Missions in Our Backyard
QUOTE: Oswald Smith "The light that shines farthest shines brightest near home"
Churches so focused on overseas they neglected their own mission - declined and closed!
Acts 1:8 You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Interpreted culturally - family/friends, others like us, other sub-cultures, cross cultural
We do not have to choose between local and global, Jesus said we would do both
How can we be missionaries (a missionary church) in our own backyard?
1. PRAY!
John 14.12-14 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
ILL: Several years ago our worship team was getting depleted and a few were carrying a heavy load. Andrea and I decided to pray specifically for a guitar playing worship leader. M + C were the answer to our prayer!
ILL: In South Africa in the Summer of 2004, with the help of some sponsors, evangelist Peter Sekhonyane put up a 300-seater tent to facilitate a 24-hour prayer watch in one of the 20 extensions and outer villages of Orange Farm. For three weeks he intensively trained Christians of all churches on prayer and the principles of 24-hour prayer. After three weeks, he decided to move the tent to the next extension, to repeat the process there. In October 2004 seven of these 24/7 prayer watches were up and running at an average of 15 hours per day. Then they combined efforts to launch a week of real 24-hour prayer.
At the end of the week of combined prayer Peter went to the police service station to ask how it went crime-wise during that week. According to their statistics something strange happened: in seven of the 20 extensions there was nearly no crime - exactly the seven in which 24-7 prayer was going on!
Something special then started to happen. People from townships from across the country started to ask for help. Peter and his team received people from Mpumalanga, KwaZulu Natal, the Cape Flats, Free State, Soweto and Zimbabwe to train and equip. These groups came for a week or two to experience for themselves what is happening and receive training. Afterwards they returned home to start similar 24/7 prayer watches in their own areas.
As a result of all these prayers crime was declining in the townships. The police asked Peter and his team to come and help in one of the outer villages where crime and violence were rampant. Peter started a prayer watch there. After about two weeks, crime declined rapidly and was brought under control!
A second encouraging thing is that people have been coming to the Lord as a result of these prayer watches. Prayer is now taken to the people and some are prayed for in their homes! The number of salvations seem to be going up compared to the previous evangelisation outreaches. The positive part is that significant numbers of new believers can now be discipled as they regularly come to pray at the prayer watch. Their chance to backslide is much smaller. It is also surprising to see that most of the new converts are young people.
QUOTE: We lean to our own understanding, or we bank on service and do away with prayer, and consequently by succeeding in the external we fail in the eternal, because in the eternal we succeed only by prevailing prayer. -- Oswald Chambers
We’ve seen to pray for more and current missionaries. What do we pray for us?
Guidance - doing God’s will not our will
Our community - pray that God will transform it
Fruitfulness - achieving God’s will by God’s power
More workers! - more people with more gifting means more workers
How effective are we based on our prayer life?
2. SERVE PEOPLE"S NEEDS(’incarnate the gospel’)
John 1.14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Matt 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful"
Jesus: water to wine, a Samaritan woman finds life and hope, heals people
ILL: The Fremantle Jubilee Festival ran from April 13 - 20th (Easter 03 or 04). It was a week of blessing the community with radical and extravagant acts of kindness. Churches, Youth, Businesses, Welfare Agencies and other groups were involved. Every act of kindness was administered in the name of Jesus Christ. Debts were cancelled during the festival.
[Public utilities] actually administered the payment of the debts of people who, unable to pay their bills, had either had their electricity or gas supplies cut off, or their water flow reduced to a trickle. In the case of HomesWest, people who had received eviction notices had their rent arrears paid and so were able to stay in their homes. Thus the debt cancellations were completely confidential in that the Jubilee committee did not know who the recipients of these actions were. Each recipient received a card which stated that what they had received was "a gift of kindness because God Loves You and is for you." The card also asked if we could pray for them, and gave contact details.
Here is a list of some of the "Acts of Kindness" which were done during the week: Easter egg giveaways, free food, band and drama at High Schools; free dental packs for patients, Op shop giveaways, food hampers, windscreen washing and chocolate giveaway at a petrol station, Coles supermarket voucher giveaways.
ILL: 2004 EBC kindness outreach - free sausage sizzle and give aways
Gal 2.9) Remember the poor - who are the poor/needy in our community?
How can we build depth to our ministry?
Single parents
Under-parented kids
Refugees
The broken-hearted
Must be motivated by compassion - a demonstration of God’s unconditional love
Don’t forget - in the power of the Spirit - healing and miracles (Jesus way!) God glorified
How will we serve our community?
3. LEAD THEM TO JESUS
1 Peter 3:15 Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
John 4.28-30, 39 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?" They came out of the town and made their way to ward him… Many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.
Some people say we shouldn’t mix service with evangelism
Our service comes from Christ, happen in Christ and are for Christ!
We can feed a hungry body, only Jesus can feed a hungry soul!
Serving not dependent on receiving message, but must not compromise message.
Some of us have been Christians a long time - how can we share a testimony?
Maybe not an exciting conversion story. Witness? Experience? Healing?
Be familiar with the gospel story - know what you believe. Don’t have to be a theologian, but know the hope to which you have been called! Keep it simple
Leading a lady to the Lord - got too complicated ’Don’t really know what that means.’ ’Accept Jesus into your heart’ ’I want to do that’.
Can you tell others what/why you believe?
CONCLUSION
A missionary church has a heart for the things that are on God’s heart and gets involved
Has a heart for the world and for its own backyard
Prays fervently and powerfully for the world and its community
Has compassion on the global poor and the poor (in) spirit in its community
Puts its money where its mouth is
Shares the good news
Will we take up the call and be a missionary church?
