Flash! 

The World Has Not
Been Won to Christ

Imagine this headline, in what we on The Daily Times copy desk would refer to as "testosterone type": "The World Has Not Been Won To Christ!"

"The World Has Not Been Won To Christ!"

Now, I know that would not be news to you; in fact, it should not be news to anyone. But, I think we sometimes assume something along the same lines.

As least, in part, I know I did before going to Estonia in Eastern Europe.

Within a few years after the end of World War II, all of Eastern Europe, including the small predominantly Christian country of Estonia, had fallen to Communism under the strong ideological arm of Joseph Stalin.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. You could almost hear the shouts in Christian camps around the world: "Communism has been defeated; there is now religious freedom in Eastern Europe." Most likely quit praying that the wall would fall down; after all, the structure did fall.

But, if they quit praying, it was a grave mistake.

I was part of a 12-member ecumenical mission team sent to Estonia in September 1999. We conducted eye clinics, hearing clinics, Christian education sessions and substance abuse workshops. But it was during worship at a number of churches that God opened my eyes.

The Body of Christ had virtually been decimated by decades of institutionalized atheism. You could find some young people in Pentecostal churches; the very old in all of the churches; but the baby boomers were largely missing from most, if not all, of the congregations — congregations that were already small.

And 10 years after widespread religious persecution ceased, some still find that living out their faith can be costly in Estonia. Veljo Puujalg, a young man probably in his late 20s, joins other young people who witness in the streets of Kuressaare on Friday nights. The young people are sometimes beaten; the parents are scared and tell them not to go.

This is the same young man who was sitting near me when a Pentecostal pastor asked me if I would bring a message, a testimony. I said yes, but then turned to Veljo, who worked as one of our translators and said, "I wasn’t prepared for this."

To which Veljo replied, "We should always be ready to testify …"

Veljo and other young Christians in Estonia and elsewhere stand prepared to testify, because they know all too well the world has not yet been won to Christ.

We are called to join them in this mission.

Why?

In a final message before his death in 1982, contemporary Christian artist Keith Green outlined eight reasons why we are called to be missionaries for Christ. In his words:

1) Because Jesus has told you to go. (Mark 16:15)

2) You should go because the need is so great. (Matt. 9:37-38)

3) You should go because so few Christians are obeying the call, making the need even greater! (Rom. 10:17,14)

4) You should go because God gives special anointing and grace to those who leave their own land, people, and culture to do God's will and spread the Gospel. (Genesis 12:1-3)

5) You should go because America (and some other Western nations) is literally drenched with the Gospel, while most other countries and cultures of the world do not have any continual, relevant witness at all. (Rom. 15:20-21)

6) You should go because, as one evangelist said, "No one has the right to hear the Gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heart it once." (II Cor. 4:3-4)

7) You should go because the time is short. (John 9:4)

8) You should go because the Holy Spirit is speaking to Christian leadership all over the world that it is God's desire for there to be a great final missionary thrust with the Gospel before the end of the age. It is His desire that every people should have the Gospel preached to them, and that the Gospel should be published in every nation and in every language. And unless you get involved personally, there is no hope of that ever happening in our generation! ( II Peter 3:9)

We are spending billions fighting the wars of man, but what will we spend to be "Soldiers of the Cross," and fight the good fight to ensure the faith of future generations?

Veljo Puujalg has already chosen his battlefield on the streets of Kuressaare, Saaremaa, Estonia.

May we be ready when God calls us to ours.

Amen.

The Rev. Frank "Buzz" Trexler is managing editor at The Daily Times and pastor of Green Meadow United Methodist Church, wwwthemeadow.org. You can e-mail him at PastorBuzz@nxs.net.