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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