An Old Idea

Missionary work is not a side show of the church, to be sustained by the gifts of a minority who are sufficiently interested. It is the main artery which is essential to the life of the body and to the strength of the heart. Nor may this missionary activity be confined to the regions beyond. Paganism is not limited to heathen lands. It is present in every community, and may be found among those who maintain an external standard of goodness yet are pagan at heart. Conversion may need to begin within the church itself, through the renewal of a living Christian experience. But the real test of that renewal will be in the recovery of the evangelical passion. A living church must be quipped for adventurous service. Like the individual Christian, it can keep its life only by losing it.

                                                                      -The Interpreter's Bible 1953, ref I Cor 10

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