John Stott on Missions and Authentic Christianity

Some challenging and helpful words, from the late John Stott (1921-2011)...

"...missions lies at the very heart of our generous God. The church without mission is a church no longer. Since an essential part of its identity is missing.

So, now listen, some of us need to repent. If we have allowed the missionary dimension of the church to drop out of our thinking, we need to repent. A church without mission is a church no longer. And if we have resisted or neglected the missionary dimension of the church, we must repent.

Now, tell me. Do you claim to believe in God? He is a missionary God! You tell me you are committed to Christ? He is a missionary Christ! You claim to be filled with the Spirit? He is a missionary Spirit! You tell me you belong to the church? It’s a missionary society! And you hope to go to heaven when you die? It’s a heaven into which the fruits of world mission have been gathered! So, we must get involved. We cannot stand aloof from the mission of God. The authentic Christianity of the Bible is not a safe, smug, selfish, comfortable, escapist, little religion. No, it is an explosive, centrifugal force. It pulls us out from our self absorption and it flings us into God’s world to witness and to serve."

[Source: https://us.langham.org/…/au…/our_god_is_a_missionary_god.mp3]

John Stott on Worship

I've started reading a little book by John Stott called The Living Church. From what I've read so far, I would have no hesitation recommending it. Here is a quote I'd like to post regarding the topic of "worship" (from pages 44-46)...

The vocation of the church to offer God spiritual worship is of special importance today. For even in the 'secular' west there is a widespread hunger for 'spirituality'.

The most striking of all recent religious trends is the rise of the New Age movement... In sum, it is a recognition that materialism cannot satisfy the human spirit, and a search for another, transcendent reality. People are seeking it everywhere.

This quest for transcendence is a challenge to us and to the quality of our public worship. Does it offer what people are craving - the element of mystery, the 'sens of the numenous'; in biblical language 'the fear of God', in modern language 'transcendence'? My answer to my own question is 'Not often'. The church is not always conspicuous for the profound reality of its worship. In particular, we who call ourselves 'evangelical' do not know much how to worship. Evangelism is our speciality, not worship. We seem to have little sense of the greatness and glory of Almighty God. We do not bow down before him in awe and wonder. Our tendency is to be cocky, flippant and proud. We take little trouble to prepare our worship services. In consequence, they are sometimes slovenly, mechanical, perfunctory and dull. At other times they are frivolous, to the point of irreverence. No wonder those seeking reality often pass us by!
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In brief, it is a great tragedy that many of our contemporaries, who are seeking transcendence, turn to drugs, sex, yoga, cults, mysticism, the New Age and science fiction, instead of to the church, in whose worship services true transcendence should always be experienced, and a close encounter with the living God enjoyed.