Day 8

     A mistake made by many is the think of the word mission as meaning work carried on somewhere else.  So they hope to send missionaries abroad but carry on no evangelism in their own area.  They send money to Liberia and the Philippines (as they should) but do not consider reaching our to the racial and national groups in their own area.  So, it is not unfair to say that some of you may have a theory of missionary work which “passes the buck.”  The parish does not conceive of itself as a mission station, but sends money on to the diocese fulfilling its responsibility in that way; and then sometimes a diocese passes on the total responsibility to the General Church; and then the General Church passes the money overseas (and we should send more than we do), for that is the only way we can fulfill a great part of our Lord’s command; but we must also see that the failure to be a missionary in our own area hurts the work abroad.  How can we give abroad what we do not possess ourselves?  Is not the Church abroad a reflection of a Church at home?  If the Church does not know how to make converts at home, why should it know how overseas?  If we cannot evangelize and grow here, why should we be able to evangelize just because we have crossed some water?  Part and parcel, therefore, of the whole missionary enterprise is the waking up of the Church in your diocese, so that a passion for souls here may be reflected in a new passion for souls in the ends of the earth.

Let me now suggest at least the beginnings of a missionary policy which, I believe, could lead our Church to rapid growth; and, for the reasons which I have stated, this should begin, but not end, at home.  These things are, of course, in addition to prayer and study…    

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction (by Fr. Steven J. Kelly)

  Friends – We have been in a virus imposed limbo since March of 2020.   During our shut down, and now our phased re-opening of the Church, priorities have been re-evaluated and it is as if the entire world, including The Church, has hit the RESET button.   The Vestry over the summer set out to read and discuss a book called Made for Mission: Renewing your parish culture by Tim Glemkowski.    As recommended in this book we recommitted to being a parish that is focused on mission.   What is that mission?   Simply stated, it is To know Christ, and to make Him known.   This has been our published mission statement, and Mr. Glemkowski’s book has started us thinking about how we can become more deeply focused on the primary work of the parish. The statement above assumes two things: that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and how he has revealed himself through the historic teaching of the Church, and that we know how to share that G...
Read more

Day 2

       In the first mediation we thought together about the central place of worship in the renewal of the Church…   We only deserve to grow as a Church if our devotion in God’s glory is deep, strong, and sure.    Now we can turn to the second means by which the Church is renewed. The Church is renewed by clear, exact, and precise thought.   A living Church always has a definite creed.   If we are to be God’s instrument, we must be able to show truth to the minds of men, and to proclaim that Christianity is not just helpful and beneficial; it is true.   And because it is true, it is helpful and beneficial.   Suppose that some hungry soul were to come among us and then turn away sadly saying, “They’re a vague lot without much to say for themselves.”   Weak reasoning can prevent the entrance of many people into the Church; and one of the interesting things to see is how converts to the Church such as C.S. Lewis, become clear ex...
Read more

Day 1

       First, since the Church was founded by Christ and He is its living head; since it is a divine body meant to be God’s instrument; it will always be renewed from above by waiting upon the Lord, by looking up, by worship.   In prayer and worship, which are means of Grace by which God’s life comes to us, we become what we could not otherwise become.   “This is why every Apostle, every Father of the Church, every leader and theologian who said anything of lasting value or helped to renew the Church – all these men were teachers of prayer and lovers of Scripture through which they communed with their living Lord”.   We revive when we look up, and in the Scriptures, Prayer, Sacrament receive the food which is offered to us.   We revive when we look up and receive to ourselves “the incomprehensible Grandeur of the Lord.”   “Both for perplexity and for dulled conscience the remedy is the same; sincere and spiritual worship.   “For,” says W...
Read more