by James G. Smith
When we asked our BBFI missionaries what types of community outreaches were being used, we were impressed with the variety of expressions of love and compassion. We received responses from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Australia, and multiple responses from Africa.
A sincere Christ-follower will give of himself for the needs of others. Our Lord told his disciples on the night before His crucifixion that the mark of our identity would be our love. Love will always show itself by giving. So it is not unusual that many of our global partners use community outreach as a method in their ministries.
It seems to us that there are two great, biblical, Christian purposes that motivate community outreach.
The first is simply showing the love of God. The love of Christ constrains us. We display the love of Christ by the way we treat those who are less fortunate. This is not always measureable. The impact is not necessarily quantitative. We know that our Lord uses these acts of love and kindness.
James 2:15-17 “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
Charles Swindoll wrote in The Practical Life of Faith, “Because of our American pioneer heritage, we have a ‘pull-ourselves-up-by-the-bootstraps’, God-helps-those-who-help-themselves philosophy about life — which breeds contempt rather than compassion for the down-and-out ones in our society. As Christians, however, we are not called to be jurors trying the case of the less fortunate; we are called to be Good Samaritans.”
The second great purpose is, of course, evangelism. Community outreach can be a very effective tool in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. We earn the right to tell others about the spiritual state of the soul when we have helped with the temporal state of the body and mind.
So we want to discuss the various methods used by BBFI missionaries in different cultures to serve the needs of the people to whom they have been sent to proclaim the Good News. We are grateful for the cooperation of the missionaries featured on the following pages and for their willingness to help us inform and inspire. We asked them to tell about their specific community outreach program, tell how it is funded, and share some of the spiritual results. Some of them have included specific prayer requests. Pray for them as you read this.
One of the identifying marks of Baptist Bible Fellowship International missionaries is our emphasis and focus on church planting. We are committed to the task of establishing indigenous, biblically sound, and gospel-preaching local congregations in all the world. We would do well to elevate our line of sight in order to see the harvest that is ready. We would do well to encourage our younger ministers to invest their lives in the great missionary enterprise of the BBFI. We should not slow down until every people group on Earth has been impacted with the Good News! Let’s reach out into every community!
To read the entire Global Partners May 2011 click here.