The thoughts contained in this book grow out of a God given desire to see God's people understand His program and their current involvement, or lack of involvement in it.
Christianity defined by even the most liberal of qualifications is a dying group of people. The population explosion is leaving Christianity in the ranks of "PASSING AWAY!" As a living organism we cannot be classed with the religions of the world, however the various organizations are outgrowing us by leaps and bounds.
I shared the Word in a semi-metropolitan church in California a few years ago. The church was running about 50-75 and feeling they were doing well, yet on the corner a block to the north a new church building was under construction and two blocks to the south was also a new building. Not small buildings, but very large buildings! Not belonging to main line denominations - not to evangelistic churches but to major cults. The question naturally is, "Why?" Why are the cults passing us by in large numbers when we have the truth!
It is plain to see - they believe what they believe! They aren't so tied up in themselves that they can't sacrifice a little for what they believe. They are actually willing to tell others of their belief!
It was demonstrated for us by the Communist Party, that the key is belief, and action upon that belief. It was reported many years ago that the Communist Party demanded total acceptance of beliefs, total dedication to those beliefs, total discipline and total service. About the same time it was reported that the average Communist Party member in America contributed about 38% of their income to Party work.
TOTAL ACCEPTANCE
TOTAL DEDICATION
TOTAL DISCIPLINE
TOTAL SERVICE
It would not take too long for the average Christian with a concordance to come up with a number of Scriptural references to show that these are Biblical principles that the Communists have been using for years.
The Communist Party started in the early 1900's with only a handful of adherents and today they control a third of the world's population.
It is interesting to see the communist view of the Christian community many years ago, and we might add it is doubtful that their view has changed over the years. "The Gospel is a much more powerful weapon for the renewal of society than is our Marxist philosophy. All the same, it is we who will finally beat you. we are only a handful and you Christians are numbered by the millions. But, if you remember the story of Gideon and his 300 companions you will understand why I am right. We communists do not play with words. We are realists...we know how to obtain our objectives. Of our salaries and wages we keep only what is strictly necessary and we give up the rest for propaganda purposes. We also consecrate all our free time and part of our holidays. You however give only a little time and hardly any money to spread the Gospel of Christ."
This article ran in a French Communist newspaper when the party was just trying it's wings, and time has born the paper's prophecy out to a large extent.
If believers across our land would really commit themselves to the Lord and His service then we could see the tide turn. There are multitudes in this country that have accepted the Christ of the cross, however those that have accepted the cross of Christ are much more limited in number!
There may be a shade of truth in what one preacher said years ago, "The term we use for seats in our churches is pew. This term is derived from the dead flesh sitting in them." Harsh? Yes! However, look around the congregation the next time you are in church. By the expression of faces and lack of excitement might not the Great Physician pronounce some dead?
God has given this author a wide variety of education and experience from a Christian Education teacher that laid some foundational blocks for these thoughts, to a Missions teacher that gave a valid and strong emphasis in missions while I was in college. God has also given me the opportunity of teaching in a Bible Institute and being stretched by the students.
There is no desire to put down the church, for there is much to rejoice about in Christianity today, yet in church after church I see little in the area of organized missionary effort. It is evident that few churches have committed themselves to emphasizing missions on a regular basis.
This is not viewed as an answer book for all the questions that may come to mind. It is to be viewed as an idea book to be used in conjunction with the very talented minds that the Lord has blessed churches with, and it is hoped that good missions programs will be the result!
May this volume lay groundwork
for a total, practical and effective missions program in many churches.