Missions and Preserving the Faith
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (Jude 3-4).
“The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” exists. Many people would like to think that we’ve moved beyond such exclusivity into an enlightened age of tolerance. However, if we are going to take the Bible seriously, then we cannot escape the fact that there is one, true, uncompromising faith that has been handed down from Christ through the Apostles in Scripture, and since it exists, it is vitally important that we understand, preserve, and teach it.
However, Jude (the author of the Letter of Jude and brother of Jesus, not to be confused with my son) reminds us just how easily the faith can be lost. These people who have perverted the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, have “crept in unnoticed.” Even though their theological errors and sins are egregious, this church to whom Jude writes has not immediately perceived the threat and have allowed these people to enter their fellowship and propagate their views.
Jesus instructed his sheep to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” because he was sending them out among wolves (Matt 10:16). Unfortunately, we have not followed his advice. All around the world, God’s people and even the leaders of God’s people are ignorant of God’s truth. In the West, we have no excuse for our ignorance because we have access to biblical resources that are unprecedented in human history, but for many Christians around the world, their ignorance is due to a lack of opportunity and resources in their location or in their language. Missions means more than just reaching people with the gospel. Missions means preserving the gospel by teaching able men who can teach others also (2 Tim 2:2), and without the ministry of teaching church leaders, the gospel is quickly lost and perverted.
God has and continues to engrave this need on my heart. I am not certain how God will use me throughout my lifetime—whether as a pastor, professor, or missionary. He will open and close doors to determine my path, but wherever I am and whatever I become, I want to continue to fight for the preservation of God’s truth, especially on behalf of our brothers and sisters who lack the opportunities and resources we have in the English-speaking world. This is why I am going to Greece in January. I pray that God will use me to preserve the faith. Will you pray with me and will you consider supporting me in this effort?
Teaching Romanian-Speakers in Greece
For the past two years, our family lived and served in the Republic of Moldova because we believe that God wants all peoples to worship him in Christ. There, I taught and trained young people whom I am convinced will be used mightily by God to reach that country for years to come. They have humble hearts enflamed by a passion for the gospel and have received a firm foundation of biblical truth. During my last days with them, I admonished them with words like 1 Timothy 4:16: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Throughout the Bible, and especially in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus, we learn that our salvation—and the salvation of the lost around the world—depends on the purity of biblical teaching. This great truth was one of the reasons that compelled me to leave Moldova and continue my studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I am humbled by the opportunity to study God’s precious Word, especially considering that so many of our brethren around the world do not have such opportunities. Unfortunately, this theological famine is resulting in a growing number of errors and heresies in churches around the world.
My great privilege and the great need of our brethren has compelled me to follow God’s leadership by partnering with Training Leaders International (TLI), a young organization connected to both the Gospel Coalition and Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. TLI desires to send pastors and seminary students to equip and train church leaders around the world.
From January 5-15, I will be traveling with TLI to Athens, Greece. Our team of 6-7 will be teaching church leaders from the substantial immigrant and refugee populations living in that ancient city. Because of my experience in Moldova, I will be teaching the Romanian-speaking church leaders. I am convinced that in order to reach the people of Romania and Moldova, we must reach the Romanian-speaking immigrants throughout the world. Many people estimate that 1/4 of the population of Moldova lives and works outside the country, mostly in the European Union and Russia.
By teaching a course on the attributes of God, I hope that we can help the Romanian-speaking pastors to “keep a close watch on themselves and on the teaching” in order to reach others in their community and even their fellow immigrants who have come from the closed countries of Africa and the Middle East.
I want to first and foremost ask for your prayers. Please pray that God would be glorified by the spirit of our team, that God would use us to encourage and edify the leaders of the immigrant churches in Athens, and that God would provide for the needs of our team according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Secondly, I want to give you the opportunity to become a partner in this work by helping to fund the expenses for this trip. The approximate cost for my portion is $2,500, and, with the trip only a few months away, I am trusting that God will move quickly to meet this need.
You can give online through TLI. All gifts are tax deductible. If you have any questions feel free to email me at josh@gospellife.org.
Continue checking in here to see how God works.
