The world as it is, with all its sin and suffering, is the mission field the Lord has placed in our care. We can never escape this reality. We must tell people about Jesus.
This was the first response of the Church to the resurrection of Jesus and remains a priority for the Body of Christ today. Imagine if you can, that after the Lord’s resurrection the disciples had chosen to go about their lives practicing good deeds, not telling anyone what had happened. Can you even make sense of such a suggestion?
The hope of the world does not simply lie in the fact that God is with us, enabling us to live lives that reflect His love and grace. The hope of all humanity, of every person we meet on the street, lies in the great deed that God himself performed once and for all through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is the primary message of the Church. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus new life is possible; our sins are forgiven and we begin to be renewed; in Him we receive a new life, not only a repaired life. And most of all we are given the great gift of eternal life, starting right now.
This is good news, now. This is repeatable news, every day. This is headline news for somebody, today!
So how did the first disciples respond to the resurrection of Jesus? With a lot of coming and going and a whole lot of telling! The women at the tomb early that first morning; the disciples rushing to see the empty tomb; the two who encountered the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus — every one of them ran to tell the others, “It is true! The Lord has risen!” This was most significant and people needed to hear about it.
As the years went by, believers continued to tell the story of Christ, urgently and passionately. They understood that, for those who have never heard, the work of Jesus on the cross is brand new news and it is vital that everyone hears about it. The missionary work of the Church with its urgency, was established on this foundation.
The death and resurrection of Jesus establish, in the most absolute way, that His sacrifice on behalf of lost and sinful humanity has been fully accepted by God, once and for all.
God loves people and He calls His Church to tell the whole world about His marvelous deed in and through Jesus Christ.
May He fill us with an urgency to tell as many as we can about Jesus our Saviour. Keeping this a priority is the most important thing we can do for the mission field in our care.
BY JACQUELINE DUGAS VICE PRESIDENT, EVERY HOME FOR CHRIST INTERNATIONAL/CANADA