Enter the Mission Field

Over the years I have been to a few churches which had at the exit of the parking lot a sign which read, "You are now entering the mission field."  The every Sunday pew sitters in the those churches likely drive past that sign every Sunday without giving it much thought.  Sometimes a word said too often is a word not heard.  It is still a good reminder of the obvious.  We do not attend worship on Sunday just for the good feelings, but to allow the worship to do for us what reading the Word is intended to do, "...to equip us for every good work."  (II Timothy 3:17).   

There was a time in my ministry when it seemed to me that sending mission teams to other countries was a poor use of resources.  According to my misguided view back then, more could be accomplished by sending the money required to send people instead of actually sending the people.  Such was my view until I went to a church that was already committed to sending mission teams before I ever arrived.  My opinions did not cool their spirit.  Actually, their spirit enabled me to see that I was very wrong.  When people came back from mission team work, they had an eye to do missions out the back door as well as far away.      

Those returning mission team members understood that the mission field was just outside the parking lot of the church and they went.  Anyone who does not see them is not looking very hard.  Find a shut in, or someone who is doing full time care for a loved one, or a single parent whose life is stretched beyond belief, or some community feeding ministry, or some older person who has trouble keeping the grass cut and you may find beyond that exit sign at the church parking lot an entrance sign into the mission field.