Church planting leads to 'doing justice'
WEC is focused on church-planting. Yet WEC workers are involved in many social projects:
* Caring for children in crisis
* Digging wells
* Setting up schools
* Helping people to get vocational training
* Teaching adults to read and write.
Why does a church-planting mission do all this?
There’s no alternative – if you follow Christ to the unreached frontiers, you have to do more than plant churches. We are called to ‘loose the chains of injustice’ and to ‘break every yoke’.
It is unjust when people can’t read, or can’t work, or have become dependent on overseas aid. Planting churches leads us straight to social action.
Describing ‘the House of Wisdom’, a vocational training centre in the Gambia, local pastor Modou Camara writes, It is our hope that the church will grow and be independent, if people are equipped in all areas of life.
Describing why literacy work is vital, Ivoirian pastor and Bible translator Zré Emmanuel says: Christians cannot progress and develop spiritually if they are unable to read and understand God’s Word.
David and Sue Frampton got involved in developing a school which a young, growing church saw as a vital part of its ministry, equipping young people:
Our focus in Ghana was evangelism and church planting ... However, we found that social projects were an integral part of that ministry. If you work amongst the poor and needy you cannot ignore their physical needs.
One worker in Asia – before describing a miracle of how, through prayer, brackish well-water became drinkable – puts it this way.
We feel called to come alongside the people in their daily lives and to serve them where they need serving. We encourage, train, learn, write proposals to seek funding for the projects, write reports about the projects, drink tea with our colleagues and try to maintain a happy family life. Somehow, we sense that Jesus takes these things and does His ‘Big Thing’ through it all – building His Kingdom.
Originally printed in Issue 548 UK WEC Worldwide magazine.