1 February 2026
THE CHURCH AND MISSIONS
(Biblical Teachings on The Christian Life.: BTCL 19)
When the NT Apostolic Church was born on the Day of Pentecost, the first activity of the new Church was Evangelism. They went out and preached the Gospel to the crowd that gathered outside and three thousand souls were born again into the Kingdom of God. From that day the believers, filled with the joy and power of the Holy Spirit, kept sharing the Word of God and “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). This is the mission of the Church – to witness for Christ and win souls – beginning at Jerusalem, Judea and then to Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Missions is the calling of the Church. The Great Commission of Christ is her mandate: to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel…and make disciples of all peoples” (Mk 16:15; Matt. 28:19). Missions is the heartbeat of the Church because it is God’s heartbeat. Hence in our Church we give much emphasis to missions, sending out and supporting missionaries. We have a Mission Camp every year and we run several mission trips a year. We are already involved in missionary endeavors all over the world. Praise God for blessing and enabling us to obey our Lord’s Great Commission in sending and supporting missionaries.
When God called Abraham, He made His intention known: “I will bless you and you will be a blessing…and through you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen.12:2-3). God blessed Abraham so that he will bless the nations. This is missions. Similarly, when blesses us, His intention is that we also bless the nations by fulfilling His mission on earth – to preach the Gospel and win souls for His Kingdom. Our blessings are not meant to be kept selfishly to ourselves. Jesus said to His disciples,“Freely you have received, freely give” (Matt.10:8).
Israel’s calling was also for missions. God’s purpose for Israel was to be a “Light to the Gentile nations” (Isa.42:6; 49:6). Through their holy conduct, worship and love they were to show the heathens how blessed and different God’s people are. They were also to preach God’s Word to the nations around then. God also sent prophets Jonah and Daniel to the heathen nations. Today the Church is to do the same. Jesus said that we are to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. People are to be attracted to Christ because they see the difference in our life. It is said that “a heart with Christ is a missionary and a heart without Christ is a mission field”. Every Christian is called be a witness for Christ (Acts 1:8).
The Early Church soon became rather complacent and forgot the Great Commission of Christ. So, the Lord sent persecution and they were thus driven out of Jerusalem and scattered throughout the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. Let us learn a lesson from this. We need to obey the Great Commission of Lord in our daily life and not become complacent, lest He sends persecution or trouble into our life to discipline us. Let us walk in obedience all the time. Let us be Great Commission disciples!
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