The Great Mission of the Church
LET me remind you that the promise of the Father—the gift of the Holy Ghost—is given only in order that we may be equipped and empowered for the imperial mission of preaching the gospel to every creature. If we are faithless to this trust, if we even subordinate this imperative command to the lesser interests of Christ’s kingdom, we are cutting ourselves off from our base of supplies, for the plenitude of the Spirit’s power. By a last analysis, the prosperity of the church at home, and the measure of her power over her sons and daughters, must depend upon our activity in the work of what we call “foreign missions,” but which ought more properly to be known as the “great mission of the church.”—George F. Pentecost, D. D.