Immortal works for the mortals

A man with a mission needs a vision. Isaiah and Jeremiah needed it too. Without it, they would never have gone ahead. To be called by God costs nothing, since it is God who calls. But giving birth to this call is entirely another matter. Unless called, every man gives up.

I was a hard working missionary in Lesotho, but the dream of a blood-washed Africa was chasing me. The vision became more alive and insistent. A burning desire led me to start my first ventures. But I was still hesitating. The members of the missionary committee disapproved, good and witty men that they were. Karl Barth wrote : "Faith is never the same as piety". Normal missionary work was, for them, the approach most likely to produce fruit for the sake of Africa, not mass evangelism. How could I think I could act differently ? If this was God's plan, why did not other men do it ? The missionaries were satisfied with the traditional mission, were they wrong and I right ?

I felt isolated. Then, I met a group of evangelists to share my vision, and everyone had a story to tell similar to mine. They shared a common and common experience of administrative discouragement. They had the devouring fire of the Spirit in them, the challenge of the immense possibilities around them, but the criticisms from the outside. During these birth pains, I had to spend hours in prayer, very often in agony in my mind, in order to keep my balance and my peace.

How long would it take to produce a blood-washed Africa without aggressive evangelistic campaigns ? We only have one generation to save a generation. Every generation needs regeneration.

Jeremy Sourdril