If you didn ?t get a pack of M&Ms on September 16, don ?t worry; there will be more. We ?re trying to develop a habit of thinking of evangelism and discipleship as if we are missionaries in our own families, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. So when we find opportunities to do that as a body, we get a snack as a reminder. Missional moments are opportunities to share God ?s love in face-to-face, side-by-side, and heart-to-heart ways.
We support foreign missions as a body. We understand that in order to share the Gospel message with people who live in another culture and who speak another language, we need to alter our methods without compromising the truth of the Bible. However, when it comes to sharing the Gospel within our own communities, we ?re far less likely to change our methods.
If we ?re honest with ourselves, our culture is changing around us, in our country, in our schools, in our communities, and even in our homes. Unfortunately, as we spend more time in our church environment, worshipping the God who never changes, studying his Word that never changes, holding on to his promise that never changes, we begin to think that the methods we use to share the unchanging Gospel should never change either. That doesn ?t mean that we have to change our methods with every wind of innovation. We might be on the right track where we are, and then we ought to make our efforts stronger. But we ought to be purposeful in examining what we do and be prepared to make changes if we find ourselves falling short.
Do we have the right to choose to study, worship, pray, serve, fellowship, and witness according to our preferences? Sure we do. But when questioned about his own freedom, Paul said, ?I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings ? (1 Corinthians 9:22, 23). Let ?s set aside our preferences and choose to be missionaries in our own communities for the sake of the Gospel, and then we will share in its blessings.