Why is Missions Such a Priority for the Church?

The following three paragraphs are an excerpt from Chapter 13, Grasp the Bigger Picture, of Habits of Highly Effective Christians. It represents the value system which is the basis for our decision to come to Africa:

One of my favorite stories from the history of the early Christian Church comes from the great church of Alexandria, Egypt, in the second century. The elderly bishop of that church had been told on his deathbed that a man would arrive the next day with a present of grapes. That man was to become the bishop’s successor. True enough, the next day a rustic, illiterate, and married layman named Demetrius arrived with bunches of grapes taken from a vine on his farm. Through this curious circumstance, he was hastily ordained and, surprisingly, ruled well on the throne of St. Mark’s for forty-two years. During this time, the church produced three great scholars: Pantaenus, Clement, and Origen.

When a deputation arrived from India, according to Jerome, Demetrius asked his most famous scholar, Pantaenus—a Jewish Christian educated in Greek philosophy—to respond to an invitation to go to India for discussions with Hindu philosophers. The bishop considered the cause of the advancement of the Christian church in far away India no less important than the advancement of scholarship at home.

Lord, hasten the day when we again send our finest sons and daughters to this noble enterprise. The mission field is not the place to send less competent Christians or misfits. We have not done this exclusively, and God can use anyone. But that is no reason not to send our best-qualified Christian workers abroad. May we not be so ethnocentric that we feel other places in the world deserve less than our finest minds.

Note: Perhaps you are a modern day Pantaenus. If you feel the Empower Africa Christian Leadership Conference Project is attractive to you and that God would have you join us in Africa we will help introduce you to a network of pastors and churches in cities and nations that need your skills. You would need to be spiritually, educationally, and experientially qualified to complete a sometimes difficult ministry assignment. You would be expected to raise or otherwise provide your own living expenses and the costs of conducting your seminars. Africa is a ripe harvest field. You have your “Macedonian call” right here. Come over and help us train workers.