DCI World Christians fellowship letter for April 2004

I command you to preach God's message, the gospel.

Do it willingly, even if it isn't the popular thing to do.

2 Timothy 4.2 (CEV)

Last Sunday we had, in my opinion, one of the best celebrations of water baptism ever held in the church we attend. The worship took off and surely reached heaven, and then six people in the traditional grip of nerves told their stories and confirmed their decisions to follow Jesus. It was as good a day as it gets.

Of the six men, women, boys and girls who were baptised, five of them told their deeply touching stories of how the Lord had rescued them from all kinds of sin, pain and suffering. It was brilliant. A beautiful young lady of 13 was the star of the show; as she spoke there was hardly a dry eye in the place. At just 11 years old she had got in with the wrong crowd and the consequences were every parent's nightmare, until Jesus stepped in.

But you know, something just didn’t quite allow the cream to go on the cake, something niggled and prodded on the way home. Finding what it was took a while to discover.

It was this.

Of the six, curiously only one young lady had simply heard the gospel and upon seeing Jesus for who He is, had given her life to Him – and my, her face positively glowed with the presence of God. This was Mung Hua, a teacher from China who only very recently had arrived for a University course and found herself accommodated with a believing church family. Like many Chinese she had never heard of Christ and equally just like many Chinese, and many Latin Americans for that matter, once she heard of Jesus and read the Bible for herself, she was converted in a moment.

So was something really missing ? Was not the sight of God’s own rescue mission thrilling enough? Do we not need a lot more rescues like these, not least in our own families ? We surely do, but you know, it wasn’t that long ago that lots of British people were, like Mung Hua, being converted by the sound of gospel.

As they saw Christ, they loved Him and wanted Him and as they reached out to Him they were saved for eternity and at the same time saved before they could fall into the merciless sin-traps that lie in wait for men without Christ.

God will always save the day if we ask Him, but isn’t prevention better than cure ?

If it is not salvation now it may well be salvage later, especially for the young; if it is not repentance now it may be rehabilitation later, if it is not conversion now it may well be calamity later.

I command you to preach God's message, the gospel.

Do it willingly, even if it isn't the popular thing to do.

2 Timothy 4.2 (CEV)

Our own gospel campaign on the Internet had 6,000 visits a day in March; we are about send a two new books into 90 nations; and over in Uganda George has arranged a massive open-air screening of the Jesus film. Nevertheless for a few weeks the ongoing buzz in one meeting for prayer has been about investing in means of mass communication of the gospel in line with our call and anointing to make known among the nations what Christ has done.

That may mean sowing seeds of faith into the preaching of the gospel through TV, radio, stadium or Jesus film opportunities or sending native evangelists for £80 a month each to go far and wide with the gospel among India’s millions. If DCI Trust helps Soul in the City to bring 15,000 young people together to clean up and evangelise London this summer, then we will all share in the harvest that God gives.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will always help the last and the least, and teach the believers, but we must preach the gospel to the lost, wherever we can personally, and through whoever we can send to places we cannot go ourselves.

Pilar joins with me to send everyone our greetings, you are in our prayers very often.

Les