MISSION itself is, in many cases, no longer first and foremost about the proclamation of the good news of the gospel, the storming of Satan's kingdom and the rescuing of precious souls. The material needs of men and women have taken precedence over the spiritual; matters temporal over matters eternal. People are moved by haunting pictures of African children with distended bellies or of rat-infested shanty towns, and will respond generously with their giving, but where is the same tugging at the heart-strings for the unseen, but even greater, plight in which millions still exist today? While it is right that Christians should be at the forefront of alleviating the sufferings of humanity it must never be instead of, or at the expense of, gospel preaching. Our primary commission is not to improve or prolong the lives of men and women, laudable as that may be; it is to warn them to forsake their sin and seek forgiveness in Christ. It seems that more and more effort, finance and personnel is being channelled into these social areas of need today, and less and less emphasis put on the spiritual.

Our primary commission is not to improve or prolong the lives of men and women, laudable as that may be; it is to warn them to forsake their sin and seek forgiveness in Christ.

I once had the sad experience of meeting a young preacher who had been turned down by two mission agencies because he had no practical skills to offer them. He was only a Bible teacher. Yet, as Dick Dowsett of OMF rightly says, "Jesus was clear that his priority was to bring people to eternal life. Everything took second place to the preaching of the gospel, to the sharing of the good news, therefore this must be our priority too."

Jesus' response to the needs of the people of His day, seeing them as "sheep without a shepherd" was "teaching them many things". That is still the Christian Church's true priority. Where are the preachers, teachers and evangelists who will hear the call of God and the cry of the unsaved and untaught in other lands, and become missionary heralds?

Growing fat on the good things of the gospel

Sadly, by comparison with many of our forefathers, the church in the west today is inward rather than outward looking, taking care of itself, organising its own programmes and agendas largely for its own convenience and with little apparent concern for the multitudes who live and die in ignorance of the life changing message we selfishly rejoice in. While millions starve and die without the oxygen of eternal life, we meet in our fellowships, gather in huge numbers at our celebration events, s en vast sums of money on our overheads and pleasure, growing fat on the good things of the gospel. To far too many, the unsaved of the world are at best a necessary inconvenience and at worst no longer our concern.

Linked to this is our preoccupation with self, and the reluctance to make sacrifices. All too few of the Lord's people have given serious thought and prayer to the question of a call as opposed to a career, and security convenience, professional advancement and material gain have, too often, been the main consideration. We need to wake up to the fact that the church of Christ is engaged in a war, and sacrifices are  required. During the last world war, great sacrifices were willingly made by everyone in the common cause of victory; private gain and comfort, let alone life itself were sacrificed in order that the war effort might succeed. Today, we are more like the people of Israel in Deborah's day who, when called to war against the enemy, stayed by the camp fires, lingered with their sea trade, or merely talked about it as a theoretical idea, while a few went out and "risked their very lives". What we need is a few more in the same mould as Jim Elliot, martyred by the Auca Indians in 1956, whose motto was, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Not just for the few

Being involved in mission is not an optional extra for a "mission- minded" few on the fringe of the church, nor is it an inconvenient distraction from the more important aspects of church life. It is what the being a Christian is about.

While we enjoy the privileges of regular, faithful ministry and have access to an abundance of good Christian literature and resources, between 15 and 20 per cent of the present world's population are beyond the reach of the proclamation of the gospel. This means that between 800 and 1,300 million men, women and children, created in the image of God, and bound for a Christless eternity, still need to be given their first opportunity to respond to the gospel. Many of them are bound in the dark prison of Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism. Many live in seemingly impenetrable Satanic enclaves, that need to be demolished by prayer. All of them have the right to hear the gospel at least once.

Regaining biblical passion

I urge you to either serve or send. Either hear the call of God and the cry of the lost and give yourself to the task of world evangelisation, or send someone else and be involved in the practical and prayerful support of someone else whom the Lord has called.

Let's reaffirm biblical persuasions, redress biblical priorities, refocus on biblical perspectives and thereby regain our biblical passion for the souls of men and women, and for the glory and honour of our glorious God.