Our day started with a 5.30am alarm and a bleary-eyed drive into London. By 8.45 we had our seats within eight feet of a TV in the ‘Signal Box’ at Euston Station to witness one of the greatest displays of English rugby ever! Could this day get any better?
The Grace Baptist Mission Annual Delegates’ Meeting was not an immediately obvious progression! GBM exists to ‘help churches support their missionaries worldwide’ and it is funded by, directed and answerable to the churches that it supports. The church delegates’ meeting, the church business part of GBM’s Annual Mission Day, began with a focus on the Great Commission and Matthew 16:18. We have seen progress through mission – because Jesus is building his church. There have been hard times – because the gates of hell are arrayed against us. But we press on – because we know Jesus is in charge and Satan will not prevail!
GBM’s Annual Mission Day packs in much more. The middle part of the day was filled with opportunities to hear news from missionaries serving in Austria, France, Madeira, Peru, Poland and Bradford, as well as the often overlooked but strategically vital work of GBM’s radio team. The main presentation, ‘My Church | Our Mission’, explored the theme ‘The local church as God’s base camp for mission’. We were encouraged with accounts of prayerful churches involved in the cause of the gospel around the world. Several gave testimony to what the Lord had enabled them to do in support of world mission, through giving, or sending their members on short- or longer-term mission ‘adventures’.
The final meeting had a sad yet thankful theme as we said goodbye to Jean Ellis and to Helen and Jim Sayers who are coming to the end of their formal service with GBM. Jean, Jim and Helen will be missed, and their heartfelt comments were truly moving.
Urged to pray
There were many ‘take home points’ during the day, but for me the call from Theo Donner, preaching at the end of the day, hit hardest. Combining Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1 with Israel’s experience in Exodus 17, he urged us to:
• Pray for missionaries and ministers in a way that is not easily included in a prayer diary. Pray in the same way as we pray for ourselves. We all have the same needs, we all feel like frauds and failures, depressed and anxious; we all sin.
• Pray for God’s will to be done, His kingdom to come, His name to be glorified.
• Pray that nothing would hinder the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, in the lives of our missionaries and in the lives of our churches.
The final hymn summed it up so brilliantly, We rest on Thee! Our shield and our defender.
The day was not perfect! There are always opportunities for improvement – missed lineouts, empty seats. However, ‘Could this day get any better?’ It certainly did for me.
