Yesterday we had our missionaries from Nigeria--the Fretheims with us. They head up City Ministries which serves the people of Jos, Nigeria in a number of ways. Some of these include free medical treatments, expanded prison ministries, more than 500 film outreaches and the development of Genesis Farms, which trains people to care for large gardens that provide food and income for the people of Jos. 

They have also been involved with several church plants and have trained thousands of Nigerians for evangelism and church planting.  To learn more about their ministry please click HERE.

"Quote" of the Week

"All of Scripture points to the fact that God is a missionary God, that the church is to be a missionary community, and that God's people are to be missionary people." -Paul G. Hiebert

Paul was deeply aware that the success of his mission was the Lord's work and not his own.  He said, "I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience--by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God" (Rom. 15:18-19).  Paul's passion, as always, was to focus all glory on the supremacy of Christ in the mission of the church.  

How did Paul then speak of his own labors?   He said, "By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" (1 Cor. 15:10).  Paul worked.  Paul fought the fight and ran the race.  But he did so, as he said in Philippians 2:13, because beneath and within his willing, God was at work to will and to do his good pleasure.  Using a farming image, Paul put it like this:  "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor. 3:6-7).  Paul was jealous to uphold the supremacy of God in the mission of the church.

This jealousy for the glory of God in the mission of the church drove the apostles to minister in a way that would always magnify God and not themselves.  For example, Peter taught the young churches, "Whoever serves [should do so] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies--in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11; cf. Heb. 13:20-21).  The one who gives the strength gets the glory.  So Peter drove home the absolute necessity of serving in the strength that God supplies and not our own.

Piper, John.  LET THE NATIONS BE GLAD.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic.  2007.  pp. 56-57

"Quote" of the Week

"The New Testament makes clear that God has not left his Great Commission to the uncertainties of the human will.  The Lord said from the beginning, 'I will build my church' (Matt. 16:18).  World missions is supremely the work of the risen Lord Jesus."  -John Piper

Scott Yingling visited our church yesterday.  He is the director of the website obrerofiel.com.  Obrero Fiel means "faithful laborer" in Spanish. This site is designed to encourage, educate and equip Spanish-speakers around the world.  There are over 6,000 Christian resources available, and there is also an online discipleship school called Escuela Obrero Fiel which has over 3,000 students enrolled.  To hear Scott's message click HERE.

"Quote" of the Week

"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God."  -John Stott

This month is Missions Month for our church.  Jeff Moore kicked it off for us yesterday by speaking about Elijah's Retreat.  This ministry provides a safe and relaxing place for families facing Autism to go and enjoy a time of refreshment for body, mind, and soul.  For more on this ministry, go to www.elijahsretreat.com or click HERE to hear Jeff tell the story about how this wonderful ministry began.

"Quote" of the Week

"But 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