One of the convictions we hold strongly in Lightbearers Christian Network, and one of the principles we consistently teach at Lightbearers Bible & Missions Training Centre, is that God’s primary strategy for reaching the nations is His Church.
While God may raise individuals, missionary teams, and missions organizations for specific assignments, the responsibility of taking the Gospel to every tribe, tongue, village, and people group ultimately belongs to the Church.
The Great Commission was not given to a few enthusiasts but entrusted to the Body of Christ.
This conviction has led us to reflect deeply on a question that often arises whenever the subject of missions is discussed in certain circles.
Over the years, we have encountered pastors and Church leaders who believe missionaries should submit their mission work to local assemblies. While there are valid conversations to be had about accountability, oversight, and biblical order, we often respond with a simple question:
“If this work were submitted to your assembly, would your Church be willing to send trained and equipped members to the places where many missionaries currently labour?”
The answer to that question often reveals a deeper issue which we have seen and it is the fact that many of our Churches, particularly in urban centres, have become accustomed to comfort. We have become familiar with abundance but unfamiliar with abasement. We have learnt how to gather crowds, build structures, and organize events, yet many believers have never been discipled enough to embrace hardship for the sake of Christ and His Gospel.
Now, please don’t misquote us – this is not a criticism of every Church. There are assemblies faithfully engaging the mission fields and making significant sacrifices for the Kingdom. Nevertheless, the truth is that many believers see rural missions as unusual, inconvenient, or even optional.
Yet when we open the Scriptures, we discover a very different picture.
Our Lord Jesus Christ consistently went to places others overlooked, traveling through villages, crossing regions, seeking forgotten people, and ministered to communities that many considered insignificant. The apostles followed the same pattern, taking the Gospel wherever Christ had not yet been named.
The burden of God has never been limited to cities alone. His heart extends to every community, every village, every people group, and every soul.
If the Gospel is to penetrate the neglected and underserved regions of our nations, then the Church must embrace her responsibility.
And one of the most important responsibilities of the Church is PRAYER.
Before there can be sustained harvest, there must be sustained intercession.
Jesus Himself told His disciples:
“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37–38)
You will notice that before Jesus spoke about GOING, He spoke about PRAYING.
Prayer is not a substitute for missions, but the birthplace of missions. Men and women who genuinely carry communities before God in prayer eventually begin to carry those same communities in their hearts.
Intercession creates burden, burden produces obedience and bedience produces true labourers.
This is the Church must intentionally pray for rural communities. Our services, prayer meetings, and gatherings should regularly make room for the villages, towns, and unreached places where Christ is still scarcely known.
If we do not carry souls before God in prayer, we will struggle to carry them on our shoulders in missionary service.
We may preach about missions, organize conferences about missions, raise funds for missions and celebrate missionary stories and accomplishments; if prayer does not go ahead of these works, then the results will always fall short of what God desires.
The history of missions demonstrates to us that every significant advance of the Gospel has been preceded by men and women who travailed in prayer.
Spiritual harvest has never been produced merely by activity; it was always birthed through dependence upon God.
The villages are still waiting.
The unreached are still waiting.
The harvest remains plentiful.
The question is whether the Church will once again embrace the burden of Christ for the nations.
May God raise Churches that not only talk about missions but pray for missions, give to missions, send labourers into missions, and willingly embrace the sacrifices required to see the Gospel reach the ends of the earth.
The Great Commission is still in force.
The harvest is still ripe, and the call to go has not changed.
Grace to you!
