r ouR y e a r s a g o , missionary with Overseas Crusades, Keith Bent- son (Biola 1948), arrived in Argen tina. His purpose was not to establish churches or schools but to evangelize the nation. His method? Train the ex isting church and believers to reach their own people. I followed Keith a year later and settled in the colorful city of Cordoba. Today in Argentina, we have a three-fold ministry geared toward the national church — church mobiliza tion, the promotion of united evan gelistic campaigns and evangelism helps (such as literature, audio-visual materials, pastors’ retreats, evangel ism institutes, etc.). As our director, Keith had to oversee the entire work, so he encouraged me to promote and develop our church mobilization pro gram. Just what is church mobilization? The Lord Jesus Christ gave His marching orders to His church before returning to Heaven: “But ye shall re ceive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses — unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). A mobilized church is one that continually and systematically engages in the witness ing ministry. Many of the churches here in Argentina are dead; they have no outreach. As missionaries, we are dedicated to the task of mobilizing* the dead or dying church into a spir itual army for the Lord.
Church mobilization has three defi nite phases. It begins with what we call the awakening of the church. When we are invited into a church, we act as “ spiritual physicians” and under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we seek to lead the dying church into new life, into revival blessing. Only when the Spirit of God has come like cleansing water and burning flame can the church evangelize. God ful fills His promise, “who maketh his ministers a flame of fire.” The ministry of preparation is the
second step. Revived believers are filled with new zeal, but their zeal must be harnessed and channeled into effective witnessing for Christ. We offer them classes and studies in Christian witnessing, using Luke 14:- 21-23 as our theme, “ Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring them in — Go out into the highway and hedges and compel them to come in.” In Roman Catholic Latin America the unsaved are afraid to enter the evangelical churches. Therefore, the Christians must “ go out” to them. We teach these eager
Village people gather around to hear music & message.
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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