BEYOND OUR WALLS

   October  2006                   Missions Bulletin of First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, N.M                    Vol. 8, No. 9

OUR CHURCH BUDGETS FUNDS IN SUPPORT OF MISSIONS IN 15 PLACES BEYOND THE UNITED STATES AND 5 PLACES WITHIN NEW MEXICO. HOW SHOULD THIS AFFECT US????               Sure!  Maybe it’s really good that we’re using some of the money God’s given us to minister to people beyond our walls rather than keeping it all for ourselves.  But, in addition to that, how much time or effort should we expend on learning about, thinking about, talking about, and communicating with the people doing these ministries and, perhaps, those they minister to?

            Right off the bat, let’s grant that our church does far more along these lines than many.  As a relevant aside, let’s also note that the amount we contribute to each mission is a relatively small fraction of its total needs.  That doesn’t mean it’s unimportant, because a number of missions get their total support from a number of churches and individuals whose contributions are only a small portion of the total.  And one thing that happens sometimes is that a mission’s work is injured seriously when more than one or two of the contributors withdraw support.  This is one reason our Mission Committee is very careful about support changes that we recommend to the Session. One of our effective missionary families has had to discontinue their ministry temporarily because too many of their supporters  withdrew. This is discouraging and hurtful to their work.

            But we are talking about another issue here.  We are sending the money, but what else, if anything, should be going on?  We’ve made no survey of the attitudes of our congregation, but one possible view for any Christian is that the money is enough, since our ministry to our own congregation is our primary responsibility.  In fact, there may be some tendency on the part of all of us to involve ourselves in a few favorite areas of our church life to the neglect of the mission aspect.

            You already know that First Presbyterian has chosen to go beyond budgeting funds.  We encourage visits from our missionaries,  publish a missions directory and a monthly missions bulletin,  and, generally, encourage you to pray for those we support, communicate with them, contribute supplies for their work, and visit them in the field.   But is it possible that most of us leave this mostly to those appointed to such work?  We give money and have a Mission Committee  to think about our missions involvement.  But aren’t there reasons we should be thinking about, praying about, and able to talk about the ministries of those we have helped send to other places?

            The suggestion here, as you undoubtedly have realized from the beginning of the piece,  is that it would be well for as many of our members as possible to be involved in the ways already mentioned.  But why would we take such a position?  Isn’t it enough that each member of the church worship regularly,  participate in the one or more areas of church life he or she is interested in. and let others take care of the mission aspect?    

            The core of the case for full church involvement is that God has revealed to us that one of his first concerns for his people is that they reach out to meet both the spiritual and temporal needs of people everywhere.  This publication has emphasized several times what has been called the all-people’s imperative.  God’s first concern is that as many as possible worship and enjoy him forever.  But corollary to that is reconciliation of people to God, whoever they may be or wherever they are.  This world-wide imperative is apparent from the first pages of the Bible, where God told the patriarchs that all nations would be blessed through them, until Christ’s command that all nations  must be reached by his followers.  God defined our faith in world-wide terms, and it is imperative for all of us who know the Savior to be involved somehow in world-wide outreach.

            First Presbyterian is involved in that outreach in a number of specific ways.  The missionaries  are certainly on the front lines, and they value our prayers about their relationships with God, their family problems, their emotional and physical needs, and their effectiveness.  Many of them testify to their conviction that the prayers of the sending people make a difference.  But we can’t pray intelligently about their needs unless we know about them, can we? 

            And what about the missionaries’ needs for encouragement, the lift they get from knowing there are people back home who know and, in some measure, understand the requirements, difficulties, and rewards of their ministries?  Ron and Donna Pontier and their family are aware that there are people here that know about, are interested in, and pray about what they are experiencing and trying to do in East Africa.   A few years back some of the people of our church made it possible for them to have equipment that would increase their effectiveness. To the Pontiers that has become a strong symbol of the support they have from us. 

            Bob and Donna Waguespack, through communications with us and a couple of visits to our church, know that there are people here who understand their work, wish them well, and pray for their teaching and church planting efforts in the Mexico City area.  The personnel of the Gospel Rescue Mission are buoyed by evidence of interest in their work, as manifested by our recent participation in the “socks and undies” program of the Mission.  The administrators of the Priscilla Bible School in Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico regularly send us letters of thanks, in Spanish, for our long term support of their important work.  Joel and Barbara Trudell, in charge of the implementation of translation and literacy programs in Africa, send regular e-mail letters to a number of people in our congregation that give us inside views of the difficulties and rewards of the lives they lead in Kenya and other places across the continent of Africa.  Jorge Alvarado, coordinator of the border ministries for the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, has not visited us yet but has indicated an interest in a closer relationship with us.  Doug and Sherry Barron, who minister in Latin America and with Latin Americans who serve in the so-called southern  nations, have been with us many times and maintain close contact with us. Andy and Judy Carrick, PCUSA missionaries involved in youth work in Japan have visited us and make it clear that they value our awareness of their ministry.

            The picture we are trying to paint here is one of a congregation where every possible member is interested in, thinking about, and talking about the ministries in this community and elsewhere  that we help support financially.  This fits what God has told  us through Scripture that we should be concerned about, and it has desirable effects on the effectiveness of the work our missionaries are doing. 

            Another specific point seems important.  The world still needs missionaries from our country. It is wonderful that people from other nations are serving in many places,  but the outreach effort beyond our borders is still in need of the resources and approaches special  to American culture.  Maybe it is worth  remembering that young people who decide to go into missionary work come from churches whose lives are flavored with outreach concern. 

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Last update 2006-09-30 22:55:17