Phillips Brooks, pastor of the Boston Trinity Episcopal Church during the mid-nineteenth century, is best known for writing the great Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem." During his pastoral days he was nationally noted for his pulpit oratory---no small feat in a denomination in which liturgy is the primary focus of worship.
On one occasion, when asked what he would do to build up and revive a struggling congregation, he replied: clean up the church, announce a revival, ring the bell loudly, and gather the congregation for a powerful sermon on preaching the gospel to all the world. Then take up an offering to support foreign missions.
Indeed, such was the missionary spirit of the time. And such is the tradition and heritage of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which sprang up during this missionary era. By 1870 the mission offering, as part of the Sabbath school program, was an established feature of the giving pattern of the church. Not long after its beginning, this offering totaled 25 to 30 percent of the tithe. This level of giving continued into the 1960s.
World mission in today's church
Today the world church scene has changed. We have a growing church with a complex financial structure. The development of educational and institutional facilities and the proliferation of "project giving" in recent years make it difficult to compare and describe giving patterns for world mission funding. But best estimates would place current mission giving in North America at around 10 percent of tithe. Given both our heritage and the challenge of the gospel commission, we would be wise to remember the counsel of Brooks. If you really want to revive your church, don't neglect the worldview. This world challenge, provocatively presented, elicits a mature spiritual and stewardship response in our congregations.
With today's technology and abundant availability of materials, the possibilities for creative worship in the context of world mission seem limited only by one's willingness to imagine. Unfortunately, the diligence with which the Sabbath school has traditionally undertaken the mission emphasis of the church has seemed to cause us as pastors to assume that this part of the work of the church has already been covered. And thus the worship service rarely---if ever---focuses on the broader aspect of world mission.
How one church did it
What a tragedy to leave such a rich experience out of the worship calendar. Surely any church would enjoy a "World Mission Sabbath" such as we recently enjoyed with the Kettering, Ohio, church. Pastor Dan Stevens focused the experience of the entire day on world mission. The Sabbath school program featured the Asia-Pacific Division---the recipient of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering for the quarter.
The church service opened with a parade of nations processional. Church members who had lived in or served as missionaries and student missionaries in some 49 countries of the world---many of them in costume---carried their flags to the front of the auditorium and placed them in the chancel area, where they graced the worship service with their multicolored beauty.
All parts of the service focused on the theme of world mission, including the scripture reading, the hymns, prayers, anthem, offering, children's story, and sermon. At the close of the sermon the congregation read the following litany as a response to the challenge of the gospel commission. Then during the recessional the flags were removed from the chancel and placed in the fellowship hall, where an international fellowship dinner was served. This in turn was followed by the presentation of mission videos and the children's mission story, called "Junior Journal on Missions," a new production of Mission Spotlight for junior-age children.
The occasion was festive, and the spirit of the church was one of rejoicing at the blessings of God on His people. Such events should not be used as an occasion for "hard-sell" fund-raising, or for "guilt trips" designed to raise money. These are worship experiences in which the congregation rejoices together at the wonders of the grace of God as He includes His people in the glorious work of giving the good news of salvation to the whole world. Nor is such a mission service only for larger congregations. An inspiring mission-oriented worship can easily be adapted to virtually any congregation.
A new approach
The Atlanta North Seventh-day Adventist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, recently initiated a new approach to world mission emphasis. Judy Carter of Mission Spotlight directs the program. The materials she uses are available to other churches. On the third Sabbath of each month all Sabbath school divisions from the juniors up meet together. Hags of the countries in the world divisions being featured for the quarter provide color and an expanded atmosphere. The one-hour program varies. From time to time it includes such features as a quiz on Adventist mission, narrated panto mimes, a junior story, Adventist world news, devotional materials, music, Mission Spotlight, and an appeal for the world mission offering.
On this day the kindergarten and primary groups meet together for a program called "King's Kids." It is similar to a Vacation Bible School pro gram and is likewise available through Mission Spotlight. These materials can be obtained by writing to Mission Spotlight, 4280 Memorial Drive, Decatur, Georgia 30032.
The mission: A litany of service and the Word
Hear the Word
Leader: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 1 The word of God is living and active.
Congregation: Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Leader: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Congregation: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.2
Leader: Faith conies from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.3
Congregation: As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."4
Acknowledge the call
Inquirer: How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?5
Leader: I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
Congregation: And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"6
Accept the challenge
Church Elders: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
Deacons and Deaconesses: He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, ... to comfort all who mourn.
Congregation: And provide for those who grieve in Zion to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. . . . 7
Join the service
Inquirer: Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke...
Congregation: Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter
Inquirer: When you see the naked, to clothe him, and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Congregation: Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear;
Leader: Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Congregation: Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
Leader: If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
Congregation: Then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 8
Know the mission
Leader: And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations,
Congregation: And then the end will come. 9
Leader: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Congregation: And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. 10
Singing (to the tune of "God of Our Fathers")
Heralds of Christ,
who bear the King's commands,
Immortal Tidings in your mortal hands,
Pass on and carry swift the news you bring:
Make straight, make straight
the highway of the King.
Through desert ways,
dark fen, and deep morass,
Through jungles, sluggish seas,
and mountain pass, Build ye the road, and falter not, nor stay;
Prepare across the earth
the King's highway.
Where once the crooked trail
in darkness wound,
Let marching feet and joyous songs resound.
Where burn the funeral pyres,
and censers swing,
Make straight, make straight
the highway of the King.
Lord, give us faith
and strength the road to build,
To see the promise of the day fulfilled,
When war shall be
no more and strife shall cease
Upon the highway of the Prince of Peace.
Enter the joy
Leader: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ...Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
Inquirer: Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?"
Leader: The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." 11
Receive the benediction
Leader: Before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name, I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.12
* All scripture references in this litany are from the New International Version.
1. Deut. 8:3.
2. Heb. 4:13, 14.
3. Rom. 10:17.
4. Verses 11-13.
5. Verses 14, 15.
6. Isa. 6:8.
7. Isa. 61:1-3.
8. Isa. 58:6-10.
9. Matt. 24:14.
10. Matt. 28:19, 20.
11.Matt. 25:31-40.
12. Eph. 3:14-21.
