The following is my written report for the annual meeting of the Northwest Baptist Convention meeting in Eugene, OR on Nov. 7-8, 2017. My oral report will be given on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at about 10:30 AM. The title is “Being a Blessing in Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Blessing. It’s a beautiful word signifying deep satisfaction and abundance. Diamonds and emeralds are chosen for their gleaming brilliance. Bless and blessing are verbal gemstones used of the holy and harmonious relationship between God and His creation. The first creatures blessed by God were fish and birds (Gen. 1:22). Next we see God blessing Noah and his family as He launches them into a new world after the flood. God blesses them and tells them to fill the earth with many children (Gen. 9:1).
When we come to Genesis 12 and the calling of Abraham, God not only tells Abraham, “I will bless you,” but He tells him, “You will be a blessing to others” and “all the people on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen. 12:2-3). Here we see that blessing, and blessing others, entails a purpose for God’s people and the launching of God’s redemptive mission to humankind. Most fascinating is that God reiterates His purpose of Abraham blessing the nations even as Abraham pleads for Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:18-19).
Built into the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth that God’s people are the means by which God will bless the peoples of the earth. God’s people, Abraham’s spiritual children (Gal. 3:6-9), are a blessing to all peoples. Loving our neighbors, loving our enemies, praying for others, praying even our persecutors, and speaking the truth of the gospel in love, are means by which we bless all peoples.
It’s been said that our purpose is not to “build a great church” in the city, but rather to see our church as God’s means to build a great city, to bless the city. As we journey with God on mission we will bless our community. As we practice righteousness and justice, we will demonstrate obedience to Christ’s commands and bless our city. As we live the truth of Gospel, demonstrating the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our future resurrection, we will bless our cities.
Abraham lived in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. So do we. What are God’s people to do in such a place? We are to pray and plead to God for the people of our city. We are to love them, warn them, and live the truth among them. We must disciple our children and disciple our neighbors, calling people to Jesus from the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.
At our best, Northwest Baptists are doing these things. We are blessing our communities. We are sharing the gospel and gathering believers into churches, churches in which worship is expressed in more than two dozen languages and 50 nationalities and people groups. Last year 23 new churches were launched. Already this year we have equaled that number. Half of our new churches worship in a language other than English. Approximately 150 of our 492 churches worship in other languages. This is the fruit of cooperation. Other denominations and networks of churches do not have the diversity of churches that we enjoy. Only by cooperating can we do hard things like reaching into our immigrant populations.
Cooperation also enables us to do hard things like Disaster Relief (DR). DR chaplains were deployed to serve in the fire-stricken areas of the Northwest. Multiple Northwest DR teams have served in Texas. We expect that during our Annual Meeting in Eugene that we will have teams in Puerto Rico as well.
Everything that Northwest Baptists do cooperatively begins by training pastors and other leaders. At least 1,000 people received training through the cooperative work of our churches, including 200 pastors and church planters and more than 500 children’s and youth workers. Fifteen pastors travelled to East Asia on one of three vision trips, with others leading teams from their church to work with our IMB personnel there. Forty pastors and spouses were trained as transitional pastoral leaders to help churches who are in-between pastors.
Our greatest need remains, and will always be, more pastors. Churches need shepherds. They need shepherds whose call and commitment is to love the Lord and His church, and shepherds who lead the church to bless the community, who walk with God in in the community, and who share Jesus with the community. The purpose of the NWBC is to equip and extend the ministry of the churches and her pastors so that together we can have a missions impact as extensive as Jesus declared in Acts 1:8, even as we serve in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. And remember, it is a good day to serve the Lord in the Northwest!