Reflecting on the Southall Missions Project
Recently a team from two churches in the United States spent seven days with Grace Church Southall doing outreach activities. We are so thankful to God for the fruit that has resulted from the team being with us. Several new people came to the church as a result of conversations and invitations from the team. Of particular delight to us was the children’s activity commencing with 5-7 local children coming. Praise God, this is a wonderful thing.
There were so many stories and testimonies this week. Let me share with you one in particular. We were delighted that a Roman Catholic man called John has been attending the services for the last few days. We met him on the streets of Southall twice. He was given an invitation and came to one of the services. On Saturday, I had the privilege of sitting with this man in the park for an hour going through John’s Gospel, chapter 3. Word by word, line by line and verse by verse, he heard the Gospel and his need to be born again. He recognised that he was lost and not born again. He said to me that in all his years as a Roman Catholic, no one had ever explained the Bible to him and what it means to be born-again. Please pray for John, that his profession of faith in Christ would bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
The members of Grace Church Southall were humbled and grateful for the sacrifice, humility and willingness demonstrated by our dear brothers and sisters from the US. They were an exemplary team of missionaries who radiated the Lord Jesus in their lives. We hope to stay in touch with them and see them again.
At the end of the missions project, I conclude that church planting is hard. But is it not harder to idly sit and watch a whole town, a whole city, a whole nation perish eternally?
The Gospel is the Good News that this hopeless and helpless world needs. It must be shared; it must be proclaimed. The church needs to be outside telling the world, compelling them to repent and believe in the Gospel. Don’t be an “armchair theologian”; go tell them of God’s redemption of mankind. May God send labourers into the fields which are ready for harvesting. May you take up the call for Gospel missions starting in your local church.
The work has just begun. There is much more to do.