Day 38 of the 40 Days of Purpose

“Becoming a World-Class Christian”

One of the areas to which I have applied my ministry since moving to St. Louis to work with the McKnight Road Church of Christ has been in the area of missions. I have been involved in mission efforts since I was a teen, most recently in Africa and China. Upon beginning my ministry at McKnight I found that the church was heavily involved in mission efforts. I found that the church was very involved in a highly effective campus ministry and in a ministry of help to families and children in need through Christian Family Services. In addition to these area mission efforts there were also mission projects in cooperation with an inner city church plant. I also found that the church supported international ministries with French speaking mission efforts in France and Madagascar. The church also had several members who were involved in mission trips to Panama, Honduras, and helping with the continuing recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast. Several members were also involved in World Bible School. I was excited to hear of all this emphasis on missions and when I visited with the people involved in these various efforts they were excited. But something that seemed to be missing was an overall excitement by the congregation about its various mission efforts. Those involved were excited, but those not involved, did not seem excited about what the church was doing in missions. This seemed strange to me. Should we not all identify with these efforts and share the excitement about the outreach of the McKnight Road church to the world? When I met with the Missions Committee and asked them about my perception, they helped me see some factors of communication that were involved; two things that stood out were the following:

1) The definition of “Missions” needed to include broader areas of involvement of “sharing the good news” and “serving our fellowman” in the name of Christ to the glory of God, than just applying it to supporting a “overseas missionary” from the church budget.
2) Missions involvement needed to include every member in the congregation doing something to help mission efforts, including prayer, correspondence, sending gifts, making visits, mission trips, financial support, etc.

I am excited to say that the missions committee has committed to promoting mission mindedness in the congregation as their primary responsibility, and it is having a positive impact on the general sense of mission throughout the church locally and internationally. The church has always been mission minded in its corporate vision, but not all individuals within the church were thinking with mission minds. When you think with a mission mind you see all people with the eyes of mission, the people near and the people beyond.