Risk

Dear Worshippers,

Risk - exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance: It's not worth the risk. One might say that there is no real risk in a life of faith. After all, God is Sovereign and in control of circumstances. While this is true, that doesn’t mean that communicating the gospel is without risk.

I just received an email from one of the missionaries who will be with us at Missions Conference next week. He was asking about a few details regarding his ministry here. At the bottom was some information from a previous email. Here is part of that.

My family and I are working in a creative access situation, so we have several things we would like you to do in regards to our coming:

- Do not post our full names or anything related to our work on your church web site.

- Do not put info about us on the church bulletin board.

- Do not broadcast or podcast the talks that I will give.

- Do not put our full names on any signs outside the church (for example a sign on the street telling what is coming up the next week).

- Do not put our full names or work in any advertisements you may make in local papers or media.

You quickly get a sense of the gravity of his situation, the risk he is taking to proclaim the gospel. If you think of the definition above in this context I think you will see where I'm going

We require these precautions because if our name is given to the country we are in by a [person of another religion] who sees it on your signs or ads, the country will deny our visa and our work will stop. I know that you do not want that, so I ask you to strictly adhere to this list to protect what we and the C & MA are doing in these hard to reach places.

The Gospel is worth the risk. That is easy for me to say, but I think this missionary will say the same. In addition to that, every redeemed soul will testify to such.

What “risks” are you taking, or are you willing to take for the gospel? Talking with that friend about Jesus, taking a stand against unethical behavior at work, telling your boss you can not work on Sunday because you do not want to miss church anymore, etc. Put yourself under the voice of those who are taking some risks, and I GUARANTEE you will be challenged. Are you up for that? I am praying and believing you will be.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott