death. A pastor walked past and left. A Levite passing by also ignored the poor man."
"The main job of a pastor was praying. The Levite was responsible for preaching God's words. They thought they couldn't miss their job in order to save a dying man. They thought others would save him."
In the eyes of God, saving people's lives is more important than any other job. Mission is just the job of saving people!
So no job in the church can compare with mission.
Bibles says that those apostles who suffered from Stephen's martyrdom scattered to Phoenicia and Antioch. They preached to nobody except Judah. This shows that some apostles' ideas were not changed. Some Jews thought people in other regions must observe the law and be circumcised.
As a result, the apostles held a meeting in Jerusalem. Some Jews said: "If you are not circumcised according to the regulations of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Paul and Barnabas didn't agree with them. Apostles then determined that Paul and Barnabas should go to Jerusalem to ask other disciples' and elders' advice.
Peter talked about his experience in other areas, proving that other people could truly believe in God after listening to gospel.
"They had no difference with us. We don't need to go to Jerusalem." Peter said.
After the meeting in Jerusalem, the members in the original church truly understood God's ideas. We hope that nowadays our ideas of mission will be updated, too. No matter how fast our pace of mission is, we could never catch up with God's steps.
" You thought that there are still four months before harvest. I tell you that all crops are already mature."John 4:35.
