Sowing or Ground Breaking?

“Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.” Rom. 16:5.

By nature, our frail human side demands the things we could see. Something we could call our accomplishment. We feel this is important especially when working in the foreign land and your home church has been eagerly waiting to hear your success stories since those donors are more interested on the literal evidence of your success-finish structure. They want to see the beautiful building than church character. They are more interested in ground breaking than sowing.

If a missionary is doing a church planting project it is not necessarily mean building project. Church planting means reaching people for Christ’s sake. It means sowing seeds in the heart not ground breaking ceremony for the building to be put up. This is sometimes hard because naturally we love to see structural outcome.
Missionary visa in restricted countries is extremely hard to obtain.

Usually, restricted countries have made new visa policy which is expensive and difficult to obtain. But those foreign missionaries who obtain missionary visas miraculously, who were suppose to be commissioned to make disciples, have delayed their work by focusing on the so called “church-building” projects, which later on were destroyed by the extremists. How can gospel be heard by all? Excepting some home churches that were attacked at home, the ekklesia were being prematurely persecuted because of the building. Many Christians were suffering because of the building.

The missionaries did not fully understand that the people’s heart who believes in Jesus Christ is the true church of God. They are God’s temple and God dwells within their hearts. That’s why the Bible refers church as the people who are called out rather than the bricks. No wonder the Apostle Paul said, “Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.” Rom. 16:5.