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National
Association of Congregational Christian Churches, P.O. Box 288,
Oak Creek, WI 53154
414-764-1620
Email:
naccc@naccc.org
Web Site: http://www.naccc.org |
| MORE THAN CHRIST-LIFE
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by Rev. John Carson, Associate Executive Secretary for Missions, Church Development, and Regional Partnerships |
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As I write these words, I'm soon
to begin my first mission's trip around the world. As you read them, I'll
be half way `round it! I'm sure there will be changes in my life. Just as
there have been changes in the way the Church "does" mission around
the world.
What we have come to think of
missions has changed around the world. No longer is it first world
people bringing the Good News to those in the second and third. Where I'll
go, it is Christians in those places who are sharing the light and life of
Christ with others. And more and more, it is more than Christ-life that
they share. With them, they seek a better life for all their neighbors.
As I have come to understand it,
mission work today is comprehensive. The founding desire is to share
the Gospel of what God has done in Christ. But equally, it is to
minister to people's needs, as persons in community. And that means tending also to concerns for peace and justice, alleviating
suffering, and improving quality of life. Mission ministry today is
multifaceted, dedicated not only to planting churches, but also to community
relief and development, providing adequate health care, along with
education and training, to secure a better life for those being served.
And all this in the name of Christ!
This is already true of those I go
to see. In India, I will observe the works of the Travencore Church Council,
a work that sponsors not only churches, Sunday schools and
youth ministries, but also a Christian Hospital and traveling medical
clinics, Christian nursery, elementary and middle schools, six sewing
schools and an Embroidery Project designed to provide employment and
income. In Nigeria, at Christ to the Villages, I will visit village churches and
preaching stations. I will also observe their food and clothing ministries, and
I look forward to meeting with students and staff at the Alpha Nursery
and Primary School in Shao, it's sister school in Oloru, and the Omega
High School. Finally, when I visit the works of Word Alive Mission in Ghana,
I'll meet with the leaders of ten churches, two schools, a Bible College and
an orphanage. It will also be my joy to visit the newly opened Word
Alive School of Nursing, and the Solid Rock Vocational Center.
From here, I can't begin to
imagine the things I'll see, and the changes in my life that will come from my
going around the world and visiting our missions. I look forward to seeing
the light and life of Christ at work - in many ways - to bring a better
life among all people. And I'll try to tell you all about it… when I return.
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In an article about the Resurrection, Henry David Gray writes:
THE SEVENTH FACT is the Christian Churches. In many ways this is the most startling historical evidence of all. [. .
.] Regardless of how we may explain the Empty Tomb or the Appearances, we must explain, by some means or other,
the new life which surged in these men's breasts, their positive conviction that Jesus was alive, and the fearless
Christian Churches which have been built on this belief. At Pentecost Peter was filled—They were all filled—with a newness
of being which they attributed to the risen Lord.
All who seek to discredit the Resurrection take upon themselves the
task of showing some other motivation powerful enough to produce these most remarkable
results.1
1 Henry David Gray, "The Resurrection and the Churches",
Congregational Journal, 6.2, January 1981, pp 8-9
Rev. Dr. Lloyd Hall is the Association's Historian
and serves Plymouth Congregational Church of Lansing, MI
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