Why does Faith Bible Church send and support missionaries? Why do we have a ministry to refugees living in Spokane, and why is there a Nepali-speaking congregation (started by people from FBC) meeting in our building each week? Why is FBC hosting the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course again this year? We know from Scripture that without faith in Jesus Christ, people will spend eternity separated from God. We know that more than 1,200 people groups worldwide, some with representatives right here in Spokane, have few, if any, believers and no church. Many have never heard the Gospel even once and have no access to a Christian who might tell them. The need can, and should, motivate us, but there is a much more important motivation at the core. It is also clear in the Bible that we are commanded to make disciples from among every ethnic group (Mt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; etc.). As John Piper has said, “There are three kinds of Christians: goers, senders, and the disobedient.” Obedience is vitally important in the life of the believer, but there is a still more powerful motive: Jesus deserves all honor, praise and glory among all people groups. He paid the ransom for the nations (Rev. 5:9-14) and deserves to receive what he paid for!
He paid the ransom for the nations (Rev. 5:9-14) and deserves to receive what he paid for!
This is why the Global Outreach team at FBC (formerly called the missions committee) strives to represent the congregation well as we “send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God” (3 John 1:6 — see verses 5-8 for context). But we have a “problem.” The Holy Spirit, working through the biblical teaching of Faith Bible Church, has raised up a number of young (and some not-so-young) people, couples and singles, who desire to be sent out by FBC in “a manner worthy of God.” Some are ready to go now, others are in preparation/training and will be ready within the next 2-3 years. Why is this a problem? At the moment, we don’t have the resources to send them. Will you pray with us as we seek wisdom from the Lord to meet this exciting challenge? How should you pray? As a suggestion and starting point, I commend the following prayer, written by my friend Jason DeRouchie, Professor of Old Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, MN (used by permission).
A Poem by Jason S. DeRouchie / Originally Published at jasonderouchie.com / February 3, 2018
O Christ, we declare this day that apart from you we can do nothing (John 15:5) but that with you all things are possible (Mark 10:27). You are stronger than the evil power that is working in all 195 countries of the world. And from the 44,000,000 in Argentina to the 57,000 in Greenland, from the coast of Senegal to the shores of Fiji, you are moving, calling, saving, shaping a community cleaving to you from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). For 2,000 years you, the reigning God, have been saving and satisfying believing sinners through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Today there remains some 1,200 people groups dwelling in deep darkness with little to no engagement from those who claim they treasure Christ, yet the sovereign Savior came to slay the serpent far as the curse is found.
You are our treasure and our supply, and you will never leave us or forsake us far as the curse is found.
We are not seeking a lip service without heart change or words without action. We are pleading for your name’s sake, that you, God of heaven and earth, would raise up dads and moms, seniors and youth from this congregation and beyond who can labor with well-equipped hands and hearts in your fields, harvesting all those whom you have effectually called (Luke 10:2). Let your light shine into the darkness so that the darkness will not overcome it (John 1:5). Let Shiite and Sunni Muslims see the light of the Son of God. Let your Spirit blow among the Jews, moving them to embrace their Messiah Jesus. Let Hindus surrender to the only one and true God, and lead Buddhists to turn from their self-made pursuits in order to celebrate that there is a God and that in Christ you can save them. Help many who are bound up in various cultural religions, living in fear of spirits and in fear of death, to find the hope that Jesus is stronger and that he has conquered death forever for those who will believe. Let your saving power move, overcoming darkness far as the curse is found.
Keep the senders praying and giving and mindful of how important it is to hold the rope. And keep the goers faithful and dependent, bold and believing, upheld and supplied. They go out as sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16); be the Shepherd they need (John 10:11). You promise that any who leave for your sake and for the gospel will also receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29–30). Thank you that we have been born again to a living hope that carries us through pain and loss, suffering and danger—a living hope to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:3–4). Keep goers and senders alike confident that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). You are our treasure and our supply, and you will never leave us or forsake us far as the curse is found (Hebrews 13:5). For the glory of One who reigns and saves we pray these things. Amen
Garry Morgan, a member at Faith Bible Church, is a former missionary and retired missions professor. He is also author of Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day.
View Resources by Garry R. Morgan