Yesterday I shared some history on the link between foreign missions and the church as it chooses to “walk together” as an organized body that seeks to share Christ and have a life together around witness and mercy. The season of Epiphany is traditionally a time in the life of the Church that focuses especially on mission, missions, evangelism and the proclamation and sharing of the Good News of Christ. When we think about the baptism of Christ we are led to think about ours as well. When we think about baptism we are to “evaluate”, “consider”, “reckon”, according to Paul in Romans 6:11 that we are dead to sin and alive to God. The result of baptism is that God has chosen to use the simple means of the faithful confession of each and every baptized person to make known the wonderful news that all mankind is forgiven in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s what true evangelism means. From the Greek word “euangelion,” which means “gospel” or “good news of Christ,” we are called to simply “gospelize” the nations. Through you, God is still manifesting and making Christ known to a world buried in sin and darkness.
It is not the intention of any group or organization to hinder the spirit or stop people from doing what their baptism calls and equips them to do. If all of us are baptized into Christ all of us have work to do. We want to make our life together an opportunity for witness and mercy.
