The Outreach

Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. MK. 16:15 As one seeks to examine the causes that have undergirded, and still underlie our missionary effort, at least two settled convictions suggest themselves as being a part of the deep out of which these tides of missionary effort have come, and do come. One of those things is the belief which, rightly or wrongly, Christian people have always held, namely that the truths of Christianity should gain universal acceptance.

When one speaks of Christianity as a religion that should become universal he arouses very honest objections. Surely, in saying this, one is not implying that there is nothing good or true or beautiful in other religions. The day for such bigotry has passed. He is rather saying that the best in other religions is found in Christianity, and in addition something more which other faiths do not possess.

And what is that something more? In a word, it is Christ—Christ who comes not to destroy, but to fulfill... .

There is another motive that prompts us to go into all the world and preach to every creature. And that is the belief that Christ is the very best that the West has, and we should give our best, not our worst. . . . Surely no sober student of our Western civilization will deny that the greatest values of our civilization have sprung from the life and teachings of Jesus; nor can it be doubted that the most wholesome and helpful contacts that we make with other lands grow out of those personal relationships established by our missionaries.

They go not to get, but to give; not for personal gain, but for social good. . . . They are messengers of mercy. They have won the confidence of those to whom they minister, and their good will. They are Christian missionaries, taking the best our civilization has to offer, not its worst.