Zayiekhoto Angami
Well, I thought the above phrase is the church’s excuse not to participate in Mission. Heard of this!!!
"A missionary was recently passing through an area. He called to ask a local pastor whether he might be able to make a presentation regarding his work to the congregation. The pastor told him that at this time they were not taking on any mission work. The missionary asked if he could simply inform the congregation of his mission work without making any appeal for monetary support, and perhaps in the future, when they were in better financial condition, they might possibly consider his effort. The pastor abruptly declined.”
What have we become? Is this a spiritual response? Is there a general, biblical obligation for “churches” to help others, especially by supporting the preaching of the gospel in other places?
What is the mission of the church? The mission of the church is, in reality, a continuation of Christ's earthly ministry (Jn. 14:12). Jesus viewed that redeeming men's souls was His whole purpose for coming to the earth. "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost" (Matt. 18:11). And in turn, He imparted this same objective to His disciples. He said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19). The Apostle Paul later confirmed that the ministry of bringing people to God has been imparted to all those who have been brought to Him (the church). He wrote, "God ... has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18).
Perhaps the statement which best summarizes this mission of Christ and His church, was given as Jesus read from Isaiah's prophecy in Nazareth's synagogue on the Sabbath day. He said, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD" (Lk. 4:18-19).
What is the mission of the church in Nagaland today? Is it about building fancy churches, convention halls, church-based schools, and other redundant projects? Is Christianity not about making Jesus known to the ends of the earth? Is it not shameful for us to be still holding on to the slogan “Nagaland for Christ” when we are barely sending and supporting missionaries? One of the most exasperating things about our council(s)/churches is that they are not willing to sponsor missionaries (especially, cross-cultural missionaries); nevertheless, they aver those missionaries as representing the council/church. How incongruous!!! Shame on us!
Dare we preach about “no workers in the field!” There are hundreds and thousands of people who are ready to go for cross-cultural mission. Finance is not an excuse when we are able to build attention-grabbing church buildings and convention halls. Dare we say “cross-cultural mission is too expensive!” when full-time workers in some of our churches and councils are paid so highly.
How easy it is for us to conclude that “there are no workers even though the harvest is plentiful.” Jesus speaks of a parable about “laborers in the vineyard” in Matthew 20:1-16: 1For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘BECAUSE NO ONE HAS HIRED US.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
Do we still preach that “there are no workers?” NO, because there are hundreds and thousands of Nagas who are still waiting for churches and councils to hire them. Shall we not, then, call and send “the un-hired” to go and work into the vineyard?
