Jesus the Apostle
In missionary work we live the truth that Christ goes ahead and we follow.
He is the one who does the missionary work in the church, since He is “the apostle of our confession” (Hebrews 3:1).
Christ is “the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:22) and as head He is “the Savior of His body” (Ephesians 5:23).
He cares for the growth of the church and “contributes to the increase of its body and its edification” (Ephesians 4:16).
We are not missionaries, who stop in missionary areas. The missionary is one, Christ.
We are His deacons, His mouth, His hands. We lend ourselves for Him to act.
The souls are waiting
The Holy Spirit speaks to people’s hearts, inviting and teaching them. Only he who “has the Spirit understands all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15).
The Lord chooses those He will save. He chooses those who are ready for salvation. “Those whom He has predestined, He has called” (Rom. 8:30).
“Not everyone received the good news” (Romans 10:16).
It is accepted by those who are ready.
It is accepted by those who have been called.
So they are waiting.
They are waiting for God’s messengers, the “mouths of the Word”, the missionaries, to preach to them and invite them to salvation.
The Lord sends the Missionaries
Says Paul, “How shall they believe him, if they have not heard of him? And again, how shall they hear of him if someone does not preach to them? And how shall they preach rightly if the Lord does not send them?”
The missionary is not self-appointed, he is sent.
Sent by the Lord, sent by the Church.
The missionary “preaches the gospel, acting as a priest of God, so that all peoples may become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:16).
The call with the sermon
“To believe, one must hear the preaching, and preaching is done by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
The missionary, through preaching, “fishes” for the souls that were ready and leads them into the “seduction” of salvation.
The Missionary of the Church is Christ!
π. Chrysostomos Maidonis
Commissioner Boukobas
