An American family has spent the last twenty-five years dedicated to spreading the Gospel to all parts of Southeast Asia. Larry and MC LeGrande and their five children work for and help PIONEERS, a missions agency founded in 1979. For many years “Pioneers has been one of the fastest growing mission organizations in North America.” “www.pioneers.org”. The LeGrandes, through the Pioneer organization, have been serving the people of Southeast Asia by training missionaries as well as working as missionaries in Southeast Asia. God’s call to the Pioneers missionary agency in Vietnam is to lead people to Jesus Christ.
In order to understand God’s call to missions, we must first explore the topic of missions. A missionary is a person who is called by God to spread the Gospel. I interviewed Larry LeGrande, a missionary with Pioneers, concerning the challenges of being a missionary. He shared with me that “leaving his home as well as his children to go to Southeast Asia is very difficult.” Larry also indicated that “leaving Southeast Asia to return ho...
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
First, Sweeney provides an overview of American evangelicalism that is brief and balance. This is demonstrated by his broad yet comprehensive writing style and selection of chapter themes. Next, Sweeney’s inclusive approach provides the reader not only with the history of the more famed evangelicals, but also acknowledges the influences Pentecostals, charismatics, women and black leaders of the movement. Additionally, he is not afraid to highlight many of the shortcomings within the movement. In fact, “he confronts the American imperialism and “cultural chauvinism” that often accompanied mission in the nineteenth century (98) as well as the unfortunate embrace of slavery and racism by some evangelicals.” Lastly, chapter four contains a good summary of the development of modern missions movement. To his credit, Sweeney includes within this summary several trailblazing women in the rise of evangelical missions and affirms that women “worked more freely with internationals abroad than they could minister to Americans at home.” Moreover, he discusses criticism concerning “contextualization” and offers a couple of perspectives on the demographic trends of evangelical
The missionary expansion and their work within different nations is a dilemma of well intentions versus prosperity and power. Many missionaries remained out of politics and out of local culture and only served the communities for the better. They increased educational opportunities and provided medical care; most importantly they served to ensure the communities could actively participate in the international community. While the government and businesses reaped the rewards of increased prosperity and power, these rewards were in many ways not the purpose of missionary expansion but merely an outcome.
Reverend Josiah Strong's Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis inspired missionaries to travel to foreign nations.
I grew up in a home with a family that attend church weekly and was active in the church family. I knew about God and about His son but I never remember the story of salvation and the personal need for a savoir. As a teenager I walked away from the religion that I thought did not offer my anything. In my thirties, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started my negotiations with God. Little did I know that He was not a negotiator but it was during this time in my life that I needed God more than He needed me. Since accepting the gift of God’s love, the salvation of a Savoir, and the renovation of my heart, I look to God for the path of my life. I share Gods truth through my career change to a Christian nob-profit that’s vision is to share God’s love to the community through the platform of pregnancy care and family services. Personally I have fulfilled God’s call to help the less fortunate by adopting a sibling group and participating and supporting mission trips to third world countries to support his children and missions there. My final piece of God’s plan I feel lead to complete is to volunteer my professional expertise and finances to work with a mission group that provides laboratory services to third world mission hospitals. I have done one trip for them and am currently planning a trip to Honduras in the new year. My day to
In the bible we see that one of the first well-known missionaries was the Apostle Paul. Even though we see that Paul had background work in taking care of or killing those who did not share the same mind set as he did, he did however experience a life changing moment where he was able see the importance of acceptance and bringing Christianity into ones own identity. The work of the Apostle Paul was given by God to serve all people and share with them God’s grace and message through Jesus Christ. 3 This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for[a] Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given me for you,.” Paul traveled to many places and was known for sharing the...
I spent every spring and summer in middle school doing mission work and community service. I loved the opportunity that it gave me to build relationships and share my beliefs with people I didn’t know. Little did I know that this would pave the way for a life-changing experience that I would encounter one day. Each spring my church would host a missionary event called “The Ignite Project.” I felt an urge to join the group, recognizing that it was a calling to profess my faith in Jesus. These mission trips helped me to go out
“The call is something that is an indescribable joy and an indefinable burden at the same time.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 32). There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a congregation of the redeemed moving forward in their faith. However exciting this may be, it is usually not the thrill that propels the pastor in his service. It is the burden placed on the pastor by God that compels him in his work. The pastor understands that he is largely responsible for the work of God being accomplished by his faithfulness to his calling. “All through the Word of God and down through the annals of history, when God has moved it has almost always been attended by the preaching of the Word.” (Bryant and Brunson 2007, 31)
Tennent, Timothy C. 2010. Invitation To World Missions. 1st ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
I believe one does mission everyday, everywhere, specially at this time of globalization, when technology is placing people closer and closer one from another. As Bonino said, theology and spreading the Gospel is not an intellectual exercise only, is a day-by-day involvement. For instance, here in the United States, there are protestant people from all over the world, and the immigrants like me are forced to think
When Christy was 16 years old, she went to a church camp with other young adults and teens. While she was there, altar-calls were made daily for the kids to go up and give their lives to God and to missions. On the last night, Christy sat in the very back, knowing that the push for missions would be stronger than ever. She sat back there and bowed her head and prayed and before she knew it she was up front, giving her life to Jesus and His calling to missions. To this day, her and her friends don't know how she got up to the front. None of them remember her walking across the room and none of them saw her do it. But even then, Christy still didn't think of doing missions for her whole life. She told me, "I made a deal with God that I would go on a short-term mission and then I would be done with missions altogether." Of course,
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
For the past two summers I have traveled to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico to work with Spectrum Ministries Inc., serve the city’s people, and share with them the love of Jesus Christ. The summation of people I’ve met, experiences I’ve had, and lessons I’ve been taught has allowed the city a permanent spot in my heart. Going on these mission trips require leaving my family and friends for weeks, leaping out of my comfort zone, and allowing myself to be stretch physically, mentally, and spiritually. In hindsight, giving up the amenities that I have grown so accustomed to having was a minute price to pay for the abundant reward I found in looking into the eyes and hearts of the people of Tijuana.
“Jesus said to them again, ‘...as the Father has sent me I also send you’” -John 20:21. This verse shows us Christ’s will for Christians to proclaim His Father’s word. But why would mission work be so important that the Holy One Himself would feel the need to implore Christians on His Father’s behalf to go forth and teach as Christ himself taught? The answer is simple, not encoded within the context of vague scriptures. In 1 John 2:2 the Bible says, “He himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only, but also for the whole world”. With this logic it stands to reason that mission work is a necessity, for if our sins have been acquitted does it not also mean that we ourselves should share this way of miraculous salvation with those who need salvation that much more than we do? Throughout this essay we will delve deeper into the purpose of missions and God’s intent for missions. We will also take a look at one specific mission agency’s goal, purpose, and mission. Then to conclude we will view the results of the Gospel within North Africa, and challenges that missionaries face when among the inhabitants of the countries who are hostile to the teachings of the Gospel.
Parents should teach their children to have a missionary spirit. They should mold their children’s mind to interest in the work of God. It is important for the parents to shape their children’s interest toward the spreading of the Gospel. Let us see the counsel: