Scripture Engagement

The other day a colleague of mine heard her pastor preach a sermon saying something like, 'Mission isn't about going somewhere else, it's about reaching people here at home!' We have also heard the same from mission boards here in the UK. 'We want to focus more on local mission.' Why the switch from overseas mission to local mission? I think there are several factors we need to consider: Our God is too small, to paraphrase J. B. Phillips. We believe God can help us reach folk in our neighbourhood, but the idea of going somewhere completely different, with another culture and language, seems too far fetched. Also, deep down we may believe that, actually, they are OK with their beliefs and practices, and we have little to share with them. This is tantamount to believing that each region has its own god, and ours is only in charge of the local patch. We have believed the lie that short-term is better than long-term mission. This has turned mission service ...

We often talk about holistic mission. What does that mean? It's about mission to the whole person not just their 'soul' (inner being). There's nothing unspiritual about meeting someone's basic needs for food, clothing and so on. In fact we encouraged to do so. ...learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Isaiah 1:17 ESV http://bible.com/59/isa.1.17.ESV We also have Jesus' example to follow: Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Luke 8:35 ESV http://bible.com/59/luk.8.35.ESV Both his physical and spiritual needs had been met by Jesus. Lastly, you might ask how this works in  mission. Those working within a community are often told of needs within that community. How can these be met? Well, those with medic...