Where is the Mission Field?

19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Christ's statement in Matthew 28 to the disciples

As a follower of Jesus, the call on my life is this: to go and make disciples of all nations. I am commanded by Jesus to spread the good news to those unreached, to aid them as they surrender their lives and accept Christ as their only savior, and to teach them to obey the commands of our Heavenly Father.

I know the mission, but the question I wrestle with remains: Where is the mission field? Who are the unreached?

As I've pushed and shoved at the question of "Where is the mission field?" in a vain attempt to fit the definition into my tiny, comfortable shoe box of theological answers and wisdom, I've quickly realized that the only way to answer this question is to ask my Abba. Lord, where is my mission field? Where are the lost you are asking me to seek and shepherd? Where is my rescue shop within a yard of hell? ("Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell." C.T. Studd)

Like an amoeba, my question goes through mitosis and cytokinesis and similar questions are reproduced.

To define my mission field, I need to answer the question, "Who are the lost? Where are the people that don't know Christ and His saving grace?"

This morning, Jesus reminded me of where my rescue shop currently is located as I read the first chapter of Romans. Read Romans 1: 21-32.

Paul is writing to the Roman church. In this particular part of the book of Romans, Paul addresses the sin of all mankind (Romans 3:23) by addressing the sinfulness of the Gentiles specifically; thus reminding all mankind that salvation and righteousness come from faith alone (Romans 1:17). For more commentary, please see: http://bible.org/seriespage/study-and-exposition-romans-118-32

A few snippets:

23 "and exchanged the glory of God for images made to look like mortal man . . ."
24 "gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity. . . "
25 "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. . . "
28-31 "They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogance, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil, they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless."



Idolatry. Sexual impurity. Greed. Envy. Murder. Lies. Gossip. Slander. Arrogance. Ruthless, God-haters.


These folks sound lost. Ship-wrecked on an island of 'me, myself, and I', they live in accordance with their flesh and worship themselves. If I were to paint a mural of this society, what would this mural look like?

I imagine I'd paint tall golden statues and temples where other gods are worshipped. I'd color people bringing their goods -their lives- to the steps of these temples. I'd draw a murder scene in a back alley, a prostitute and her solicitor on the corner of the street, a man stealing in the marketplace, and women whispering in corners.

Skyscrapers, Wall Street buildings, Banks where I, lying prostrate, give up my house, my career, and sometimes my freedom for a loan scribbled out on paper. Malls, strip malls, and Rodeo drive where I bow to materialism. A country where approximately 17,000 people are murdered, 93,000 women are forcible raped, and 832,000 people are assaulted each year (2005 estimates) . . . and imagine the incidents that go unreported. A nation where prostitution is a $14 billion industry and child pornography generates $3 billion dollars annually. Where the wealthiest 25% of the households own 87% of all of the nation's wealth.

The picture I'd paint looks a lot like the United States.

The idols we bow to are the images of ourselves. The shrines we create out of bricks and mortar are our 5,000 square ft houses and $60,000 automobiles. The goods we sacrifice to gods are the goods that fill our own insatiable appetites and hungry stomachs because we are our own gods.

As I gaze out across the image I have painted and compare and contrast it to the lost and depraved of Rome, the answer to my question comes into focus.

My mission field is in the check-out line of Walmart, at the block party in my neighborhood, at my church's women's' Bible study mornings, at my local middle school, and in my corporate office. My mission field is vast, complicated, riddled with depression, isolation, depravity, and sin.

My mission field is here, in a country of idolatry, greed, and insatiable lust. Like the Gentiles of Rome, so many of us have heard the stories of Jesus Christ, yet we are a people who do not know the saving grace of Christ's wounds nor desire to glorify our Creator.

We are the lost.