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I’m studying John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life in a Bible study. We recently went through the chapter on world missions. This chapter is specifically about missions outside the country. Piper contends that missions is an important part of Christian life, and that every Christian should be contributing to it in some way (such as training missionaries, becoming missionaries, financially supporting missionaries, etc.). He also points out that Americans are doing this less and less.

As I thought about it, I realized that I do very little to support world missions. Others in the Bible study seemed to feel the same way, and on further reflection, I realized that this is an alarming trend. Many churches don’t have any missionaries they support, and I’ve even heard of entire denominations that have stopped sending out missionaries, or worse, pulled the missionaries that were already in the field!

Over the course of the discussion, someone mentioned that America is specifically gifted for world missions. With our wealth, multicultural environment, higher education, and the fact that most Americans consider themselves Christians, we are perfectly set to send well educated people to other countries (often the countries of their ancestors) with the good news of Jesus’ forgiveness.

So here’s my question. Are we, as a country, not living up to our purpose? Are we totally ignoring God’s purpose for our prosperity? If so, should we expect to lose the very gifts we’re taking for granted? What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Filed under: Outreach, Religion