While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.  - Acts 13:2-3

The passage above marks the official starting point for Christian missions to the nations (the commission to do so came from the lips of Jesus himself recorded in Matthew 28 and Acts 1). The deacon Philip had preached the gospel in Samaria to “half-Jews” (Acts 8). The apostle Peter had taken the gospel to the Roman Cornelius and his household (Acts 10), and in Acts 11 some Jews went to Antioch and preached to Hellenists there (Greek speaking Jews who combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Greek culture), but an official mission movement did not start until the Holy Spirit initiated one at Antioch, setting Barnabas and Saul apart for the work. The church at Antioch, in obedience to the Lord's command, laid hands on them as a way of commissioning them for the Lord's work and sent them off to Cyprus, the homeland of Barnabas. The rest is, as we say, history.

Barnabas and Saul (Paul) met with success during their first missionary journey, taking the gospel from Cyprus to the Roman province of Lycia, through Pisidian Antioch (a different city than the Antioch from which they had departed), to Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and then back again to Antioch in Syria (I know, it gets confusing), and finally back to Jerusalem to report on their travels and the Lord's work among the Gentiles. They also desired to seek instruction from the elders in Jerusalem on how Gentiles were to be included in the church. All along their journey they met with opposition and persecution, performed signs and wonders, and saw men and women converted from the dark world of paganism to the light of the gospel and hope in Jesus Christ. Christian missions continued unabated from that time forward, sometimes formally, at other times informally, with the message of salvation moving steadily from person to person until it had permeated the whole known world (Col. 1:23).

As we continue in our four-week Missions Emphasis this September and early October, we will focus primarily on the commissioning of Isaiah the prophet from Isaiah chapter 6: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” It appears that God has been commissioning his servants to go forth and proclaim his word for a very long time. When our short series concludes on Sunday, October 6, we will take up our Faith Promise to support missions through LifePoint in 2025.

There is so much work that is still to be accomplished in the kingdom of God. I believe that God is asking us, as he asked the church in Antioch, to set apart some for the work to which he has called them. I do not expect to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in the same manner in which the elders in Antioch did during that crucial turning point in the life of the early church, but I do believe that God has a continuing plan for the church to engage in missions so that all the nations might hear that there is hope in Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ alone.

Please join with me in being a part of the long and noble history of churches sending missionaries into the world, well provisioned and encouraged by the support of those who have partnered with them for the sake of the Name. It is part of what it means to be a sending church. It is part of what it means to be gospel-centered and a Great Commission church. It is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. To the glory of God, we have been a part of that noble tradition. Let us press on now, to that higher calling we have in Jesus Christ, until the work is done.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jym

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