“Arise! Shine! For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! Darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you. Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.” - Isaiah 60:1-3
Today is our last day in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia and I can’t wait to get home. I look forward to being with the people I love and sharing all God is doing in this part of the world. As I reflect, I find my heart drawn to this verse from Isaiah. We have spent the last two weeks interviewing church planters, treating church planters and villagers through our medical clinic, and hearing story after story of the deep darkness that exists over here. What these men and women lack in resources they more than make up in courage as they face the darkness armed only with the light of the gospel! And what’s happening is a miracle! Entire regions of Ethiopia are coming to Christ! Benishangl-Gumuz. West Shewa. In the last decade or more, our brothers and sisters have heroically faced down witch doctors, Muslims, and Coptic Orthodox in order to plant over 3,200 gospel-centered churches and at last count, over 300,000 people have given their lives to Christ!
Now we are in Dire Dawa. A region of the country dominated by Islam. Already churches are being planted among the Somali people. Already the gospel is reaching into Djibouti in the north, Kenya in the south, and we expect churches to be planted in Somalia in the coming years. Thousands of Muslims are hearing the good news of the gospel and coming to Christ. Next, we will head south to the Borena region. Soon we will move north, planting churches among the Amhara and Tigray. The harvest fields are ripe and God is raising up faithful, courageous church planters to send out into those fields!
As always, I ask the Lord what our role is to be in this great work? What does He want us to do? We know the needs are great. Not just here in Ethiopia but in Bangladesh. Kazakhstan. Haiti. SE Asia. North and South Korea. Bolivia. All places where we support missionaries who are sacrificing so much for the sake of the gospel. The needs are great in our own country and community as well. Home. School. Work. Neighborhood. All places God sends us as missionaries to share the gospel!
To be Christian is to be a missionary. To love God is to love the people God loves. The lost. The lonely. The busy. The hurting. To follow Christ is to follow His lead in extending compassion and grace and proclaiming the truth to those in need wherever they may be found. To serve Christ is our highest calling and to this great end, we must “mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
Friends, we have been blessed to be a blessing. God has chosen to entrust us with His resources so that we may be part of helping the Great Commission come to pass! When you stop and think about it, we are among the most highly educated, highly trained, highly gifted, and highly resourced people in the world. There has never been a time in history when the church of Jesus Christ had at her disposal the resources we possess! And all God asks is that we open our hands. Open our hearts. Be generous with our time. Our talent. Our treasure. Just as He lavished on us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, He calls us to do the same for the sake of the world He loves so much!
The Lord is rising! His glory has dawned! Nations are coming to His light! Kings are drawn to the brightness of His rising! So arise, PEPC! Shine, PEPC! For Christ, your light, has come! God is building His church! The gates of hell cannot stand against it! The lost are being saved! The lonely are being comforted! The sick are being healed! The dead are being raised! Not just in Ethiopia but in Parker, CO! How can you be a part? What role is God calling you to play? What will you sacrifice to take this gospel to the nations?