Radical Missionary

On Friday, March 18, two of our Associate pastors will be flying to Cardiff, Wales. U.K. We are asking all the friends of New Life to keep them in your prayers, for safety and that The Lord will direct their paths & plans… Jason Evans and Andy Patton are going on a 5 day exploratory visit to the place of our Senior Pastor’s Birth… Wales, a nation that in times past has seen some of the greatest moving of God’s Spirit among mere mortals.. (Search “Welsh Revival” It is believed that at least 100,000 people became Christians during the 1904–1905 revival)….

Today, unfortunately the nation of wales is in a deep spiritual decline…

Church Attendance in Wales Slumps…. http://tinyurl.com/5umm24n

We are “unsure” of the “What” we can do, but for several months have felt a stirring to “Do” something to reach the younger generation of this land… with that in mind we are planning on meeting with several local small churches to see if there would be a possibility of NL doing a summer “Outreach Missions” trip either this year or in the summer of 2012. They will also meet with the “First” Assembly of God Missionary to Wales… Bruce Page. http://tinyurl.com/6d5y4js

We are really in the early stages of development & planning with regard to Wales but earnestly covet your Prayer... It is Exciting to “Anticipate” WHAT God will Do!

We have always been a “Missions” Church… and we want to Thank-You again for being a part of Praying & “Giving” to the cause of Lost Souls through your Monthly Faith Promise to Missions & Outreach her at NL through this program we are able to support 40+ Missionaries on a monthly basis, all around the Globe…… (If You are not yet a part of that program, see Pastor Jason or Patty Papp in church, or call the office)

Did you know that YOU can “BE” a Missionary?

Take a survey of who you work with, live with, and I am sure you will discover you are living in a land of Lost-Souls….

Who will Love them… Who will Tell them…?

Who Me? Yes YOU can “Be The Church” You Can “Be The Change”

It is Amazing what God can do with Willingness…not ability just availability…

Check out this story of a young 21 year old who made himself “Radically Available” to God’s Plan & Purpose… You and I may never travel to foreign soil, we may not speak to thousands, but we can share with “One” the water that Christ has poured out into our lives…

Can you find “One” to share with this week?

Radical Missionary….

In September 1853, a little three-masted clipper ship slipped quietly out of Liverpool harbor with Hudson Taylor, wild-eyed 21-year-old missionary, aboard. He was headed for a country that was just coming into the Christian West's consciousness; only a few dozen missionaries were stationed there. By the time Taylor died a half-century later, however, China was viewed as the most fertile and challenging of mission fields as thousands volunteered annually to serve there.

Taylor’s parents were a Methodist couple fascinated with the Far East who had prayed for their newborn, "Grant that he may work for you in China." As a teenage Hudson experienced a spiritual birth during an intense time of prayer. He spent the next years in frantic preparation, learning the rudiments of medicine, studying Mandarin, and immersing himself ever deeper into the Bible and prayer.

Upon his arrival in Shanghai Taylor made a radical decision (at least for Protestant missionaries of the day): he decided to dress in Chinese clothes and grow a pigtail (as Chinese men did). His fellow Protestants were either skeptical or critical. (What Would you be willing to “Change” to Reach People?)

Taylor was not happy with most missionaries he saw: he believed they were "worldly" and spent too much time with English businessmen and diplomats who needed their services as translators. He wanted the Christian faith taken to the interior of China. So within months of arriving, he and Joseph Edkins set off for the interior sailing down the Huangpu River distributing Chinese Bibles and tracts.

When the Chinese Evangelization Society, which had sponsored Taylor, proved incapable of paying its missionaries in 1857, Taylor resigned and became an independent missionary; trusting God to meet his needs. The same year, he married Maria Dyer, daughter of missionaries stationed in China. He continued to pour himself into his work, and his small church in Ningpo grew to 21 members. But by 1861, he became seriously ill and was forced to return to England to recover.

In England, the restless Taylor continued translating the Bible into Chinese (a work he'd begun in China), studied to become a midwife, and recruited more missionaries. Troubled that people in England seemed to have little interest in China, he wrote, "Can all the Christians in England sit still with folded arms while these multitudes [in China] are perishing—perishing for lack of knowledge—for lack of that knowledge which England possesses so richly?"

Convinced a special organization was needed to evangelize the interior of China, he made plans to recruit 24 missionaries: two for each of the 11 unreached inland provinces and two for Mongolia. It was a radical visionary plan that would increase the number of China missionaries by 25 percent.

Taylor himself was wracked with doubt: he worried about sending men and women unprotected into the interior; at the same time, he despaired for the millions who were dying without the hope of the gospel. In 1865 he wrote in his diary, "For two or three months, intense conflict … Thought I should lose my mind." When visiting a friend on south coast of England and while walking along the beach Taylor's gloom lifted: "There the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service. I told him that all responsibility as to the issues and consequences must rest with him; that as his servant it was mine to obey and to follow him."

This was the birth of the China Inland Mission (CIM) which pioneered a number of distinctive features: its missionaries would have no guaranteed salaries nor could they appeal for funds; they would simply trust God to supply their needs; its missionaries would adopt Chinese dress and press the gospel into the China interior.

Within a year, Taylor, his wife and four children, and 16 young missionaries sailed from London to join five others already in China working under Taylor's direction.

Taylor continued to make enormous demands upon himself (he saw more than 200 patients daily) and on CIM missionaries, some of whom balked and had to be dismissed. Some CIM missionaries, in the wake of this and other controversies, left to join other missions, but in 1876, with 52 missionaries, CIM constituted one-fifth of the missionary force in China.

Because of their continuing vast need, Taylor instituted another radical policy: he sent unmarried women into the interior, a move criticized by many veterans. In 1881, he asked God for another 70 missionaries by the close of 1884: he got 76. In late 1886, Taylor prayed for another 100 within a year: by November 1887, he announced 102 candidates had been accepted for service.

His leadership style and high ideals created enormous strains between the London and China councils of the CIM. Taylor felt he was only doing what he thought was best for the work, and then demanded more commitment from others. He wrote, "China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women. The stamp of men and women we need is such as will put Jesus, China, [and] souls first and foremost in everything and at every time—even life itself must be secondary."

Taylor's grueling pace, both in China and abroad (to England, the United States, and Canada on speaking engagements and to recruit), was carried on despite poor health and bouts with depression. In 1900 he had complete physical and mental breakdown. His passion for his ministry placed a high cost on his family as well: his wife Maria died at age 33, and four of eight of their children died before they reached the age of 10. (He eventually married Jennie Faulding, a CIM missionary.)

Between his work ethic and his absolute trust in God, he inspired thousands to forsake the comforts of the West to bring the Christian message to the vast and unknown interior of China. Though mission work in China was interrupted by the communist takeover in 1949, the CIM continues to this day under the name Overseas Missionary Fellowship. http://www.omf.org/us http://tinyurl.com/5wa4agv

Keep “Being The Great Church You Are”…

Keep Us in your Prayers

Leave your “Missionary” event; story as feedback…

See You In Church!

Mark & Deb

Want “More”

Click on… The Whole World….