[Written by Ben Halbrooks]
Missions Month at Cross Creek Church just came to a close this past Sunday – so now we can all finally stop living missionally and get back to our regular lives.
Just kidding.
Of course, there’s no separating God’s people from His mission, no matter what the time, no matter what the place, no matter who the person, no matter what the context. But you already knew that. And our theme verse for the month makes that message clear:
“Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Psalm 96:2-3)
But, you say – “Day to day?”… “Among the nations?”… “All the peoples?”…But I live in Birmingham, Alabama – the second most Bible-minded city in America! There are more churches here than Alexander Shunnarah billboards in the Southeast!
I hear you. I get it. I’ve thought the same. (And I’ve seen the billboards.)
But lest you think this pond’s been fished out, and our work here is done, or that maybe Jesus meant to say, “The harvest is few but the laborers are plentiful,”… let me show you something. In the last few weeks, I’ve been filming a series of street interviews a few blocks from Fixed Point Foundation’s downtown office just to get a sampling of answers to spiritual questions. I thought, It’s Birmingham. I know what I’m gonna get. Right?
Turns out I was dead wrong. Case in point: here’s ten random people answering the question, “What do you think happens after death?”
Wow. Such uncertainty! Why does it feel like many of these individuals have never deeply considered the question at all? And where is their hope? My heart aches for them. Friends, this is Birmingham, Alabama!
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’” (Matthew 9:36-37)
No, Jesus didn’t get it wrong. There’s a lost world, a hurting world, a broken world – a mission field – in our own backyard. And you, me, the church – we are the few. I’ll close with a passage of scripture Pastor Chris spoke of this week. It’s fitting:
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15)
