Global Missions for a 21st Century Youth
Introduction
Kosgei grew up in a godly Christian home with godly, committed parents. He was in church every Sunday morning and night and was raised as a youth with an understanding of the principles of God. He went to a Christian secondary school where he was awarded student of the year and headed off to college to pursue marathon racing on full scholarship. At college, Kosgei plunged into a good church, lead worship, and was trying to be a witness on his racing team. Like any other 21st-century youth, Kosgei had a good life planned out: He wanted to make it to professional athletics. He continued his walk with God. If athletics would fail, he would comfortably become a worship leader at a mega church.
One Tuesday afternoon, Kosgei’s life took a dramatic turn. A friend of his sat him down and started probing him about his heart for the world. Kosgei gave him the good Christian answer and said that he loved the world but that God has called him to stay here in Kenya as a long-distance runner. As his friend started pressing a little more and asking for missions verses and his knowledge of the world, Kosgei admitted that he could not name even one. He wondered if missions was applicable in the life of a 21st Century Youth. His friend went to work. Starting with Genesis, Kosgei spent the next 30 minutes walking through God’s heart for the world. Through the life of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it began to click for Kosgei that he really was unaware of God’s priority to redeem all peoples. Finally, the story culminated when he read Rev 5:9 and saw the story’s conclusion: What God had promised Abraham about blessing all nations fulfilled in Revelation. Kosgei was floored. How could he have been a Christian practically his whole life and never have heard the missions theme of scripture. After more learning and praying, Kosgei has decided to quit racing, finish college and use his music talent to reach the unreached tribal people in Cameroon.
What is Missions all About?
According to Scott. W. “Mission” primarily refers to the church’s task to carry out the will of the Father in the world. And the emphasis is that such work must be grounded in right thinking. Good practice flows out of good thinking. It is the goal and action of going out to the lost with the good news of Jesus Christ. Most specifically, it refers to going out to communities who have not for a moment heard of Christ with this good news before. This makes it vary slightly from evangelism, which is all about spreading the good news of Christ and summoning people to shift to Him in faith. We should be doing this every day. But missions is all about intentionally going out to where people have not had a chance to hear the good news. God has appointed His Church to carry to completion His instructions to make disciples of all nations. As followers of Christ in the 21st Century, we are each asked to be missionaries to a needy world. It starts with each of us at home in our own community — and then reaches out to other parts of the world. Jesus started missions when He was 30 years. We see that as early as 12 years, He was very actively involved in the temple learning and growing. Christ’s mission was all about establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts, lives, and relationships of all people in all the world. His mission was a universal one. This is the mission Christ had committed to the first disciples, which has been handed down to us, the church. Famously, the GREAT COMMISSION, God’s short-term assignment to the church.
What is Missions in The Bible?
Missions in the Bible is seen whereby the Bible from start to finish is all about God’s purpose in creation and returning man back to God. We see God’s unchanging plan of the ages to redeem the nations back to Himself so that the nations can reflect His glory. He did this by working through His chosen people as we can see throughout the scriptures. Genesis 1:28 expresses God’s desire for man to populate the earth both physically and spiritually. The descendants of Adam and Eve were to fill the earth with worshipers of God. This was to become a reality because Adam and Eve were to hand down their spiritual heritage as obedient people before God’s eyes. We are aware that according to God’s plan, man fell. And God continued on in His bid to achieve His desire of returning man back to having a good relationship with Him as we have already seen. Every man, as a result, inherited the rebellious nature of Adam and was ruled by evil thoughts. This provoked God, and He went on to flood the earth to start all over again with one family. The family of Noah, in comparison to the other families, was righteous before God. As we continue reading through the Old Testament, we see that the Bible is all about missions. God desired that Noah and his family would fill the earth with Worshipers of God. Observe that God is insisting on something. This is something very important to God, as we can already see. The rising and falling of Babel is a repetition of man’s fallen nature inherited from Adam, and it seems like God is proving a point about man. God wants people to scatter and fill the earth with worshipers of God. We can go on and on across the Bible, and all we will see is God’s method of getting the world to know Him and worship Him.
Conclusion.
Mission integrity requires consistent vigilance in “reforming” our understanding of missions. The foundational place to start in understanding mission is, of course, the Bible. I would suggest that every mission committee needs to maintain an ongoing conversation about the definition of mission. There are some excellent resources that you could use at https://globalactivation.africa/ In his book, Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper writes, “Missions is not the final goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists mainly because 3billion people and more don’t worship God. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is the ultimate One, not man. When this age is finally over, and the countless billions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God in worship, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. There is no better place to spend your youthfulness than in an ageless and unchanging plan of an everlasting God. Sign up now at www.globalactivation.africa.com for a deeper engagement of what missions is all about.
References
Understandind Christian Mission. (n.d.). http://cdn.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Excerpt_9780801098413.pdf?1551989552. https://cdn.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Excerpt_9780801098413.pdf?1551989552
(n.d.). Welcome to Camano Chapel • Camano Island, WA. https://www.camanochapel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/why_missions.pdf
What is Mission. (n.d.). LSG Library Management System. https://library.mibckerala.org/lms_frame/eBook/what-is-mission.pdf
Joy Minayo is part of ACTIVATE’S Disciple Making Community in Kenya
