Penetrate and Permeate
Dear CoaH,
The Lausanne Movement study is going well. I wish more people were joining the study so that we can share the same vision of where we go from here, following the missional church study last fall. Praise God that a handful but very faithful group of people come together every Thursday evening and study the Lausanne Covenant (1974). It has been a very refreshing time for all of us.
Last night we looked at the Church's mission in the world. Paragraph 6 is on 'the Church and Evangelism.' The first half of the paragraph goes like this:
We affirm that Christ sends his redeemed people into the world as the Father sent him, and that this calls for a similar deep and costly penetration of the world. We need to break out of our ecclesiastical ghettos and permeate non-Christian society. In the Church's mission of sacrificial service evangelism is primary. World evangelization requires the whole Church to take the whole gospel to the whole world. The Church is at the very centre of God's cosmic purpose and is his appointed means of spreading the gospel.
Here we have the foundational statement on why the Church exists and must be missional: Christ sends his redeemed people into the world. Yes, we are sent into the world to proclaim the gospel by word and deed. That means we should not be content to stay in our comfortable fellowship groups only, but we must move into the unbelieving world. The Covenant uses two verbs for this: penetrate and permeate. We need to find deep and costly ways to penetrate the needy world to share the good news of Jesus Christ. It is not good to remain in our bubbles. Oh no. Once we engage meaningfully with those who do not know the gospel, then we are to permeate the world with the aroma of Christ in us.
The Lausanne Covenant teaches, corrects, and reminds us of the direction we must go as His Church. It says that 'the Church is at the very centre of God's cosmic purpose and is his appointed means of spreading the gospel.'. God has not assigned the work of world evangelization to any other group but the Church. That is our job, and for this, we must penetrate and permeate.
How are we doing that right now, both personally and as a group (your life group)?
May the LORD bless you and keep you safe.
Pastor Minho Song
