The Ends of the Earth

Missions with the End in Mind
“Have the end in mind” is a great reminder of God’s plan: to share salvation to all people from every nation. Today, there’s a need for cross-cultural disciple makers where God is not known. Are you ready to respond to this call?
Christ’s power-packed commission in Acts 1:8 compels us to look beyond where we are now—our own church, community, nation, and ‘people like us’—to see a world full of other peoples, places, and nations that God loves. ‘The problem,’ according to international researcher Chris Maynard, ‘is that most Christians are where most Christians are.’ That is, ‘85% of Christians live in countries where more than 50% of people consider themselves Christians.’ So for 85% of Christians, ‘if they literally lift up their eyes, they will see Christians.’
‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ In light of our global mandate, how can we rediscover God as a missionary God, our identity as a missionary people, and ‘see’ what most Christians don’t see—a world of peoples without Christ? What is our Spirit-empowered part in God’s plan? What do we need to understand to help us re-prioritize our mission to ‘all nations’ and the ‘ends of the earth’?
One temptation is to treat Acts 1:8 as a multiple choice question: ‘Pick one: Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the Earth?’ Another approach reduces the verse to a gradual, sequential witness strategy: ‘First Jerusalem, then we’ll get to “the uttermost parts”.’ Missions becomes an appendix, an exotic add-on to which we make forays. ‘This approach often is used by Christians to avoid moving out of their comfort zones to spread the Gospel of Christ. They will say, “I have to reach my family (my Jerusalem) before I can reach anyone else”.’ However, the verse says ‘and’ not ‘then’, ie, all contexts in no particular order.
For more information go to The Ends of the Earth
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