The Place of Humanitarian Work Within Missions

“If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:17-18

Recently, I read a book by a renouned missionary from India. He argued that missions are critical to the church, and that the primary mission is to the people who are in the surrounding culture of the church - the people where the church is located! In other words, the most effective missionaries to India are Indian Christians in a church in India. The most effective missionaries to Iranians are Iranian Christians who belong to a church in Iran. 

We can extrapolate that out to us here in St. Jo. We are the best missionaries to our own city. We are here, known, and trusted. And that trust did not come easy - it had to be earned by building a reputation as a church that internally loves its members, and that of a church that externally serves its neighbors in their need. 

We are that church on mission! 

You can read more about being a church on mission by reading this excellent article by John Folmar and Scott Logsdon. Access the article by clicking --> here <--