“The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world.”*
An Incredible Jesus
The Bible records an incredible Jesus. Never is there any indication that He missed an opportunity to minister to the hopeless. In Matthew 8 and 9 we are given a two-day glimpse of Jesus’ schedule, His side trips, the vast diversity of His ministry, and His strong passion for building the kingdom.
Having delivered His longest sermon, Jesus navigates down the mountain through a crowd desperate for hope. Jesus, not missing one person, inches toward the city of Capernaum. En route a leper asks if He would be willing to heal him. The words “I am willing” pierce the air, and the man instantly begins a new life.
Jesus enters the city and finds a Roman officer begging for his servant’s life. I can hear Jesus telling Peter, “I’ll be at your house shortly, but first I will go with this centurion.”
“No, not necessary,” cries the Roman. “Just say the word.” Instantly Jesus inserts into His day a sermonette commending such faith and chastising the faithless Jews. Then Christ utters to the centurion life-changing words that should echo in the ears of today’s mission generation: “Go your way; and as you have believed, solet it be done for you” (Matt. 8:13).
Finally Jesus enters Peter’s home and finds death lingering nearby. But death has no power when the Life-giver is present. He heals Peter’s mother-in-law and works far into the night, ministering to desperate people.
A Great Storm
Looking about, Jesus still sees a great multitude. But divine foreknowledge tells Jesus He has missionaries to commission beyond the lake. He commands the disciples to leave immediately. Walking to the boat, He debunks the insincerity of those who claim they will follow Him but are so embroiled in the affairs of this world that their urgency and conviction fade.
Halfway across the lake a great storm unleashes its fury, and Jesus is awakened to calm the wind and sea, but, more important, to restore sinking faith.
I can hear Jesus joyfully say, upon arriving, “There are the missionaries I am to commission.” In shock, the disciples see two dirty, dangerous, wild, devil-possessed lunatics streaming down the hill. Jesus heals the two, sends the demons into a herd of pigs, and sends His new missionaries to tell the world about the kingdom. He then rebuffs the grumpy, self-serving hometown crowd and travels back to Capernaum.
There He teaches the temple scribes a lesson on forgiving sins. He forgives the sins of a man with palsy, and to make sure the scribes get the point that He is able to forgive sins, He heals the man before their very eyes.
En route to the city Jesus stops long enough to call Matthew to the ministry with the shortest evangelism appeal on record: “Follow Me.” Without a word Matthew follows Him.
Soon after, Jesus eats with publicans and sinners invited by Matthew, and kindly rebuffs the disciples of John the Baptist when they question His banqueting while they are fasting.
Jesus then leaves the dinner to resurrect the dead daughter of a temple ruler. On this errand of mercy He has to endure mockery over His describing death as sleep. But even before arriving at the ruler’s house, He embraces the faith of a woman who touches His garment and is instantly healed. On the way home He heals two blind men and a dumb man by casting a demon out of him.
In these and many other examples, Jesus worked to reach people with urgency.
For Christians, involvement in God’s mission and experiencing personal transformation while being in but not of this world is not optional.
There is a temptation to avoid such involvement and create a definition of mission that keeps you comfortable. Only Holy Spirit-inspired prayer and sacrifice, however, can truly move mission forward. Avoidance of such will not be found in the mission landscape of the church. Challenges are, of course, expected, but one can choose to see them as barriers or as opportunities.
For Christians, involvement in God’s mission and experiencing personal transformation while being in but not of this world is not optional.
The Opportunities
With 23 million members in a world of more than 8 billion people, how can we miss missionally responding to such diversity? In the world today, 26 percent are Muslim, 16 percent are atheist, 15 percent are Hindu, 7 percent are Buddhist, and 4 percent are animist. That’s more than 5 billion non-Christians. Nearly 50 percent of the world’s population is below the poverty line. There are more than 7,000 languages and at least 4,000 separate cultures worldwide.
In 1800 more than 95 percent of the world’s population lived in rural areas, but now more than 55 percent live in urban areas, with 68 percent projected by 2050.
More than 40 percent of the world is younger than 24; nearly 50 percent is between 25 and 64 years old, and 10 percent is older than 64.
Of approximately 230 self-governing entities, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has a presence in all but 17 of them. Inside those numbers, however, lies good news and opportunity news.
Nearly 70 percent of the world lives inside the 10/40 window, a territory between 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator, stretching from Spain and Morocco to Japan. Inside that window live the great populations of other world religions, but only 12 percent of all Adventists. It’s impossible to miss the harvest field!
Standing in Line
If the population of each country were to stand in a line and every second, one person were to pass by, how long would it take for a Seventh-day Adventist to walk by? In the Philippines, an Adventist would walk by every 10.9 seconds. In Papua New Guinea, it would take only 5.9 seconds. And on Pitcairn Island, nearly two would pass by every second.
There are other territories, however, where worry wrinkles dominate the mission landscape. In the city of Kolkata, India, it would take 7.5 days to see the first Adventist. In Iran it would take 84.5 days, and 295.7 days in North Korea.
In this article I can parade what I might hope would divinely inspire, shake, and awaken mission urgency in the membership of the church. Mission urgency is present, but the question is: Am I part of it?
Thankfully, the Bible is packed with “go ye” statements: “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached” (Matt. 24:14) (instruction); “teach,” “baptize,” “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6) (appeals); “Who shall I send?” “Here am I! Send me” (Isa. 6:8) (questions and answers); “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Isa. 40:3) (commands); and “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’ ” (John 1:23) (testimonies).
I love the divine instruction, but I am not sure it’s the only motivator for mission. From eternity past to eternity future, Jesus’ life will stand as the greatest motivational example of mission urgency, mission passion, and mission refocus, as we have seen by sampling just two days of His ministry.
Urgency and Mission Refocus
As we contemplate the degree of our urgency to build the kingdom, practice compassion, attend evangelism meetings, check the oil in our lamps, and throw off the bushel darkening our candles, do we come anywhere near understanding the passion and urgency of Christ’s ministry? Impossibilities do not change God’s instructions. Holy Spirit power makes the mission possible and moves it forward.
In our sixteenth year of mission service my wife and I will never forget hearing the announcement at the 1990 General Conference Session that, for the first time, the worldwide church was establishing one new church per day. We were thrilled!
Today the church has radically increased its refocus on mission. Prayer, sacrifice, and mission are blazing on the front burner of the church.
Here are a few examples:
1. In 2023 Global Mission reported that a new church is planted every 2.97 hours!
2. Global Mission, following Ellen White’s instruction, works in partnership to establish hundreds of urban centers of influence scattered throughout the massive cities of the 10/40 window.
3. The Great Controversy Project 2.0 digital advertisement initiative now reports more than 10,000 English-speaking people a day responding to digital ads, downloading The Great Controversy, and taking Bible studies.
4. Global Bible School, a new Publishing Ministries and Sabbath School/Personal Ministries initiative in partnership with Adventist World Radio, is expecting to generate millions of Bible study interests in numerous languages during the coming months.
Courage! God’s church will not fail! The signs of the times tell us that the Holy Spirit’s earthquake of hope is shaking the world.
Are you in, or are you out?
* Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 9.
