The supreme task of the Church is to evangelise the world. Missions is not supposed to be one of its many programmes, but to be its top priority. The power of the Holy Spirit was given to the Early Church to reach the known world for Christ. The final an most important instruction that Jesus gave to the Church was: “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both (simultaneously) in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (KJV). This statement is a pattern for the church today: Jerusalem represents its town or city, Judea its country, Samaria the neighbouring countries and the ends of the earth represents countries further a field.

Matthew 24:14, states that the end will only come when the gospel of the kingdom has been preached as a witness to every nation on earth. The word “nation” here means ethnic group and not a political nation. If the return of Jesus is imminent, then the task of world evangelisation and missions must be of utmost importance. The devil will therefore do everything to distract the Church from this purpose in order to delay his own final downfall. He will try to keep it bogged down in its “Jerusalem”. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus told the Church to go into all the world and preach the gospel. In the gospel of Matthew the instruction was to make disciples of all the nations (ethnic groups). The belief that “Jerusalem” must first be reached before we can branch out to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth is a great hindrance to the spreading of the gospel. When the Early Church remained only in Jerusalem, and did not take the gospel beyond its borders, it was scattered by persecution into Judea, Samaria and beyond. This is a warning to the Church today. One of the keys to revival and blessing is the principle of sowing and reaping. When we sow to bless others, we will reap a blessing for ourselves. If a country will sow to reap souls beyond its borders, it will reap a harvest of souls back home. This is one of the keys to revival for any nation. This also applies to any local church that will sow to reap souls beyond its own walls – it will reap a harvest of souls within the church.

We therefore need to lift up our eyes beyond our own town, city and nation and see the harvest fields of the world that are already ripe. “The light that shines farthest shines brightest nearest home.” (Oswald J. Smith).

The Great Commission is a call to go and not a call to stay. Every Christian should be involved in going, preparing to go or in helping others to go. If not, the Church will develop a maintenance mentality and a great deal of ministry will be concentrated on a few people.

Paul said in the book of Romans, “I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation”. In some unreached countries, there is such a hunger for the Word of God but so few to proclaim it. Consider that over 90% of Christian workers work among the already reached while the remaining Christian workers work among the 2,3 billion unreached people of the world.

The reason why there has been such sluggishness in being involved in world missions is the comfort of the “Jerusalem base”, the comfort zone. However, God moves miraculously and does wonderful things outside the comfort zone. When Peter stepped out of the comfort of the boat, he experienced the miracle of walking on the water. It is often when we do things that are not comfortable to the flesh that we see the greatest results. Christianity can be very boring when we remain within our comfort zones.

The call to God's missions does not come to those who passively wait for something to happen. To say: “Here I am, send me!” over and over each week will not necessarily launch you into missions. Active steps must be taken to become involved. The following are suggested:

LOOK

“Behold I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields…” (John 4:35).

The first step is to see the harvest. We need to get informed about what God is doing in the harvest fields of the world so that a vision and a desire to reach the unreached can grow in our hearts. As we lift up our eyes, focusing our attention beyond our own immediate surroundings, we will find that God is miraculously at work in the world today and that the task of completing the Great Commission is possible.

PRAY

“The harvest is plentiful…therefore pray…” (Matthew 9:37-38)

God moves in answer to prayer. He is the Lord of the harvest. Each local church and individual believer can begin to penetrate unreached areas through prayer. It was prayer that brought about the collapse of Communism, and it is prayer that will bring about the collapse of Islam. Prayer will sustain those who have already gone onto the mission field and prayer will open up a way for others to get involved. In Acts 10, we have the example of Cornelius. As he prayed, he was instructed to send for Peter. As Peter was praying, God told him to go to Cornelius. This resulted in the first missionary journey beyond Jerusalem.

It is an atmosphere of prayer that the Lord of the harvest begins to put the work force together. We can pray that the Lord will send out labourers into the harvest. Be ready, He may send you!

SEND

“Now separate…for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2)

We can send. The resources for missions lie within the local church. New life and excitement will be released in any church, which gets involved in sending people onto the mission field. As previously mentioned, this could be one of the keys to revival for any local church. In the past, sending was left to the mission organizations. A local church can send, support and pray for its own long-term missionaries. It can also organize short-term outreaches to other countries. Mission organizations can assist the local church in becoming involved in missions.

SUPPORT

“You sent aid…” (Philippians 4:16)

We support those whom we send and those who have already gone. Our finances make us partners with those who preach the gospel. We will share their reward. In 1 Timothy 6, the rich are instructed to share their wealth, thereby “storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come.” God is not against wealth if it is used to further the preaching of the gospel. It is a sad state of affairs that only a fraction of the financial resources within the Body of Christ is used for missions to the unreached tribes of the world. A major portion of the Church’s finances should be used for missions. Finally, we need to realize that we are living in a time of opportunity. The harvest will not always be there. May we never have this accusation brought against us: “The summer is ended, the harvest is past, and we are not saved!” (Jeremiah 8:20). We need to labour while it is yet day, for the night cometh when no man can work. May we rise to the exciting challenge of world missions!