Where there is no vision the people perish" is a universal truism! The unveiling or revelation of ideas and workable concepts is the forerunner of imaginative and creative action.
It takes vision to see a beautiful work of art in a piece of rough marble, and vision for an architect to see a beautiful palace coming to life in the first draft of the plans he sketches.
Foresight, insight, and hindsight are the triple triggers to the fulfillment of any undertaking. Without any one of the three, the others have little focus.
Churches have been studying how to cast an evangelistic vision that is bolder than anything tried in the past.
The regular methods of evangelism that are still relevant need to be broadened to include a greater initiative to reach the mil lions who have barely any interest in the Christian faith or in the church.
Where Christianity becomes more and more one of the many religious or life options available, we need to seriously and deliberately implement the witnessing methods of Jesus, who mingled among the people as one desiring their good. Though it may not seem so at first, this approach necessitates quite a radical revisioning process.
Revisioning
In this process of revisioning, the British Union of Seventh-day Adventists has embarked on a program of education and training of the church members to practice what Jesus did. Of first priority, it involves making friends with the unchurched and becoming genuinely contagious Christians.
This in turn calls for a cognitive and spiritual shift in mind-set that becomes uncomfortable with having friends only in the community of saints. It envisions having the eyes of our people opened to see the transforming work of God in the life of the lost. It takes a vision greater than ourselves or any plans we have made so far.
The course of action we are taking toward reaching our goal will be long-term, spanning a period of five or more years. We shall not be focusing on quick statistical results but on a meaningful engagement with the people around us, to bring them to Christ.
This venture to befriend those living in a paradigm different from ours will call for patience and the commitment of liberal proportions of our resources, financial and otherwise.
Generally there are risks when a person or organization seeks to chart a new path or veer in a different direction. The risk here is, of course, that the vision could be frustrated. Unforeseen circumstances could cause us to rearrange the way we do ministry in coming months and years.
The imperative of the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations includes God's assurance of success. Jesus' promise is "I am with you always" (Matt. 28:20, NKJV). Jesus risked His position in heaven and in the process lost His life to save sinners. His victory becomes ours when we become coworkers with Him.
His vision for the church in Western Europe and the world at large is illustrated in some of His parables: the net cast into the sea bringing in a large shoal of fish; the sower sowing on all kinds of soil, including the good soil, the seeds of the gospel. Whenever, under God, purposeful actions are taken by His disciples to present the gospel to others, a harvest is guaranteed.
We cannot ignore the fact that something has to be done (a) to recover the lost coin buried in the confusion of these times, (b) find the lost sheep entangled in the thicket of a jumbled world, and (c) prepare the church to receive the lost boy estranged in the blind alley of the world from his Father's house.
Resonating with people's need
The church must not only find relevant answers and approaches to the world but it must resonate with its needs. In a world where pleasure and leisure are twin gods and the old Christian values are taken for grant ed or openly rejected, we as the family of God have a responsibility to make the vision clear as to what is God's will.
Our lives themselves must reflect those eternal values that make us authentic, wholesome Christians. Our modeling of Christ's love must say that "we are His disciples."
The Life Development approach (see <www.LifeDevelopment.info> on the World Wide Web) described in the themed articles of this Ministry issue, is the beginning of a significant journey toward the accomplishment of our God-given mission. We believe that wherever there are people, there are seekers after God. Thousands are behind closed doors at work, in academic institutions, on the streets, and everywhere else. They want answers to their basic needs of love, security, and survival. Who knows, in trying to enter their hearts by satisfying their felt needs, the uninitiated may have a glimpse of God.
Empowerment of God's people by the Holy Spirit gives us courage to interface with the religiously indifferent in redemptive ways.
Jesus' last words to His apostles on the Mount of Olives were, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in the . . . [world]" (Acts 1:8, NIV).
The spiritual gifts given to the church must be harnessed as tools to create pathways for tired feet to take on their way to the kingdom. Only through the Holy Spirit and His gifts to us can we achieve a state of connectedness with those waiting to be saved.
We are assured that whatever we ask Jesus in prayer He will supply. He has given us a vision, and by His grace we are willing to run with it.
Events on our earth, both political and natural, are moving in rapid succession. We need to quickly engage this generation in the eschatological urgency of God's gift of salvation.
