牧者心聲
北宣的差傳故事告訴我們
周曉暉牧師
2023 年 9 月 16 日 / 17 日
Click here for English
北宣家歷年的差傳故事、宣道先賢的開荒歷史，告訴我們七件事：
一．宣教路中遇到的挑戰與艱難，許多時會超出想像。往外宣教，不是人逃離現實困境的光榮選項，而是全然擺上、甘心放下、任憑上主差遣的人生抉擇。這份勇氣、信心與承擔，是今天信徒需多多學習的。
二．即使遇上的是最壞的死局，差傳仍是一條恩典之路。宣教士在福音硬土上灑出血淚、發出禱聲、流出汗水，雖未必有立時果效，但回頭看，總能見到上主結成的果子。宣道會的宣教工作，就是在這樣的掙扎中堅持而來的。回看來華的宣教士，有多少人預想到，百多年後的今天，香港會發展成華人的宣教基地之一？
三．宣教是上主自己的計劃，不是教會的功業。教會要做的，就是積極配合、努力籌劃。沒有一間教會或差會，能包攬差傳工作。教會不能自限於堂會、區域、宗派之內，與他人協力同心，建立福音聯盟，仍是最有效的策略。
四．差傳需要投入人力與財力，但供應的，始終是上主。當教會有願作的心，上主就會使用教會作成祂的工。若弟兄姊妹願作信心認獻，教會就更能憑信心持續支持差傳工作。教會要按自身規模，肩負資源供應的責任。人多和奉獻多的教會，當如約瑟在埃及管理的糧倉，豐年作部署，荒年作分配，使近處遠處的宣教事工持續得到照應。
五．教會中若沒有人推動，差傳工作就難有寸進。教會要持續教導信徒關心差傳，因為人在教會燃起的差傳熱情，可以在步出禮堂之時便冷卻大半。歷年來，教會透過差傳年會、短宣、差關小組、短期信徒宣教、差傳使者作推動，今後，教會要找出適切這世代的新模式。
六．差傳的後方，其實一點也不能「後」。爭戰不只在戰火前線，全民都要分配任務。當全民自覺有分參與，而非等待他人幫助的旁觀者，才能打勝仗。大使命也是如此，起初保羅已經聯繫教會眾人，不論教會貧富，也可作宣教士、陪行者、經費支援者、或代禱者。
七．全球網絡化、後疫時代的世界，仍是天父深愛的世界。從初期教會開始，差傳就是教會的使命，倘若教會不再有差傳，原因只有兩個：一、主基督已再來；二、教會不再成為教會。因此，教會仍要差派人，向未有人踏足之地與族群宣教。
（本文撮錄自《恩典之路——尋找差傳的角落》後記）
NPAC’s mission stories over the years and the pioneer church planting history of the forerunners of the Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA) tell us seven things:
1. The path of mission is pitted with challenges and hardships, many of them beyond our imagination. Going on mission is not an honorable option to escape predicament in real life. It is a life choice for total offering, voluntary surrender, and absolute obedience to the LORD’s will. Such courage, faith and commitment are something today’s believers need to learn.
2. Even if the worst possible situation happens, mission is still a path of grace. Missionaries shed blood and tears on the hard soil for the gospel, offer prayers, toil and sweat. Their work may not bear instant fruit but in hindsight, the fruit the LORD brings forth is always evident. C&MA mission work is one of such struggles and persistence. Looking back at the missionaries to China, who would have thought that more than a hundred years later, Hong Kong would become a base for mission among Chinese?
3. Mission is the LORD’s plan, not the church’s achievement. What the church needs to do is to actively tie in with God’s plan and do its best to arrange the work. No single church or mission agency can do all the mission work. The church cannot confine itself to its member churches, region or denomination. Collaborating with others and forming alliances for the gospel is still the most effective strategy.
4. Mission calls for a great deal of human and financial resources, but ultimately it is the LORD who provides. When the church is willing to do it, the LORD will use the church to accomplish His work. If brothers and sisters are willing to make a faith offering pledge, the church will be able to continue, by faith, to support mission work. The church has to shoulder the responsibility of furnishing supply according to its own scale. For well-attended churches with plentiful financial offering, they should, just like the Egyptian storehouses managed by Joseph, stock up during the good years and distribute when famine strikes. This way, mission work near and far can continue to be provided for.
5. Mission work will be difficult to progress without some in the church to mobilize. Teaching believers to care for mission should be an ongoing effort of the church. In fact, a lot of passion for mission ignited within the church could grow cold once the believer steps outside the worship hall. Over the years, the church has been mobilizing through mission conference, short-term mission trips, missionary care groups, short-term missionaries and mission ambassadors. Hereafter, the church will need to find a new model suitable for this era.
6. The home front for mission cannot really “stay behind.” The warfare does not just take place on the frontline. Everybody must be assigned tasks. We can win the war only when everybody recognizes he has a part in mission, that he is not just a bystander waiting for others to help. It is the same with the Great Commission. Paul first liaised with believers in different churches. Whether they are rich or poor, everybody could serve as missionaries, helpers, financial supporters, or prayer warriors.
7. The networked world and the world in post-pandemic times is still one that our Heavenly Father deeply loves. Mission has been the church’s mission since the early church. If the church stops having mission, there can only be two reasons: first, Christ the Lord has returned; and second, the church is no longer the church. That is why the church should continue to send people, to take the gospel to unreached peoples and lands where the name of Jesus has not been heard before.
(Excerpt from the epilogue of The Path of Grace – A Quest for Mission Corners)
| 返回頁首 Back to Top |
——