This past Sunday, we celebrated Global Mission Sunday with hundreds of churches around the world! Churches in Sri Lanka, Serbia, Japan, and Singapore! We were joined even by churches in Sierra Leone, despite their life and death crisis with the Ebola virus.
One pastor from Sierra Leone told me that although many churches in West Africa have stopped meeting for worship in order to avoid bodily contact or because they are in towns that have been ‘locked down’ by the government, it is their ‘honor to participate’ in the Lausanne Movement and Global Mission Sunday to ‘create awareness on global missions’.
God’s mission does not stop in the face of global crises. In fact the urgency is magnified as we look around us at a world desperately in need of the gospel and God’s saving grace.
I personally spent Global Mission Sunday at a weekend of events in various churches in Seoul, South Korea. A particular highlight this past weekend was preaching on global missions at a Daniel 21 Prayer gathering, where 3,500 met on site; the message was broadcast to 263 churches in Korea; and 36,000 more individuals joined us over the Internet! (Watch video of Michael’s message in English and Korean.)
On Sunday, I celebrated Global Mission Sunday at two beautiful and vibrant services in Seoul at Manna Church and Myung Sung Church. These churches, along with the three churches where I preached on Lausanne’s 40th Anniversary Sunday (Onnuri Church, Yoido Church, and Kwang Lim Church), are leading global mission efforts from Asia that are touching the whole world for Christ.
We are so thankful to be used by God to connect local churches to God’s mission on Global Mission Sunday. We are praying to see the gospel for every person, an evangelical church for every people, Christ-like leaders for every church, and kingdom impact in every sphere of society.
Would you join the Lausanne Movement in praying for and partnering toward the faithful fulfillment of God’s global mission?
We encourage you to continue praying for the three urgent issues raised in the Global Mission Sunday prayer bulletins. Please pray for the ongoing Ebola epidemic. Since our update in October from Nana Yaw Offei Awuku, Lausanne International Deputy Director for EPSA (English, Portuguese, and Spanish-speaking Africa), Mali has also joined the list of countries affected.
Please pray for the nationwide outreach taking place this month in Ukraine. Evangelical leaders have discerned that now is an opportune time for a widespread public proclamation of the gospel.
Lastly, please continue to pray for the Christian and worldwide response to radical Islam and for the many people groups and believers suffering due to jihadi groups.
Prayer bulletins for these issues are available in five languages in the resource toolkit developed for Global Mission Sunday.
Celebrate Global Mission Sunday at any time
The toolkit resources will continue to be available for churches and groups to use to celebrate Global Mission Sunday at any time. If your church wasn’t able to participate on 16 November, we encourage you to participate on a future Sunday. Simply sign up your church for immediate access to Global Mission Sunday resources.
Global Mission Sunday follow-up
For those who participated and would like to extend the focus on global mission beyond Global Mission Sunday, here are some suggested follow-up study series for small groups or adult Sunday school classes:
- Bible study on God’s heart for the nations.
- The Lausanne Covenant: Commentary and study questions by John Stott available online and in print.
- The Cape Town Commitment: A study edition and a small group DVD edition are both available in the Lausanne online bookstore.
- Studying Ephesians with the Global Church with accompanying DVD sessions, adapted from the main Bible expositions given during the Cape Town 2010 Congress by six different expositors from around the world.
You could also form a reading group to discuss and pray through articles from the Lausanne Global Analysis, our bi-monthly, online publication with evangelical analysis of current mission trends and world events.
We praise God for all his good work this past Sunday, and pray that every prayer, every action, every offering, and every good word will bear much fruit for his kingdom!