Seek And Save The Lost

I think it's wonderful when a church gives to missions. However, I find it frustrating when a church asks people to give to missions, but doesn't consider their own neighbourhood as a mission field.

Would a missionary hold a vacation bible school for children and charge families a per-child fee to help pay for the expenses? The answer is, "No, of course not." If a missionary did that, they wouldn't get any of the children from unsaved or poverty-stricken homes. Missionaries must rely on God to provide all their needs.

What people need the most to be effective in any kind of ministry doesn't cost a cent — love for God and others, and faithfulness to Him, His Holy Spirit, and His Word.

How can churches charge for children to come and learn God's Word at these children's retreats and vacation bible schools? The only children who attend are those whose parents attend church regularly and are financially stable, except for the few children whose parents or for whom parental friends complain about the cost and get a sponsorship, which, of course, only embarrasses the children by stigmatizing them. So tell me: is such a church being missionary-minded? Is such a church viewing their own community as a mission field? Is the church's children's ministry a ministry to reach the lost and unsaved children in the neighbourhood? The answer to all these questions is, "No, the church is not."

Churches do need to give to missionaries in foreign countries, for they are doing God's work in reaching souls for His Kingdom. But churches also need to do God's work by being missionary-minded in their own community.

Jesus Christ came to seek and save those who are lost. We need to do the same.

"For the Son of Man came to seek

and save those who are lost."

Luke 19:10 (NLT)