Slogans to awaken the Church

Sayings about world missionary evangelism that stir hearts and move people to action

Do we really understand the nature of salvation?

"A congregation that is not deeply and earnestly involved in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel does not understand the nature of salvation." -- Ted Engstrom, former head of Youth for Christ and World Vision International

Jumping out at me from Ted Engstrom's words is the phrase "deeply and earnestly involved." For me, those words raise questions like:

• Is my local church "deeply and earnestly involved in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel"?
• Do words like profoundly, intensely, ardently, passionately, fervently, and whole-heartedly characterize our global involvement?
• Are we content to do for world missionary evangelism just the minimum that is expected by denominational leaders?

From time to time I hear Nazarenes describe their congregation's involvement in world missionary evangelism as simply, "We always pay our budgets." Things like intercessory prayer support or encouraging children and youth to get involved or providing needed emotional support for missionaries serving on foreign fields do not seem to be on those people's radar.

For them, world missions support is apparently only about sending some money. Furthermore, the way of them say "we pay our budgets," it sounds like they consider it a "tax" levied by the denomination. That gives me the impression that they are neither deeply nor earnestly involved in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel.

Others, when asked about how their church's global involvement, will mention mission trips taken by small groups in their congregation. However, if sending a few members overseas for ten days a year is all they are doing, then they are not really "deeply and earnestly involved" either.

I've heard people in new church plants explain that it is too early in their congregation's history for them to think about worldwide proclamation of the gospel. "We'll get to it eventually," they say.

Engstrom, who was head of Youth for Christ and then World Vision, would likely respond to that by saying, "If involvement in world evangelism is an option your church hopes to add in the distant future, you really do not understand the nature of salvation."

I've known others who say, "We are called to evangelize right here in our neighborhood. This is where we are fulfilling the Great Commission."

To that, I think Engstrom would respond, "The lost people in your immediate neighborhood need to hear the Gospel, but iIf you have narrowed your concern to a focus solely on them, you really do not understand the nature of salvation."

Deeply and earnestly. Key words. Do they characterize my church's global involvement? Do those words characterize my own involvement?

    -- Howard Culbertson

You might also like these

• Two congregation's attitudes toward world missions
• "The Church must send or the Church will end."
• When should world missions support start in new churches?

More mini-essays in the "Slogans that awaken the Church" series that appeared in Engage magazine.

World missions history resources:    Black Americans involvement in world missions     World missions history crossword puzzle     Historic world missions slogans     Doing missions well: Missionaries who exemplified important characteristics     Brief overview of world missions history     Monastic missionary strategy     Nazarene Missions International history     PowerPoint: Epochs of world mission history     World missions outreach from 1600 to the present     Missions history syllabus     Year-by-year timeline of world missions outreach     World missions events that happened day-by-day     Evangelizing the Vikings    William Borden's story