1 Corinthians 16:1-4, CEB - Concerning the collection of money for God’s people: You should do what I have directed the churches in Galatia to do. On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside whatever you can afford from what you earn so that the collection won’t be delayed until I come. Then when I get there, I’ll send whomever you approve to Jerusalem with letters of recommendation to bring your gift. If it seems right for me to go too, they’ll travel with me.
Chapter
16 of 1 Corinthians has Paul w.rapping up the letter with some “housekeeping
details.” In the passage above, he is
reminding the church of what seems to be a previous agreement to take up an offering
for the Jerusalem church, a fledgling congregation that has been started more
recently. This seems somewhat unimportant
to us two thousand years later because it is a specific first-century matter
that doesn’t really concern us. However,
this request gives us an insight into an aspect of the larger Christian
movement that persists even to this day.
An essential part of Christian church DNA is non-local mission. Healthy Christians congregations from the
start have been not just encouraged, but expected to participate in the mission
extending to the rest of the world.
Jesus’s
great commission is “to make disciples of all nations.” The largest part of the way this works is
that we do all we can to reach those in our local community with the good news
of Jesus. However, the call is always
larger than that. The expectation is beyond
just addition to our own flock, but multiplication of flocks “to the ends of
the earth.” As Mike Stachura has said, ““The
mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.”
In the
United Methodist tradition, this is a formal part of our denominational
structure. Apportionments are the way
that we ask every congregation to fund the expansion of the Gospel in
innumerable ways across the globe.
Sometimes, because of the mandatory nature of some of our apportionments,
it feels like a tax. I would remind us
though, that the practice of asking every congregation to participate in mission
beyond its locality goes back to the first century church and the work that
apostles like Paul, Peter, Timothy and others were doing in far-off
places. Today the Paul’s, Peter’s, and
Timothy’s are still at work in missions that would not be possible were it not
for the support of established congregations.
Local and global mission is who we are.
Question: How is the
local church that you are a part of engaged in mission beyond the local area
where it is located?
Prayer: Lord, help us
feel connected to the your mission across the world. May Your mission continue to expand until “every
knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
(Philippians 2:11) Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for
safety of and provision for foreign missionaries in dangerous places around the
world today.
Song: We’ve a Story to
Tell to the Nations – Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, CA
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