By Bill MacLeod
Last month I was privileged to participate in Luis Palau’s NY CityFest, a major effort to proclaim the gospel at a scale that has not occurred in the Big Apple for more than 25 years.
It was my joy to accompany a short-term mission team from EV Free Church of the Palouse in Pullman. Together, we joined the NYC Street Evangelism Team on the ground–sharing Jesus Christ, counseling, and inviting New Yorkers to public events at Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, and Central Park.
Thirty-one summers ago, I had led another multi-national saturation evangelism team canvassing 60,000 homes over a six week period at LPA’s historic Mission to London. Indeed, singer-songwriter, Matt Redman who led worship in NYC came to Christ as a child at that event in London!
As we walked out of Central Park on the last night of the event, we saw fireflies – something seen more in the hot and humid Northeast than here in the cooler Pacific Northwest.
Fireflies are the most resourceful light producers producing light through an efficient chemical reaction…which also allows them to “talk” to each other using light… attract mates using their different kinds of lights…thy warn off predators…and be used for all kinds of medical research.
Think of the similarities! The light of the Christian Church taking on the pervasive darkness of NYC’s overpowering environment seemed small, like the light of a firefly…yet, the light produced was not lost on New Yorkers.
In Matthew 5:16 Jesus says: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
As believers we share our light through our words and our actions. The Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 4:11: “If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
NY CityServe and CityFest were as much about serving the gospel as they were about speaking the gospel, especially since Palau efforts have always been about mobilizing the Church to fulfill its calling to spread the Good News.
In the same way, Mission ConneXion exists “to connect local churches and individuals to mission, so that increasing numbers of believers are actively serving in areas of the world’s greatest need and opportunity”, and we do that through fulfilling our vision seeing: “God’s People effectively mobilized in mission…”
This month you can help mobilize to bring light to others in the following ways:
- Make a Gift to our summer Matching Funds effort (we are over halfway to reaching our $10,000 matching fund goal!
- Encourage your church to partner with Mission ConneXion through our Church Partnership Plan…
- Invite a friend to see War Room in a theater near you…
