Message Magazine Online - Vol. 53, No. 01, Spring 2005

In This Issue

• A Church on Every Block
  By Donna Messenger
• Preparing the Bride
  By Michael G. Loftis, President
• Tsunami Relief
• DNA and The Church: Biblical Church Multiplication
  By Norm Nicklas
• The Most Powerful Human Force in the World
  Dr. Michael G. Loftis, President
• Why Is Missions So White?
  By Bill Commons
• Invoking the Hand of God Together
  By Rev. Charles Ware
• The Missions Committee
  By Jim Ruff
• Equipping a Generation of Global Leaders
  By Jim Jeffery
• Global Access Partnerships: One Church’s Story - Part Two
  By Dave Livermore
• Missions Conferences With Impact
  An Interview with E.C. Haskell
• Women’s Missionary Groups: A Thing of the Past?
  By Dotty Ashley
• Into Life Eternal
• Children’s Corner

The Most Powerful Human Force in the World

Dr. Michael G. Loftis, President

I believe that when it is healthy and functioning properly, the church of Jesus Christ is the most powerful human force in the world. Such a statement should not surprise any Christian. Jesus Himself promised, on the basis of his identity as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” that He would build His church so that even “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:16-18). 

Today’s church, currently estimated to be approximately half a billion gospel-believing people, is larger than any army in the world.

Its members serve where armies will not go and carry no weapons. Instead, to proclaim the gospel, the church sends out its own as servants, equipped with a personal testimony of life change, a relationship with the living God, the truth of God’s Word, and the support of those members still at home who love them, assist them financially, uphold them in prayer, and communicate with them in many ways.

The mission of the church to take the gospel of Christ’s love to the world is difficult. How can a church cross the physical, political, and cultural barriers that seem to bar the way of communicating the gospel around the globe? The language barrier alone, with thousands of languages to learn and translations to be done, seems insurmountable.

Yet, no one local congregation is asked to complete this task on its own. The Great Commission is given to the Body as a whole, and only when churches work together in the power of God can they hope to achieve what Christ commanded. 

A mission board can play an important helping role, also, though it can never take the church’s place. When our family lived in Europe, we often saw centuries-old cathedrals completely enveloped in metal-and-wood-framed scaffolding for cleaning, maintenance, repair, or building. And that is precisely the right picture for a mission agency. At ABWE we see ourselves not as the main building but merely as the scaffolding to help the church to accomplish its mission to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that one reason God continues to bless us is because we refuse to attempt to replace the church, as an alternative institution. Through teamwork, we can together make a significant impact for Christ in the world.