I have recently been reading Let the Nations be Glad. It is one of the most definitive books on missions. Books like these can produce paradigm shifts in the way we view God's purposes. God is pursuing Glory from all peoples. Yet there are still people groups without a single church in their culture. That is why Missions is so important.
What drives us?
John Piper reminds us that missions is the "second greatest activity in the world" because it is the means to the greatest activity: worship from every nation tribe and tongue. "Missions is not a recruitment project for God's labor force. It is a liberation project from the heavy burdens and hard yokes of other gods". Because of this, our motivation is not oppressive but instead is joy filled. We do missions because we enjoy it. We want to bring others into the same enjoyment in Christ that we have.
Missions: a cause not a career
I love hearing stories about WWII. Not because war is good but because defeating evil is so important. When we collectively join together to send forth warriors to remove a tyrannical ruler it is a glorious thing. To pave the way for beauty and light is something we should long for with all our hearts. How much more glorious will it be when Satan is destroyed and the Kingdom of God comes.
Diversity
There is a widespread failure in the Church to recognize God's desire to see all nations gathering to worship him before the throne. Some how we think that all we need to do is to get a few more people saved. This is good but it is not what God has called us to do. Instead God desires that all the families of the earth be blessed to be a blessing (Gen 12:1-3). God is honored infinitely more in diversity!
Conclusion
The Main thing that this book left me with is that the task of the unreached people groups is something so close to God's purposes which we see in the Bible that it cannot be only a task for the people who choose missions as a career. This is a Cause for all of us.
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