Reaching Out
SECRETS OF SUCCESS (3)
Section III: A Precedent
Characteristics of a Missionary Church:
A Conversion Center
From the very first, conversions were numerous and the Antioch church continued to grow and expand. In at least four verses in Acts, stress is laid on the increasing size of the congregation. Three distinct stages of expansion are indicated in its initial history (11:20, 21; 22-24; 25-26). All was life, vigor, progress; there was no stagnation or standing still. The “hand of the Lord” was put forth in saving power. The power of God was seen in changed characters and consistent lives. Emphasis is purposely laid on the Savior’s Lordship and His claim on the service of His redeemed ones. We see that three great marks of this church, in its first period of existence, are: conversions, continuance and constant increase. It will be found that the missionary outcome of a church always depends on its spiritual life and vigor.
Many men of God still working in the foreign field can date their missionary desire to a scriptural awakening followed by evangelistic zeal in their home congregation. The story is told of a young school-master, who, after obeying the gospel, was sent to work in a little village. He labored earnestly to win the lost, to persuade men to obey the commandments of our Lord – with the result that the boys in the school began to forsake idols and turn their hearts to Christ. A number of the young men of the place one by one became Christians. One of these young men, a strong vigorous youth, when asked what first influenced him to become a Christian, said: “The schoolmaster used to follow me to my work in the fields and plead with me to seek the Savior, till I could no longer resist the plea.” When we begin to awake to the great potential of young men and women and when consistent teaching is given in churches of Christ on missionary work, then and only then will our evangelistic zeal come alive. Many an elder needs to follow a young man “into the fields” and plead with him to seek the Savior, until he no longer can resist the plea.
A failure to reach the young with this vital message of taking the Gospel out where the lost sinners are, accounts largely for the shortage of missionaries today. Churches should be geared to win the young to the idea of taking the Gospel to the lost. Win a man to Christ and save a soul, win a youth and save a soul plus a life. This also applies to mission work. We must convince the youth of the need.
The possibility of a young Christian becoming a missionary becomes more and more difficult, the likelihood becomes less and less as one grows older. We need to inspire young people to listen – to put into practice Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 12:1.
Children are like apples and apple trees. You can count all the apples on a tree, but you cannot count all the trees in an apple. Make the preaching of the Gospel out where the lost sinners are the basic study of even the youngest in Bible School.
Educated and Established
Emphasis is laid on this in the narrative. Luke attaches great importance to the fact that the church was carefully grounded and established in Scripture knowledge and in all aspects of the Gospel. No less than eight teachers are mentioned by name as playing an important part in its instruction, besides others whose names are not recorded. Exhorting and teaching are noticed in connection with this work of instruction and missionary equipment. Information about missionary work was not lacking as the movement proceeded. Ignorance of God’s Word and Will and Work accounts largely, in any congregation, for the absence of missionary interest and zeal. On the other hand, a clear knowledge of God’s purpose removes opposition, dispels apathy and rouses to evangelistic effort. The same effects often follow from a full knowledge of definite missionary facts and needs.
We see, therefore, the great importance of Bible study – and of missionary information to the foundation and cultivation of the spirit, preaching Christ to the lost!
Dynamic Disciples
“The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” So long as faith in the Savior was confined to Jewish believers, there was no need to give them a distinctive name. They seemed to the world at large only a Jewish sect, a new “synagogue” so to speak.
At Antioch, however, things were different. Many of the heathen population saw their own friends and relatives embrace the new faith and become members of the body of Christ. The prevailing tone of the church was not Jewish, but Gentile. Also, the rapid extension of the gospel shows what earnestness its members bore testimony to their belief. They talked everywhere about Christ. He was the object of their faith and the subject of their conversation.
Two friends met in a large jewelry store. As they went along, one saw a jewel that was perfectly lusterless. He remarked that the stone had no beauty at all. But his friend put the stone in the hollow of his hand and then in a few moments opened it. There was not a place on it the size of a pinhead that did not gleam with the splendor of a rainbow. “How did you do it,” the friend asked. “This is an opal. It is what we call the sympathetic jewel. It only needs the warmth of the human hand to bring out its wonderful beauty.”
Doing missionary work at home is the best preparation for doing missionary work in a foreign field. Soul-winning abroad must be preceded by soul-winning at home. If we truly have love in our hearts for those around us at home, and if we are truly sympathetic toward the lost, we will have little problem in doing mission work abroad.
