How fast can you cover 300 miles? Five or six hours? What about on foot? The average person can walk a mile in about 15 minutes, and that’s moving pretty fast. Continuous walking would allow you to cover 300 miles in 75 hours; that’s over 3 days. Take time out to sleep, eat and take care of other necessary business, it would take a week or more. If you stopped to talk to someone, it would take even longer. It takes only three verses in the book of Acts to cover that distance.
Turn to Act 16:6-10:
This passage, at least verses 6-8, is often skipped right over. Perhaps it’s those awful names: Phrygia, Galatia, Mysia, Bithynia, and Troas. This passage is a great example of how ministry sometimes works.
Paul had been dispatched by the Church in Jerusalem to do some follow-up work at the Churches he planted on his first missionary trip. His companion from the first trip, Barnabas, went to some of the other cities. After Paul, finished his part of the mission, he and his companions (Silas and Timothy) decided to move on and reach new areas. They went to Mysia and Bithynia. They were probably headed to Ephesus, which was a large city. It made sense. It was the way Paul had done it before. Paul had a practice of visiting the largest cities to start churches. Paul was following a logical pattern. The pattern had brought him great success on his first journey.
Something wasn’t right this time. It wasn’t working like it had before. He didn’t come close to Ephesus. The Holy Spirit prevented them from preaching the Good News in Asia, which was the name of a Roman province. The Spirit of Jesus kept them out of Mysia and Bithynia. They wound up on the western shore of modern day Turkey in the city of Troas.
No doubt Paul was confounded. He was trying to spread the Good News. He was using a method and a plan that worked for him before. Paul likely had some questions, “What do I do now? Where do I go now? Am I doing the right thing?”
Then one night Paul sees a vision. There’s a man standing there. He’s a European. He’s from Macedonia. He offers a plea, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Help us what?
Paul shared the vision with his companions, Silas, Timothy and Luke (which we discover from the use of the word “we”). Immediately the four of them concluded that God had called them to cross over to Europe. There were no long committee meetings. There were no surveys or feasibility studies. They didn’t “sleep on it.” Their first reaction was action. They went right away and secured transportation to Europe.
They went to Philippi, and “stayed there several days.” They met with great success. All the frustrations of closed doors were left behind. Lydia, a local businesswoman, becomes the first European convert to Christianity.
There was a slave girl who was bound by demonic forces. She had made her masters quite rich in the fortune telling business. She follows Paul and the boys around and blurts out one day, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Paul turned around and told the demon to come of her.
Praise God things are going great.
But wait, the slave girl’s masters are a little perturbed because Paul has put them out of business. Paul and Silas are dragged before the authorities and eventually thrown in prison.
Wait a minute they are following God’s will. Right?
Yes they are. At midnight, Paul and Silas are in the midst of a rat and cockroach infested prison with stocks on their hands and feet. Their bodies were likely sore from being beaten. They probably hadn’t eaten in some time. I would imagine they were a bit tired. But instead of grumping and complaining they are singing praises to God. “I heard and old, old story of how a Savior came from glory.” Then all of a sudden there was an earthquake. The doors are open, and the stocks are loose. They suddenly made out the figure of the jailer about ready to do himself in because he will be held responsible for the escaped prisoners. Paul and Silas talked to him, he accepted the Good News.
The end result of all of this “Macedonian Call” was that the continent of Europe received the Good News. Europe became the center of Christianity.
How did that happen? Paul was obedient to the call of God in his life and in his ministry. Paul could have continued to travel throughout Turkey preaching. He wanted to reach Ephesus. On his way to Europe, he may have thought, “What about the people of Ephesus? Why are we leaving them behind? Shouldn’t we try to reach them first?”
Paul later returned to Ephesus and spent three wonderful years there. He helped build an exceptional church there. In Revelation 2 the Church of Ephesus was praised for its perseverance.
What does that have to do with us?
Have you felt like Paul wandering around, not quite sure where you’re headed or what God has planned?
God has great plans for this Church. Just like he had great plans for Paul’s work. We have to seek God’s mission for us. We have to determine how God wants us to carry out the mission. We may need to rethink some tried and true traditions and methods.
What is our mission?
Our mission is clear. We talked about that a few weeks ago. We are to “go and make disciples.” We are to carry the Good News to a lost, broken and hurting world. Often, people don’t even know what they need. Notice the Macedonian man said, “Come over and help us.” He didn’t know what kind of help; he just knew he needed help. Also notice that the plea for help was interpreted as a call to preach the Good News.
God has called us, the Greenville Church of the Nazarene, to bring the Good News to our part of the world that is crying for help.
How do we carry out our mission?
This is a question every generation has had to deal with. This is especially true at times of great change in society, as we are seeing now.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of huge change in England. Mass of people streamed from the farms to the cities to find work in the factories. Child labor was a big thing, as children worked in the factories. On Sunday mornings, the kids would run wild through the streets of Gloucester, England. They were illiterate. They were uncivilized. They stole. They were out of control. Does the thought of out of control kids sound familiar?
A man named Robert Raikes had a thought one day. These kids had no hope and nowhere to go. Robert Raikes was a businessman. He decided that he could help these kids. He could teach them to read. He could teach them manners. He could teach them about the Bible. He could show them Jesus.
It wasn’t easy. Like Paul in Europe, Robert Raikes faced obstacles. The establishment church frowned on him. He worked out of houses. He recruited volunteers to teach. Some of the teachers became frustrated with unruly kids and quit, but Raikes didn’t give up. He persevered. The movement he started became a wild success. We still have Sunday school to this day, because a man in England had a vision to reach the kids of his city.
If there ever was a program or ministry that was relevant, it was Sunday school. Robert Raikes knew his mission. God gave him a way to carry it out. He had the daring to try something new.
He decided to try something that had never been done before. People thought he was crazy. They thought it wouldn’t work. But God had burned a passion in his heart for the kids of Gloucester, England.
Raikes had tried other things before. He had attempted prison ministry. He had worked to positively affect English society for 25 years, with no success, before Sunday school caught on. Like Paul wandering around Mysia, Bithynia and Troas, Robert Raikes wandered through numerous attempts to change English society for the better.
What does that have to do with us?
We have to follow God’s call on our ministry to reach people with the Good News. Like Paul and Robert Raikes before us, God has a plan for us.
The projected population for Pitt County in 2003 is almost 79,000. Remember 58.8% of that population is unaffiliated with any religious group. That is over 43,000 people. Think about it; if 20 new churches started tomorrow and reach 1000 unaffiliated people that wouldn’t even be half. There is no danger of encroaching on some other church’s turf.
Demographic information shows that about 35% of houses in the Greenville area have kids. There are approximately 25,000 houses in the area. That means there are about 9000 houses with kids. If 58.8% of those are unaffiliated, as the statistics suggest, that means over 4500 houses are not connected to a church.
We need to work on this group. I believe God has called us to reach the kids. We aren’t leaving anyone behind. We are focusing our ministry. With our size, we cannot be a full service church. Paul passed by thousands of unreached people, but he later returned to that area. Robert Raikes worked only with kids, but England was captivated with a cross-generational revival.
When we target kids, we have the opportunity to touch at least three generations. When there’s a program at church, who shows up with video cameras? Parents and grandparents. Like it or not kids pretty much control family decisions these days. What’s the biggest family vacation destination? Disney World. Why is McDonalds so popular? I don’t care for McDonald’s, but that’s where Victoria wants to go. Kids will control where the parents go to church.
We may have to rethink some tried and true traditions. We have to consider how we can meet people’s needs. They aren’t just going to show up. I have heard people pray, “Lord, send the lost to us. Draw them right in the front door.”
People’s lives are changing. People sleep in on Sunday morning. Sunday night is family night for many families. We need to think about the time we ask people to be here. Time is a precious commodity.
I believe firmly in a solid Christian education for kids, but perhaps Sunday morning is not the best time to do it.
We need to reach kids when they are reachable. We need to introduce them to Jesus. Paul’s experience teaches us to get “ready at once.”
We need commitment. Paul had Silas, Timothy and Luke with him. Robert Raikes had a committed group of workers.
Let’s commit to star a mid-week kid’s program in January. Let’s commit to reach kids through an Easter Egg Hunt in April and a Family Fun Fair in June. Let’s provide a Vacation Bible School right before school to kick off big time our mid-week kids program next Fall. Let’s commit to reach kids.
