Category Archives: Missions

A Pure Offering in the Nations

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This communion meditation was given at King’s Cross Church (Moscow, ID) on January 8, AD 2023.

Christmas has come to a close and we have now entered into the season of Epiphany, which recalls the visit of the Wise Men to our Lord, and is a celebration of Christ’s manifestation to the Gentiles. 

This inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s covenant community is prophesied throughout the Old Testament. 

One such passage is from the Prophet Malachi, where we read, “For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering” (Mal. 1:11). 

What is interesting about this wonderful promise of a pure offering among the nations is that it was one of the most frequently cited passages by the early Church when discussing the Lord’s Supper.

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Christmas for the Aucas

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This excerpt is from ‘Through the Gates of Splendor’ by Elisabeth Eliot.

“One Sunday afternoon, December 18, Nate Saint sat at his typewriter to tell the world why they were going—just in case. In speaking these words he spoke for all: ‘As we weigh the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that we should hazard our lives for just a few savages? As we ask ourselves this question, we realize that is is not the call of the needy thousands, rather it is the simple intimation of the prophetic Word that there shall be some from every tribe in His presence in the last day and in our hearts we feel that it is pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in making an opening into the Auca prison for Christ.

As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility.

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Unto More Glory and Power

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This is an excerpt from John Owen’s sermon, The Advantange of the Kingdom of Christ in the Shaking of the Kingdoms of the World, preached to the Commons assembled in Parliament in 1651 (Works, Vol. 8, 334).

That God in his appointed time will bring forth the kingdom of the Lord Christ unto more glory and power than in former days, I presume you are persuaded. Whatever will be more, these six things are clearly promised:

1. Fullness of peace unto the gospel and professors thereof.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox (Isa. 11:6–7).

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children (Isa. 54:13).

Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby (Isa. 33:20–21).

And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof (Rev. 21:15).

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The Local Church and Global Missions

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This paper was written as part of my studies in the Greyfriars Hall ministerial training program.

Introduction

In this position paper, I will address key areas of focus and emphasis that a local church should value as they seek to obey Christ’s Great Commission in the world (Mt. 28:18-20). Due to length limitations, this paper will not dive into a deep biblical/theological explanation of the Great Commission, but instead presupposes that Christ’s command to “make disciples of all nations” is part of the mission of the local church, and the question at hand is how a church should go about this work.

The topics included are: the centrality of the local church in missions, the qualifications of a missionary, how many missionaries a local congregation should support, equipping indigenous leaders in the field, and why our optimistic eschatology should encourage and fuel missions efforts.

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