Shortly after I
became the missions trip coordinator for “A Child’s Hope,” I began reading “The
Essential Guide to the Short Term Mission Trip” by David C. Forward. He takes a
comprehensive look at short term missions trip, starting with why we should be
involved in missions at all. The quote below on evangelism stood out to me:
“Though it may seem at times a challenge,
evangelism is our solemn obligation. It
is never ‘not my job.’
Missions authority David M. Howard wrote:
The missionary
enterprise of the church is not a pyramid built upside down with its point on
one isolated text in the New Testament out of which we have built a huge
structure known as ‘missions.’ Rather, the missionary enterprise of the church
is a great pyramid built right side up, with its base running from Genesis 1 to
Revelation 22. All of Scripture forms
the foundation for the outreach of the gospel to the whole world. [David Mr. Howard, The Great Commission for
Today (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1976), 31.]
The model that compels us to do evangelistic mission
work today can be found in Matthew 9:35: ‘Jesus
went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.’”
Evangelism is truly
at the core of Christianity. If God did not want us to practice evangelism,
then we would go straight to heaven after we became a Christian. But He leaves
us here on this earth with the sole purpose of proclaiming His Name among all
the nations. How are you doing in this
vital mandate? Are you a faithful evangelist for Christ?
