PURPOSE STATEMENT
IT'S TIME: Christian history is littered with wonderful opportunities which were sadly squandered. In the year 1266, the great Emperor of the Mongol world empire, Kublai Khan, requested that 100 missionaries be sent to his palace in Beijing. He laid down this challenge to Marco Polo: "Send me a hundred men learned in your religion, who in the face of these sorcerers will show their mastery by making the sorcerers powerless to perform these marvels in their presence. Then I will be baptized, and all my magnates and barons will do likewise, and their subjects in turn. Then there will be more Christians here than there are in your part of the world." By the time the first team of missionaries arrived in China 28 years later, Kublai Khan was already dead and the Mongol people had embraced Buddhism, which remains their religion to the present time. A golden opportunity was missed.
Centuries later, in 1945, a devastated Japan lay in ruins in the aftermath of World War II. The U.S. General Douglas MacArthur stated, "Japan is in a spiritual vacuum. Send 5,000 missionaries and 10 million Bibles and Japan will be filled with Christianity." Few Bibles or missionaries were sent, and Japan remains Buddhist to the present time. Only about 1% of Japan's 125 million people are Christian today. Another great opportunity was lost. (By Paul Hattaway)
Centuries later, in 1945, a devastated Japan lay in ruins in the aftermath of World War II. The U.S. General Douglas MacArthur stated, "Japan is in a spiritual vacuum. Send 5,000 missionaries and 10 million Bibles and Japan will be filled with Christianity." Few Bibles or missionaries were sent, and Japan remains Buddhist to the present time. Only about 1% of Japan's 125 million people are Christian today. Another great opportunity was lost. (By Paul Hattaway)
"Satan is so much more in earnest than we are--he buys up
the opportunity while we are wondering how much it will cost."
-- Amy Carmichael
There are specific seasons in the history of a church when the Spirit of God opens a door of opportunity. He makes it clear to the listening, sensitive heart by His leading through the Bible, preaching, heart-burden, and circumstances. The surrendered Christian recognizes the movement. When this occurs, it's time for the church to mobilize into aggressive action. Such a season is upon Cornerstone Baptist Church. Can any doubt that God has been guiding the church skillfully into a position of readiness to launch a campaign to fulfill the rest of His Great Commission? It's time for the church to respond to this opportunity as a whole. It would be wonderful if a few individuals come to the altar and answer the call to a foreign field, but God is looking for an entire church to make global outreach their heart mission. With the lost opportunities of China and Japan as a backdrop, the question that must be answered is this: will Cornerstone Baptist Church recognize--it's time--and seize the moment?
TO CONNECT: When the 1st Century Church at Antioch was not even 30 years old, it began to actively engage in God's global mission by connecting with unreached people groups. Through warfare prayer, fasting, and sending out workers, this young church soon achieved enormous spiritual breakthroughs in Asia Minor and the European continent. This dynamic connection resulted in a church planting movement with multitudes of new churches started and a vision to reach the uttermost! By the end of the 1st Century, this was the testimony of Justin Martyr, an early church father, as he viewed the impact of ordinary churches like Antioch:
TO CONNECT: When the 1st Century Church at Antioch was not even 30 years old, it began to actively engage in God's global mission by connecting with unreached people groups. Through warfare prayer, fasting, and sending out workers, this young church soon achieved enormous spiritual breakthroughs in Asia Minor and the European continent. This dynamic connection resulted in a church planting movement with multitudes of new churches started and a vision to reach the uttermost! By the end of the 1st Century, this was the testimony of Justin Martyr, an early church father, as he viewed the impact of ordinary churches like Antioch:
There is not a nation either Greek or Barbarian or of any other name,
even those who wander in tribes or live in tents, among whom prayers
and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the
Universe in the name of the Crucified Jesus.
-- Unknown
We must remember that one church--one ordinary church filled with ordinary people--accomplished much of this by God's power in one generation. Other churches were stirred by the example and joined the effort. Here is a crucial point: it wasn't a missions agency or a committee or a super saint; it was a church! They were not content to simply read a report, say a few prayers, send financial support, and hope for the best. They took the matter of reaching the world as their own responsibility. The entire church chose to connect to the uttermost! And God enabled them to do greater works in His name!
We cannot be content to sit back any longer, satisfied to simply send funds and pray on a casual basis for the uttermost. We must make the vital spiritual and literal connection. It is time that we force the issue with the enemy, engage the battle in a geographic region, get on the offensive, and seek to gain real ground for our King! It's time to CONNECT!
In order to connect, each believer will have to work in cooper- ation with their fellow followers of Jesus to ensure a spiritual breakthrough in some distant, unreached people group. The passion to connect cannot be the goal of a select few. We cannot rest easy with assigning our global responsibility to a few people we support as our delegates. God isn't looking for a proxy missionary force--He has chosen Cornerstone Baptist Church (CBC) to connect!
If we are to follow the Lord and connect with the uttermost, organizing and supporting disciple-making missions will have to become an integral part of every believer's life. Strategic, global, church-multiplying projects must become the essential work of the entire church body! This is how we will be able to connect!
TO THE UTTERMOST: There are nearly 7,000 unreached people groups (UPG) in the world presently; about 40% of the world population. They make up what we would call the uttermost. In America alone, there are roughly 14,000 fundamental independent Baptist Churches that still believe in soul-winning. That means that if at least half of the churches adopted a single region, the Great Commission could be completed in one generation--our generation!
It is not feasible or wise for the average church to attempt connecting with multiple regions. Spread so thin, eventually the task is seen as a nice theory. The church becomes satisfied to simply talk about "how great it would be" if we could just reach all these areas. In the end, the impossible nature of the task becomes a way to generalize the burden and ease a stricken conscience. Sadly, years and decades pass without any real connection being made to the uttermost.
God's wisdom and ways are always practical and productive! We can best help fulfill "the rest" of the Great Commission by focusing on one UPG, one region, at least at the beginning. As God gives tangible, marginal results of conquest over the enemy in this specific region, other solid churches will be stirred to see what could be done if they adopt a UPG, and so on.
God has clearly been leading CBC to adopt the West Nile Region and the ministry of Sam Moss. This does not mean that we disregard our other missionaries/fields. We continue to give faithfully to meet their needs and pray for their burdens. We remain sensitive to the Lord's promptings for all places in the uttermost. In time, as the outreach in Russia develops, God may open the door for a specific region or UPG in Russia.
It's time to connect in a very dynamic way to the work in the West Nile Region. It's time to claim this ground for God and take literal steps of faith in whatever offensive strategies our Lord prescribes! It's time that CBC's influence no longer be limited by Satan to the state of Idaho. It's time we let this fact sink in deep: CBC can win the conquest for the West Nile Region. It's time that Christ gets from His church what He died to obtain: the uttermost! Let us arise and take the land!
Practically, this will require a greater knowledge of the region God has put on our hearts. We need to learn more about the culture and the obstacles to faith in Christ. These people must become our people as God's Spirit lays the burden on our hearts. Each follower of Jesus needs to be willing to follow the crucified One to Uganda as God calls individuals and forms teams for specific campaigns. We will need simple training and strict obedience to God's plan for reaching lost people and training them to reach their own people in a systematic way. Then we must get our feet on the ground!
Though every person will not be able to go, each believer will need to help support teams as they go to the field of service. The primary form of support is in warfare prayer against the works of darkness. We will need to learn how to pray for key people and key battles. We must be constantly locked into the battle with fervent, insightful, Spirit-filled intercession.
All this being done in Jesus' Name and in the Spirit's power, we have perfect hope that God the Father's will on earth will be accomplished through CBC. We can do this if we will. It's time to connect to the uttermost!
We cannot be content to sit back any longer, satisfied to simply send funds and pray on a casual basis for the uttermost. We must make the vital spiritual and literal connection. It is time that we force the issue with the enemy, engage the battle in a geographic region, get on the offensive, and seek to gain real ground for our King! It's time to CONNECT!
In order to connect, each believer will have to work in cooper- ation with their fellow followers of Jesus to ensure a spiritual breakthrough in some distant, unreached people group. The passion to connect cannot be the goal of a select few. We cannot rest easy with assigning our global responsibility to a few people we support as our delegates. God isn't looking for a proxy missionary force--He has chosen Cornerstone Baptist Church (CBC) to connect!
If we are to follow the Lord and connect with the uttermost, organizing and supporting disciple-making missions will have to become an integral part of every believer's life. Strategic, global, church-multiplying projects must become the essential work of the entire church body! This is how we will be able to connect!
TO THE UTTERMOST: There are nearly 7,000 unreached people groups (UPG) in the world presently; about 40% of the world population. They make up what we would call the uttermost. In America alone, there are roughly 14,000 fundamental independent Baptist Churches that still believe in soul-winning. That means that if at least half of the churches adopted a single region, the Great Commission could be completed in one generation--our generation!
It is not feasible or wise for the average church to attempt connecting with multiple regions. Spread so thin, eventually the task is seen as a nice theory. The church becomes satisfied to simply talk about "how great it would be" if we could just reach all these areas. In the end, the impossible nature of the task becomes a way to generalize the burden and ease a stricken conscience. Sadly, years and decades pass without any real connection being made to the uttermost.
God's wisdom and ways are always practical and productive! We can best help fulfill "the rest" of the Great Commission by focusing on one UPG, one region, at least at the beginning. As God gives tangible, marginal results of conquest over the enemy in this specific region, other solid churches will be stirred to see what could be done if they adopt a UPG, and so on.
God has clearly been leading CBC to adopt the West Nile Region and the ministry of Sam Moss. This does not mean that we disregard our other missionaries/fields. We continue to give faithfully to meet their needs and pray for their burdens. We remain sensitive to the Lord's promptings for all places in the uttermost. In time, as the outreach in Russia develops, God may open the door for a specific region or UPG in Russia.
It's time to connect in a very dynamic way to the work in the West Nile Region. It's time to claim this ground for God and take literal steps of faith in whatever offensive strategies our Lord prescribes! It's time that CBC's influence no longer be limited by Satan to the state of Idaho. It's time we let this fact sink in deep: CBC can win the conquest for the West Nile Region. It's time that Christ gets from His church what He died to obtain: the uttermost! Let us arise and take the land!
Practically, this will require a greater knowledge of the region God has put on our hearts. We need to learn more about the culture and the obstacles to faith in Christ. These people must become our people as God's Spirit lays the burden on our hearts. Each follower of Jesus needs to be willing to follow the crucified One to Uganda as God calls individuals and forms teams for specific campaigns. We will need simple training and strict obedience to God's plan for reaching lost people and training them to reach their own people in a systematic way. Then we must get our feet on the ground!
Though every person will not be able to go, each believer will need to help support teams as they go to the field of service. The primary form of support is in warfare prayer against the works of darkness. We will need to learn how to pray for key people and key battles. We must be constantly locked into the battle with fervent, insightful, Spirit-filled intercession.
All this being done in Jesus' Name and in the Spirit's power, we have perfect hope that God the Father's will on earth will be accomplished through CBC. We can do this if we will. It's time to connect to the uttermost!