Ramzi Adcock gives us motivations for reaching out to those from other countries on our doorsteps.
There is one true and living God, and he is the creator of the whole universe. In the Bible we see his plan to save his fallen creation (who rebelled against him) by the birth, death, resurrection, ascension and second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are shown vividly where all history is heading in Revelation
7:9-10, “9After
this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could
count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the
throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were
holding palm branches in their hands. 10And
they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."
God is at work in the world today! His desire is that repentance and the forgiveness of sins be preached in the name of Jesus to all nations (Luke 24:47).
And with or without the willing obedience of His people he will achieve his purposes. What is described above will happen. Where possible God will accomplish his will through the voluntary obedience and godliness of his people, but where necessary he will bring it about by involuntary means. He is after all the sovereign creator and ruler of the universe!
Those of us who are his people have been made righteous by the blood of Jesus and have been adopted into his family! Is there anything more awesome than that?! As his redeemed people how can we not 'declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light'(1 Peter 2:9)? As his people, how can we not join in with his plan to bring 'all things in heaven and on earth under one head, even Christ' (Ephesians 1:10)
That is our motivation for cross-cultural ministry. Involvement in 'mission' is not an optional extra for the super-keen or traveller-type Christian. If we really do believe that our God is the God of the WHOLE WORLD and that the gospel is God's means for the salvation of the WHOLE WORLD then we too will want to be involved in God's plan to bring people from all nations to know and trust in the Lord Jesus.
One obvious way to be involved is to go! To deliberately pack your bags, say good bye to loved ones and move to a group of people without the gospel with the aim of communicating the gospel to them. God has always used this 'strategy' – a Biblical example is the mission trips of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3). God is still doing this today - Ray Porter's article has more to say about this. This is our usual idea of 'mission' and it is crucial. There are huge areas of the world and many people groups that will simply have no access to the gospel message unless someone brings it to them.
I want, however, to focus on another 'strategy' that God uses and that is where he brings people who do not know about him to his people so they can hear the gospel. This reverses our usual idea of mission, but it is also how our sovereign God is working his purposes out. There are biblical examples – the Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon (1 Kings 10), the gentiles forcibly resettled in Israel by Cyrus the great (2 Kings 17), Ruth relocating to Judah from Moab, the Romans occupying Judea (eg Luke 7:1-10) and Greeks seeking out Jesus (eg John 12:20).
Granted, these are all pre-pentecost examples – where the primary 'model' was centripetal ('come and see') rather than centrifugal ('go and tell'). However in Acts 17: 26-27 we are reminded that our God is in control over people coming and goings and uses that to extend his kingdom: '26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
How is God at work like this today?
international students. There are over a million international students in the UK, with the number increasing annually. That is about the same as the population of Birmingham!
'Immigrant' workers. A recent home office report revealed “people born overseas account for 1/8 of the UK's working age population”. This group includes those who have recently moved here as well as those who are now long-term residents.
Asylum seekers/refugees. This includes those who are genuinely in need of protection, those who probably are not and those who are destitute (reached the end of the legal process but are unable/unwilling to return home and with no means of support).
I am well aware that for many in this country this influx of foreigners is not always seen in a positive light. Whatever we may think on these issues politically, we cannot but see this as a God-given opportunity to share with them the gospel. He is using this massive movement of peoples across nations to further the extension of His Kingdom to all nations. However, despite the apparent similarity of these groups they are actually very different and require a different approach – mainly depending on whether they will be around long-term (such as settled long-term residents) or not (international students).
For the last 10 years I have been involved in full-time ministry to international students in Newcastle. In the campuses around our church there are students from an estimated 100 different countries – many of them closed to the gospel.
International student ministry is without doubt a highly strategic one: our vision is no less than to reach the whole world for Jesus! We are investing in evangelising and training potential leaders - those in tertiary education - because they will form the new generation of biblically-sound young professionals who will influence their work places and churches in their home countries (or wherever God takes them). They are people who know their culture and speak the language and will go back and win many others to Christ. They will be involved in preaching and teaching God's word faithfully in their churches. They will reach out to the poor and underprivileged in their society. Maybe some of these people will accept a call to full-time ministry in their country or elsewhere.
How do we do that? We run a weekly café called “The Globe”, where we make contact with students studying in the city. Through the café (and sports events, day trips, weekends away and groups such as our English language class) we seek to build friendships and share the gospel with unbelievers. Our 'motto verse' for this aspect of the work is >'We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us' (1 Thessalonians 2:8). We run regular Christianity Explored courses (based on the English-Made-Easy version) and weekly Bible study groups for Christians where we seek to 'teach them to love God, share their faith and change the nations with the gospel. Our 'motto verse' here is '6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6-7).
What are some of the distinctive features of this ministry? There is a massive turnover of students – I have an almost totally new 'congregation' each academic year. That is hard. We are also generalists – while those travelling overseas over many years learn the language and how to effectively communicate the gospel to the people they are called to, we can find ourselves sharing the gospel in a group containing a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim and an atheist! But it is an amazing opportunity to see God drawing people from all nations to himself and developing in them a desire to know God, to be like him and to be with him.
Many churches across the country are already involved in this ministry and many more are realising the opportunities 'on our doorstep'. Friends International is a mission agency aiming to encourage and equip UK churches to reach international students (see www.friendsinternational.org.uk).
For those interested in work among asylum seekers and refugees there is a network called Enabling Christians in Serving Refugees (see www.ecsr.org.uk). Sadly, not all the groups in the network share our core convictions, but it is a good place to start.
Remember God is at work to ensure repentance and the forgiveness of sins is preached in the name of Jesus to all nations. Remember too that he will achieve his purposes with or without the willing obedience of His people. Will you choose to be a part of what he is doing in the world?