Ideas, as Francis Shaeffer once said, have consequences, and this statement is never more true than when contemplating the result of promoting Christian missions in your own home!
Recently, my denominations International Mission Board commissioned another batch of missionaries to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. During the commissioning sermon, preached by new IMB President Tom Elliff, Dr. Elliff addressed the concerns of parents whose promotion of and passion for missions had now manifested itself in their son or daughter answering the call to go to the uttermost, and often dangerous, places of the world. The IMB article quotes Dr. Elliff as follows:
New IMB President Tom Elliff spoke specifically to missionaries’ parents. As a former missionary and father of two missionaries, he said the parents may be thinking, “Why is my son or daughter being called to the mission field?” Elliff believes the answer begins with the reality of hell.
“Hell is an actual place. It’s an awful place. And it’s an always place. There’s never a moment where a person who spends eternity in hell will say, ‘Well, I’ve about got this handled.’ No — there’s always as much out in front as there is behind.
“There are soon to be 7 billion people on this globe. Over half of them have very little access to the Gospel. [These new missionaries are] saying, ‘Well, not the ones that I meet. Not the people where I’m going, no sir — I’m going to share the name of Jesus with them.’”
You can find the article in its entirety here.
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