The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Sheet 100

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

The Christian’s Great Mission.

Jesus said while visibly on earth that His
supreme earthly mission was to seek and to save
that which was lost. This mission was ever before
Him, and all He said and did had this one object in
view. The seeking and saving of the lost was
fundamental with Him. We need but read the four
gospels to see that this was indeed His supreme
mission. He could not have been the Christ we
know Him to be had He not made this His supreme
work.

If we would be Christlike, we must consider our
supreme calling to be that which was Christ’s. We
cannot escape the conviction that His life is a model
for ours. We cannot ignore this supreme errand
of Christ and be true Christian men and women.
Whatever pursuit in life may claim our attention,
whether we be preachers or farmers, lawyers or
physicians, employers or employees, the saving of
the lost must be the supreme business of every one
of us if we claim to be followers of Christ.

Until this obligation is recognized and acknowl-
edged, until it becomes real, vivid, vitalizing, we
shall not have caught the meaning of our purpose
in life. We cannot too strongly stress this duty
devolving upon us as Christ’s disciples. Christ ever
dwelt upon this during the three years of His
ministry. Just as He did not treat the saving of
souls as a mere accident in life, but as the very soul
of His earthly mission, so when He talked to His
disciples about their purpose in life, He laid special
stress upon soul-winning as being an absolute, essen-
tial duty of theirs.

And when He left this earth to return to His
Father, He committed this work of soul-winning to
His disciples, and mark well, not to the apostles
only, but to all His followers, — to all His disciples
of every age. That parting commission brings the
whole world before us as the object of our love and
efforts.

The obligation did not rest upon the first dis-
ciples of Jesus because they were His apostles, but
because they were His followers, His disciples.
Wherever there is a lost soul in the world, every
member of the blood-bought Church of Christ -is
responsible to the extent of his ability. It is of
utmost importance that we realize upon what most
positive grounds this obligation stands.

_ No man more fully caught the meaning of
Christ?s command than Paul, and for. this reason he
_ often speaks of the relationship to his fellow-men

into which he was brought by his acceptance of
Christ. “I am a debtor both to the Greeks and the
barbarians, both-to the wise and the foolish,” he
asserts. This was. his conception of the Christian
obligation. This is the conception of life and labor
which every Christian should have.

We are following in the Savior’s footsteps when
we are seeking and winning souls. To save the lost
is the vocation of Jesus’ disciples. Whatever other
callings claim our attention, this saving of souls
must dominate and color all. Those who devote
their lives to the saving of others show that they
realize their high calling. We cannot, without sin-
ning, refrain from seeking the lost. The errand of
preaching the Gospel to all creatures is entrusted to
us that their souls may be saved, and to fail in carry-
ing out this commission is downright disobedience
and a dishonest appropriation of entrusted funds.

God help us more and more to make the saving
of souls our first concern and our dominant purpose
in life. May the seeking of the lost color our
thoughts, regulate our expenditures, and decide how
we are to use our lives! Let us recognize our in-
debtedness to all who are without Christ. May we
beware of consuming all we have upon ourselves,
and may we not think only of our own salvation!
F.J.L.

Peter Mbiyu Koinange.

Peter Mbiyu Koinange (pronounce Peter Bi’-u-
Koi-nan’-ge) is the son of an African chief in the
British colony and protectorate Kenya, East Africa.
His father sent him to Hampton Institute, Virginia,
three years ago. While there, he contracted tuber-
culosis and was sent to the Piedmont Sanatorium at
Burkeville, Va. Last year he heard a sermon by
Rey. Martin Dorpat and thus became acquainted
with our Church and its teachings. Later he also
came in contact with Director Drewes. Having fully
regained his health, he is at this time again pursuing
his studies at Hampton Institute. ;

Recently he wrote the following letter to Pastor
L. G. Dorpat, our missionary at Meherrin, Va., and
the father of Rev. Martin Dorpat, who first learned
to know the young African chief. We are of the

_ opinion that the letter will interest our readers, and

we shall give it just as it was written by Peter
Koinange. Our readers will agree with us that the °
young man has gained a remarkable proficiency in
the use of English during the three years that he has
been among us. Here is the letter: —