All of life involves risk. Just growing up has risks, much less getting married, choosing a career, running a business, or raising children. What makes the risk worth it? We know that risk-taking exposes us to outcomes we never would have experienced otherwise — many of which are positive.
In his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, Robert Schnase names five familiar church practices and amplifies them with challenging adjectives. A fruitful church practices risk-taking mission and service. He writes: “Risk-taking mission and service is one of the fundamental activities of church life that is so critical that failure to practice it in some form results in a deterioration of the church’s vitality and ability to make disciples of Jesus Christ. When churches turn inward, using all resources for their own survival and caring only for their own people, then spiritual vitality wanes.”
What lifts missions and service to the level of fruitfulness? Ask yourself: “What have I — or we — done in the last six months to make a positive difference in the lives of others that we would not have done if not for our relationship to Christ?”
Risk-taking mission and service transforms the life of the recipient. People we help are genuinely helped when the gospel reaches them on the ground floor. Mission involves going out — and in so doing, God uses missionaries like us to bring help, healing, and hope. When that help comes from somebody who loves Jesus, the people who receive it know that Jesus loves them, too.
Missionaries will tell you that going out to love and serve also transforms the lives of those who are sent. When you risk yourself to help someone else, you become a channel through which the love of God flows — and your own relationship to God is strengthened.
In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus made the point plain: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (v. 40)
So the missions portion of each newsletter is not just a reporting tool — it is a standing invitation to meet Jesus. Every call to engage, participate, or try something new is a spiritual prompt to meet Jesus where he told us he can be found.
Andrew Young’s youngest daughter announced she was going to Uganda to work for Habitat for Humanity. He couldn’t believe she would go so far. He stood in the airport on a winter day, tears streaming down his face as he said goodbye. As the plane lifted out of sight, he turned away — and his aides heard him mutter: “I always wanted her to be a respectable Christian… but not a real one!”
What kind of Christian do you want to be? What kind of church do we want to be?
Grace and Peace,