What Can Do for Me
OMS Core Values
• HOLINESS—By God’s grace, we commit to submit to the authority of Christ and His Word, living lives of holiness, growing in Christlikeness by word, deed, and all aspects of our lives (John 17:17). • FAITH—By God’s grace, we commit to live by faith, depending on God for all things, through prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit (John 15:5). • DISCIPLESHIP—By God’s grace, we commit to proclaim the love of Jesus through mentoring and discipleship in ministry, living out our Christianity as part of a community or team, and partnering with other community members in a biblical manner (Ephesians 4:11-16). • ACCOUNTABILITY—By God’s grace, we commit to be accountable to God, to our leaders, and to our constituents through faithful, persevering labor and good stewardship (Luke 12:48b). • MINISTRY—By God’s grace, we commit to be involved in the fulfillment of the Great Commission through evangelism, church planting, training leaders, and partnership with churches to evangelize their nation and the world (Matthew 28:18-20).
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By Michael Thiessen, Chairman of the Board, OMS Canada
Jesus
Editor’s Note: This is the fifth in a five-part series, covering OMS’ core values.
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An East Indian man, sitting on the floor of his hut, once asked, “Who is Jesus, and what can he do for me?” Now, this is a self-centered and childishly proud question in light of the holiness and greatness of our God, but we all ask it. I’ve asked it! Who is Jesus? Does he mean good for me, and does he have the means to do good for me? For if Jesus doesn’t intend good for me, just as the petty pagan deities make it impossible to please them, then I don’t want to serve him. And if Jesus does intend good for me, yet doesn’t have the power or wisdom to accomplish this in me and for me, I don’t want to serve him even then. “Who is Jesus, and what can He do for me?” The Gospel of Jesus answers these two questions for anyone who will believe in him. First, it solves the restlessness and brokenness of the rebel life here and now. John Piper writes in The Supremacy of God in Preaching, “People are starving for the greatness of God.” Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Christ’s regenerative salvation includes the restoration of the person and the household. Jesus means good and has the wisdom to achieve good for anyone who would accept him. Second, it erases the sinner’s debt before God so that we can enter into his presence eternally. In a lecture from adjunct professor Ed Stetzer entitled, “Church Planting Leadership and Movement Strategies,” he recounts a story from Charles Spurgeon: “A man goes into an inn and as soon as he sits down he begins to order whatever he wants, his dinner, and his bed. There is no delicacy in which he forgets to partake. By and by, the bill comes, and he says ‘Oh, I never thought of that!’ ‘Why?’ says the landlord. ‘Here is a man who is either born fool or else naïve. What? Never thought of the reckoning—never thought of the settling day?’” Just as this man’s debt ostracized him from the landlord, so our debt of sin alienates us from God. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” His redemptive salvation reconciles the rebellious to their Father before the day of reckoning so they can be with him for eternity. Jesus means good and has the means to achieve good for anyone who would accept him. I am excited that One Mission Society is being faithful and strategic to ensure that the Gospel is being shared all around the world so that more individuals can have these questions answered for themselves. This is exciting. David Garrison says, “A church planting movement is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches.” There are far too few of these movements in the world today. Yet we rejoice that on multiple OMS fields, such as in the Caribbean and in India, this is happening. OMS helps facilitate church planting movements through powerful ministry, including evangelism, church planting, training leaders, and partnership with national churches.
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