ALWM’s “WORLD” Keeps growing
Jesus commanded his church to “Go and Make disciples of all the nations” (Matt. 28:19) and adds to the far reaching geographical implications of this call in Acts 1:8: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
ALWM is a mission agency - a mission ‘society’ - gathered around this call to the nations. We know in practical terms that we can’t work everywhere, nor are we called everywhere. The apostle Paul makes reference to the underlying Biblical principle in 2 Corinthians 10:13b, referring to “the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.” Paul, called to the Gentiles, had a different calling than Peter, for example.
Mission societies like ALWM stand on the shoulders and in the stream of those who have gone before us, tracing back to William Carey’s 1792 publication of “An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathen”. He is referred to as the father of modern global mission because of his passionate and reasoned call to the church of his day to “use means” - to pray, plan, organize, take risks and leverage resources to the reach the unreached. The Spirit of God used this 87-page booklet to usher in a new era of purposeful obedience to Jesus’ call, as dozens of mission societies were organized over the next 40 years in the US and Europe.
20th century missiologist and Fuller Seminary professor Dr Ralph Winter, founder of the US Center for World Mission, further described the same dynamic in his 1973 address at the at the All Asia Mission Consultation entitled “The Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Purpose”. He traced the lineage of mission societies like ALWM, World Mission Prayer League, and many others all the way back to Paul’s missionary journeys - Paul’s “missionary band” - people who joined together to carry out God’s call to the nations as an extension of the church, which in his case was the church in Antioch that sent them out (Acts 13:1-4)
Stepping into this global mission tradition, we wondered what “sphere of service” God would assign to us in the years to come! In our IRS application for nonprofit approval in 2015, I wrote: “As a mission society that works in partnership with local congregations, denominations and associations, we accomplish our stated purpose through preaching, teaching, seminars, webinars, conferences, workshops, international partnerships, short term mission trips and sending of missionaries.” Those last highlighted phrases were included purposefully, yet without knowing if or where in the world the Lord would lead us to work.
Now, 8 years later, ALWM’s ‘WORLD’ keeps growing! Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba, is a good friend, and serves as Assistant to the Bishop for Mission for the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). He approached me in Oklahoma City recently, asking ALWM to be the sending agency for Degaga Gemachu, their new Global Worker to Kenya. He pointed to my nametag and said with a smile: “I know you worked for many years in Eastern Europe, and now also concentrated in SE Asia, but ALWM has ‘World’ in the name so you have a wider calling!” He is right, reminding us that its God who defines the “sphere of service” for this ministry.
We currently have partnerships, missionaries & indigenous global workers in Belarus, Cambodia, Laos, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, with pending applications from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Kenya! Degaga, is like Pastor Sam, Pastor Valery, Pastor Tom and Deuane, Randy, Swapon, Pastor Martin and others on our teams: gifted, visionary, and fruitful colleagues with impactful ministries that are reaching the lost and seeing lives changed by the power of the Gospel! Paul writes of the Biblical principle in 2 Corinthians 10:13b, referring to “the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.” It is exciting, encouraging, and humbling as the Lord continues to define and expand the “sphere of service” He has assigned to us! To God be the Glory!
Pastor Bill Moberly, August 22, 2023
