Be My Witnesses (1960s)

[Music] the Christian church has had a mission to all the world a mission in obedient response to the words of Jesus Christ you must go out to the whole world and P to Every Creature Lord I I know you said that 2,000 years ago but today's today any more of missionary the days of missions and missionaries are over hey being a missionary just isn't a wise investment you must go out to the whole world and proclaim the gospel to Every Creature but Lord is this really my world to worry about with all the problems we have at home do I have to concern myself with those out there as the father ha sent me even so send I you I don't know that world Lord those people are different from me I I can't even speak their language as the father sent me I send you Lord these people have their own religions they're really satisfied as they are there is salvation in no one else but lord it's dangerous out there there's killing and violence why do you know Lord that there's been more missionary Martyrs in this Century than in any previous is one there is no greater love than this that a man should lay down his life for his friends but Lord I have family responsibilities anyone who wants to be my follower Must Love Me far more than he does his own father mother wife children brothers or sisters yes more than his own life but Lord is missions really my personal responsibility you are to go to the whole world and proclaim the gospel El to Every Creature for before the end comes the gospel must be proclaimed to All Nations Lord can I really Proclaim your gospel to the whole world I mean will anyone respond to what I do you will receive power to preach with great effect about my death and resurrection and you will be my Witnesses [Music] we often sell missions short so to speak we don't recognize that these missionaries are making a tremendous contribution to the total maturing of these underdeveloped countries where every kind of educational and medical help is of significant value the coming of the Gospel with its concerns for the total needs of man regardless of race Creed or color has contributed to the development of nationalism and political revolution since Independence came to Congo in 1960 many missionaries in that country have repeatedly been forced to evacuate to safety the Christians the Africans with whom we worked just could not understand why we had to flee they used to quote to us that U only the hireling flees but the Good Shepherd stays with the flock one missionary who refused evacuation was Dr Paul Carlson his death has had profound effect upon the work of Christ in Africa despite the tensions of political turmoil the church is growing during the past year over 4,000 persons have been baptized and received into the Church of Christ in the [Music] ubangi Latin America a hotbed of political revolution is also undergoing spiritual Revolution for the first first time Catholic churches throughout Latin America are encouraging the Latin to study the holy scriptures missionaries of all denominations are now finding new opportunities to share the gospel with the people whom they [Music] serve not all of our world's revolutions are violent some are taking place quietly in the minds of men as young people all over the World Unite in a quest for knowledge as young people challenge the traditions and customs of their past old ways are being left [Applause] [Music] behind cultures are changing [Music] urbanization and westernization are evident throughout a world that seems to be moving rapidly towards the development of a single World culture most of these young people are not yet Christians but they meet regularly in a missionary's home to discuss the scriptures and the Christian Life [Music] in Japan as in many cultures becoming a Christian is very [Music] difficult there is much to learn there are many questions to be answered is Jesus Christ the only way what will I have to give up if I become a Christian will accepting Jesus Christ make a difference in my [Music] life will Christ give my life new [Music] meaning those who have already made commitments help to answer these questions and point to Christ who is the answer and once committed the reality of their Newfound faith is soon evident in a real desire to share with others what Jesus Christ has done for [Music] them in a culture where Christianity is too often described as a western religion it takes real courage to be a witness one of our great needs here in Japan is for men qualified men who are able to uh take over as pastors of our churches we as missionaries are not able to adequately minister to the people like the Japanese themselves are one of our big problems is simply the language we are able to speak to them to a certain extent but to adequately minister to the people we need Japanese who are able to serve as pastors of our churches it used to be the mission pretty much was in charge of everything that went on in a particular Mission field and that the missionaries were responsible for pushing the work of evangelism developing medicine and hospitals uh developing schools and so on in most of the countries of the world now these things are moving into the hands of the indigenous Church leadership the church in the Congo for example has had its own leadership really for many years with the missionaries functioning as advisers and fraternal workers and yet when we think of missions so often we have only the concern of the the missionary on our heart whereas actually we should remember to pray for and be concerned with the national pastors and their church people we'll never be able to evangelize Taiwan or any other field as foreign missionaries the task has to be accomplished by the Nationals themselves and our heart's desire is to come to Taiwan in our particular case and work with these people Try by example and our own enthusiasm to inspire them to do the [Music] work we must work together with them in this work in Taiwan there are opportunities of every kind there are open doors on on every hand but in all of this we must serve as [Music] partners that is to say we're no longer our Brother's Keeper we must be our brother's brother what we really need to be doing is to become servants so that we reflect the image of Jesus Christ had of himself in the Incarnation when God in Christ became man for man's sake in order to save him we missionaries today must in a sense become the body of Christ in the world serving the world so that the world sees Christ in us and this means that we become our brother's brother and no longer remain as our Brother's Keeper now that in itself was perhaps a a needed ear in missionary history but that era has passed and a new one is on us perhaps we have never needed more missionaries overseas than we need today but in different roles from those that we are familiar with from days gone by a number of years ago when I was growing up in Congo as a missionary child I became aware of the need for someone to help a little bit with the equipment that we use on the on the mission field the Lord was speaking to me to go back and try to make our total work a little bit more efficient by providing some maintenance service I have 10 congales men that work with me to do this job of Maintenance we feel that we are a team missionary Aviation Fellowship serves our area with one plane the airplane has been transforming our whole idea of uh planning and uh Supply from from the maintenance standpoint I can supply another another station with uh my supply of parts and uh this can be done just in a matter of hours in the past the missionaries had come over to Congo with the American gospel music they had taken this music and taught it to the congales as it was translated into the various tribal languages and then they would sit there with the American pump organ and sing the gospel songs I ran into a very very interesting contrast while I was in kessi I attended a church service there and it started off with this type of singing the American gospel music the congales would sing it but there really wasn't any feeling there then one of their directors no de aaku who had studied for a while in America got up and said we're going to have something new we're going to have a new type of music in church today he got his choir to stand up and they brought some of their drums and some of their pop bottles with nails and started banging these together and singing a song and the church loved it you could see the feet start to tap on the floor and the Africans were becoming involved uh later Noah said that this had been a portion of scripture as it was translated about the resurrection of Christ and the people were singing in their own native way about the God they loved I'd like to have you here just a portion of this uh tape that we made while in Congo as it was recorded on location at this church service [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this gives you somewhat of an idea of what we are doing presently to involve the congales in our radio programming we of course have sensed the need of uh using modern means of reaching these people uh you can't always do it by the what old traditional method of standing under a palm tree with a guitar and a Bible we have to use uh upto-date equipment it's not just the excitement of being in front of a microphone often we think of this but it's the excitement of new ways of doing things and of ministering to the total man of getting to him where he lives and and using imaginative ways of of reaching [Music] him we are doing some experimenting we have sent a young lady back to Hong Kong who was born in China and raised in Hong Kong came to this country took some education and we sent her back to her own people Esther Zito is not a US citizen though she is a member of a US Church she teaches some classes in Bible at schools and out of these classes develops friendships and some of the young people are brought then to the fellowship meetings she has a fellowship meeting in her apartment at least once a [Music] week about half of them are not Christians but they'll come just for the fellowship and just to have someone to listen to their problems or to talk to them to be concerned about them many of them make decisions and they feel that God really means something to them and touch their life and they became very sincere [Music] Christians she works also with a Community Services Center under the YMCA and one of the huge resettlement block sections having 33 block houses and 80,000 people I think it's a great opportunity for me to come back to home Hong Kong to serve the Lord because the need is great and also Hong Kong presents many opportunities the people are living so close together and it's very easy to present a gospel to them we stand on the threshold of of tremendous opportunities in missionary work and it's exciting because it's different there's something very thrilling about being uh freed from from representing a particular kind of uh structure and be free really to represent one's Lord as one one has come to know him personally last summer it was my privilege to serve for 3 months as a student missionary in Ecuador it was inspiring to see the missionaries as they worked I didn't really feel like I I was helping them tremendously just kind of assisting in small ways but yet to see the work that they do day after day year after year and and to realize that something is being accomplished in my major which is nursing it was interesting to see the possible aspects of a future career in a field like this and become more sensitive to the needs of the people their physical needs their spiritual needs while getting to know them a little better getting to learn to understand them and one of the things that really was impressed on my mind this last summer was the importance of the technical technically trained person in other words a carpenter an electrician or a pilot or whatever have you to work with the people to get right down right down next to the people and to really communicate with them not only did we do a material service but also we worked with the young people it was the real experience for me to talk with these young people and to listen to them as they told me some of their problems as they come out with some of the things that were bothering them and also for me to share with them some of the things that Jesus Christ had done for for me last year changed the purpose and direction of my own life and if possible someday I would like to go back to the Congo and work with the young people that I grew to know so well this past year and I pray that maybe sometime later on in the future that the Lord May guide and direct me that I may continue to serve him in whatever capacity he has for my life I think this last summer has really in deepened me spiritually and has made me really think about the future and about whatever I do to do it as Christ would have me to do it I feel that young people at home that feel they cannot go because they're not capable of doing it or they don't have the talents or the abilities or they're not spiritually uh good enough to be missionaries I don't think something like this needs to restrain them if they feel the Lord is calling them because he's going to give them what they need even as I knew that I didn't have spiritually what it took to be a missionary but the Lord said I'll be with you Lord I can see that you're working in all the world and I know now that this is my world these are my brothers the best place in all the world to be is right in the center of God's will I can't bury my head any longer Lord I want to face my responsibility I want to serve my brothers around the world oh Lord find me a place my place as the father sent me so send I you Lord send me let me serve show me my task I want to be my brother's brother I want to be your witness the tasks the assignments are many but the call is always is the same be my Witnesses and as Jesus said be sure of this that I am with you always even to the end of the world [Music]