The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 37

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

37

of David even now rides triumphant and is nearing
His temple, so that they may meet Him with
waving palms and glad hosannas and cry, “Blessed
is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” And
so the final Palm Sunday shall be ushered in, when
out of millions of mouths of babes and sucklings,
those new-born into His kingdom, His praise shall
be made perfect. F. J. L.

The Open Door
of Mission Opportunities.

Its Location.

If Christ can say to you, dear reader, and to the
Church of which you are a member: “Thou hast
a little strength and hast kept My Word and hast
not denied My name,” then He will also say to you
and to your Church: “Behold, I have set before
thee an open door.” Rey. 3,8. And it is especially
the open door of mission opportunities which Hé
will have in mind.

But where is this open door located? You will
agree with us if we say that there are mission oppor-
tunities, innumerable mission opportunities, the
usual as well as unusual ones, all around the Church
of the pure Word and Sacraments and its faithful
members; opportunities for every individual Chris-
tian, for every Christian local congregation, for
every synod which holds membership in the Synod-
ical Conference, and for the Synodical Conference
as such.

Is it your desire to do mission-work as an in-
dividual? (We are using the term “mission-work”
in its wider sense.) Behold, the door is open.
Where? First of all, in your own heart. The
human heart is a perverse and sinful thing. The
imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.
This is true of the Christian’s heart as well as of
that of others. Such a heart needs daily cleansing
by daily repentance. Truly, there is room for mis-
sion-work in your own heart. Then there is your
life. Your conduct is not perfect. Improve it.
Christ says to all His followers: “Let your light so
shine among men that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Much depends upon your example, whether you will
be successful in your endeavors to win others for
Christ or not. Furthermore, there is your home.
Perhaps you are a parent, and God ‘has blessed your
home with children. These children must be born
again by the washing of regeneration, Holy Bap-
tism. They must be brought up in the nurture and

admonition of the Lord. Each one of them, there-
fore, represents a mission opportunity for you.
Be sure to improve these opportunities. Pastors at
times receive children from supposedly Christian
homes for confirmation instruction who do not
know the Ten Commandments, the Christian Creed,
or as much as a single prayer. The door of mission
opportunities was open in these homes, but the
parents failed to enter. Besides your children there
may be others living under the same roof with you,
brothers, sisters, and other relatives, servants,
guests, etc., who need to be told the one thing
needful. Tell them about it. While there is breath
in them, each one of them represents a mission
opportunity for you. Then there are mission oppor-
tunities outside of your home for you, at your place
of business, on the street, in the community, or
wherever you get together with people. Make the
most of them. Indeed, the door is wide open to
every true Christian for individual mission-work,
for personal evangelism.

And as to the Christian local congregation, does
it wish to engage in mission-work? Behold, the
door is open. Some people have the mistaken notion
that a congregation exists exclusively for the sal-
vation of its own members, that its church services,
its Sunday-school, its Christian day-school, in short,
all its ministrations, are for the benefit of its own
members only, that a congregation has no respon-
sibilities over against the unchurched. Let us ever
bear in mind that, as far as the unchurched are con-
cerned, there are no geographical or other limita-
tions to the responsibilities of a Christian congre-
gation. Does this sound to you like an exaggeration ?
Then let me ask you: Is it not a fact that every
local congregation is individually responsible for
every unchurched man, woman, and child within
the confines of its parish and jointly responsible
with all other Christian congregations for every un-
churched soul in the world? But we began to write
about mission opportunities for the local congrega-
tion and not of responsibilities. Be that as it may,
every Christian congregation has as many mission
opportunities as it has mission responsibilities and
as many mission responsibilities as it has mission
opportunities.

And how about the synod to which you belong,
and the Synodical Conference? Is the door of mis-
sion opportunities open to these bodies of Chris-
tians? Indeed! The cities and hamlets and rural
communities where we may labor, if we are so in-
clined, are as numerous almost as the stars. “Go ye
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every