From May 30 to June 28, a team of us from the North River Church of Christ will be serving in Accra, Ghana. Brody and Brooke Snell will lead nine college students for the four‐week internship to reach out on the campuses in Accra and to strengthen the church while they do it. I will go for the first week to work together with the leadership of the Accra Christian Church to establish a strong relationship between our two congregations. My daughter Christine is also going, and looks forward to playing with kids in the church’s children’s ministry and learning from the college students in their campus ministry.
But why do we do this? Aren’t there people closer to us who could use the help?
Partnership with others
Jesus commanded us to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18‐20). It is not acceptable to ignore this command because it seems difficult and more pragmatic to only focus our efforts locally.
In order to accomplish the task of spreading the gospel of Jesus worldwide, we must partner with others. In our fellowship of churches, the Southeastern U.S. churches have traditionally supported Africa. If we do not carry on this work, then who will?
Instead of worrying that the task is too big for us, with faith in our God, we have joined with 20‐30 other churches to form the Africa Missions Association (AMA). This is a voluntary association of churches that are collectively ensuring that our 82 African churches (and over 10,000 disciples) receive what they need to flourish and multiply. In fact, our brotherhood has assembled 14 different mission societies to ensure that the gospel continues to spread in every country in the world.
If we waited until all of the work was completed locally before we reached out overseas, we would never go. Instead, we at North River have chosen to balance the multiple responsibilities Jesus has given us: outreach in our own neighborhoods, mission work across the Southeastern U.S., and mission work around the world.
Open doors
God has opened doors for us to serve in Africa. The church in Accra reached out to us and asked for help, friendship, and partnership between our two congregations. Furthermore, Mark Ottenweller directs HOPE worldwide in Africa, the Atlanta4Africa Walk‐a‐thon, and the HOPE Singles Corps to Johannesburg, South Africa. We support the AMA, Steve and Teryl Brand are recruiting couples to go serve, and disciples across the congregation are joining in the Friends of Africa group to find ways to serve.
Please pray for the Snells and the Adkinses and for our campus students who are doing an internship in Accra during the month of June. And please pray for our brothers and sisters in Africa.