In relation to evangelism I would like to recall two of those commitments.
The first was emphatically reaffirmed in another benchmark document adopted by the 211th General Assembly (1999) in Fort Worth, “A Vision for Church Growth in the PC(USA)”: “We declare the United States (including Puerto Rico) to be a mission field.”
What does that mean? The 1999 report explains:
Every Presbyterian congregation is called to: be a mission outpost; carry out the Great Commission to make disciples within its neighborhood, as well as the world; and prayerfully design a mission plan to be in ministry with those who are hurting, in need and without Christ.
Are we ready to recognize humbly, and to embrace that challenge?
Back in the early ’80s, Orlando Costas, a Latin American missiologist, declared the United States as a mission field, a new Macedonia, for Third World Christians. Are we cognizant of the fact that others see the United States as a mission field and are missionaries in our midst?
We have a wonderful program called Mission to the U.S.A. through which congregations receive someone from our worldwide partners for six weeks as a missionary to the congregation. This is mission as receiving. I constantly tell our international students at Austin Seminary that they come to the seminary and to this country as missionaries to us. Their insights and contributions in my classes have been tremendous.
A second exciting evangelistic challenge and opportunity, “Mission in the 1990s,” placed before the PC(USA) is frontier mission. This is marvelously illustrated in Presbyterians Light the Window, an informed, strategic and culturally sensitive approach to praying for the least-evangelized or unreached peoples of the world. As the introduction states: “There are still today, almost two billion people who have no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ, either because they live far from any church, or because the local Christians speak a different language or follow different traditions” (Boyland, p. xi).
Many PC(USA) congregations have committed to join God’s mission of intercession, presence and evangelism in specific people groups. Join them in a Commitment to Share the Good News. To learn more, mark on your calendars the Worldwide Ministries Division conference on Frontier Evangelism to be held Sept. 15-17 in San Diego.
Twenty-five percent of the world population still needs to hear the gospel, and have no witnessing faith community in their language. Let us embrace these challenges!
SHERRON KAY GEORGE is assistant professor of evangelism and missions at Austin Seminary.
