Essay - Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah Methodist
01 Jan 2016

Missionary Possibilities

Source/Author: By Bishop J.M. Thoburn, D.D.

The millions are coming as surely as harvest follows spring-time, and we must prepare for their coming. Let no one be startled at the thought, or tempted to fear that I am yielding to a flight of fancy, or led away by an extravagant enthusiasm. This world is to become a Christian world; the powers of hell are to be overthrown, and our Saviour, Christ, is to reign in righteousness over all nations. But if such a day ever comes, if kingdoms and nations are to be wrested from the grasp of Satan and given to Christ as His inheritance, there must come a day when Christians shall learn to speak of millions as freely as they now speak of thousands. At the present rate of missionary progress a millennium would not suffice to prepare the way for the great millennial reign to which we all look forward with such ardent hope. It is a striking comment on the feeble faith and limited vision of present day Christians to note how most of them start as if in alarm at the mere mention of an early in-gathering of millions of redeemed men and women. Christianity must mean this or else stand before the world as a gigantic and confessed failure, and as Christians we owe it to the faith which we profess to maintain a serene confidence in God in the great work which He is carrying on among the nations.

The hundreds upon hundreds of young people who stand idle in the world’s market place might find employment for heart and hand if they could only learn the secret of becoming helpers to universal humanity. The universal Church of Jesus Christ needs to ponder well at the present day the whole question of missionary possibilities. In many cases a very wide gulf separates the possible from the actual, and in few cases are the startling possibilities of the hour appreciated. In these waning years of the nineteenth century all Christians should unite in a supreme effort to give an impetus to the missionary enterprise which will be felt for long years to come, and which will give a distinctive character to the next century. There is little or no fear of attempting too much, while there is constant danger of our contracting the spiritual paralysis which so often results from attempting too little. Nowhere in the missionary world do we see any interest suffering because too much has been attempted, but at a hundred points we see painful embarrassment because plans are too contracted or support too spasmodic or insufficient. An enterprise which aims at the conversion of the world calls for broad statesmanship, far-seeing views, comprehensive plans, and invincible faith, and all these the God of all grace will bestow if His people will obey the great missionary commission which He has given them — From The Christless Nations.

The Malaysia Message
Vol. V  No. 5
February 1896