Again, we find ourselves looking at the calendar, realizing, from John Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War Is Over), “another year [is] over, a new one just begun.”  It is the time of year when we make New Year resolutions.  Let us, especially those of us who serve as pastors, resolve to be more committed to encouraging our people to be ever faithful in missions.

As Southern Baptists, we have just come through the season of our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.  The first of these offerings was in 1888, though, it was not yet named “The Lottie Moon Offering.”  It would not be many years, however, until the annual offering would rightly carry Lottie’s name.  In May, 1887, she wrote:  “When will some church say, ‘We will sustain one missionary in Pingdu,’ and not only say it, but raise the money and send the missionary?”

From China, Lottie Moon provided the sort of encouragement and accountability that also and rightly falls on pastors back home.  It has been said that a church will have no greater passion for missions than that of its pastor.  The buck really does stop with the pastor.  If he is not passionate about missions neither will be his people.  From a biblical perspective, the pastor’s role in missions is more implied than taught directly.  That is, no biblical text can be found that explicitly stipulates, “For the sake of missions, the pastor must do this or that or the pastor must speak in such and such a way.”

What the Bible does provide is a clear mandate to take the gospel to all the world.  Tom Wells set forth two theses:  1) God is worthy to be known for who he is, and 2) Those most equipped and responsible for making him known are those who know him.  Who can argue that our God is unworthy to be known?  He is the great I AM.  Job came to understand:  “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).  Paul testified, “For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever” (Rom 11:36).  The twenty-four elders understood and sang, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev 4:11).  He has testified of himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev 22:13).  Indeed, he is worthy to be known.  And who will make this great God known?  Those who know him, of course!  We have come to Christ.  We have drunk deeply of his mercy and grace.  We know him intimately.  We speak to the world about that which we know.

The Bible provides for pastoral leadership, that is, the pastor casts vision and leads in the implementation of that vision.  Surely, as he teaches and leads, the pastor will be faithful in directing church members to obey God’s commands including:  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).  The pastor understands his role in communicating biblical mandates to the church.  In all other matters – local evangelism, discipleship, right ordering of the church – it is accepted that the pastor is the primary encourager and the one giving direction.  It must be so, also, in the matter of missions.  The pastor must speak often and passionately and powerfully about missions.  The vision the pastor provides is the vision the church will have.  The path down which the pastor walks is the path down which his congregation will trod.  The language with which the pastor regularly speaks is the language that will be heard from his congregants.  The passion of the pastor will become the passion of his people.

The pastor understands what John Piper calls the few things we need to know.  God is real.  Heaven and hell are real, and heaven is paradise and hell is hot.  Our sin has separated us from God and brought condemnation.  Our only hope is the gospel.  The gospel must be told.  Jesus will return, and we must work while we can.  We do not merely speculate about these matters, we know them to be true.  And with urgency and passion these truths the pastor declares.

The pastor understands the central role of the church in missions.  Since the 19th century, which Kenneth Scott Latourette called “The Great Century,” Christians have established missions boards and societies through which missionaries have been sent into the world.  But the church is, and always has been, central to the work.  David Hesselgrave has concluded that “the church has been central to God’s plan for the last 20 centuries and that it will still be central to his plan in the 21st century.”  Missionaries might be sent through boards and societies but, ultimately, they are sent from and through the churches with the approval of those churches, churches that also provide the financial and prayer support so necessary.  The pastor passionately leads his church to play its vital role in missions.

What, then?  One blogger has observed, “Passion is what we can’t keep inside.  It spills over and can’t be contained. . . . Our passion for the Lord should be evident to all those around us. . . . That passion should extend to a sincere concern for those who don’t know the Lord.  The fate awaiting those dying without Christ should compel Christians to set off on a rescue mission . . . That sense of urgency should drive us to risk our reputations or even lives for the sake of sharing something so valuable with those at such great risk.”

As pastors, what will be our great ambition?  We know Paul’s; in fact, he tells us:  “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, ‘Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand’” (Rom 15:20-21).

As pastors, will we have the same passion as the apostle Paul, and how will we encourage that passion in our churches?  The work will start with the pastor who reads missions journals, missionary biographies, gives attention to denominational materials, corresponds with and invites missionary speakers, leads in weekly missions reports, and who calls the church to giving, praying, and going.

Some might say, “Well, with everything else, there’s just not a lot of time in the schedule to plan missions moments, missions speakers, etc.”  From his response to an article entitled “Proselytizing faithful of other religions misdirected,” we might adapt and paraphrase Greer, South Carolina attorney David Rogers:  From the Christian perspective, there is nothing of greater value for any person than making Christ known.  Such a view is not pointless.  It is the point.

We rightly hear, today, much about the need for healthy churches.  The truly healthy church, in addition to other traits, surely must reflect the heart of God in evangelism and missions.  Our congregations will never truly “get the point” about missions unless the pastor passionately, regularly, and intentionally reminds them of the great mandate given to us.  Week by week, not merely during a missions emphasis week or month, he must remind his people about the missionary heart of God.

The God of Ezekiel is one who invites:  “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live” (Ezek 18:32).  The God who rules over all of history and brings it to his desired end says, “‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Rev 22:17).  With such passion we as pastors must lead our congregations to go into all the world and invite the lost to come to Christ.

One author has pondered how the church, in defining itself, could have ever “overlooked the fact that the gospel which constituted it was not for the church alone but for the whole world.”  Basil Manly understood, as evidenced in his hymn written for the first commencement of the Seminary in 1860 and sung at every commencement since.

Soldiers of Christ, in truth arrayed,

A world in ruins needs your aid:

A world by sin destroyed and dead;

A world for which the Savior bled.

His gospel to the lost proclaim,

Good news for all in Jesus’ name;

Let light upon the darkness break

That sinners from their death may wake.