“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” Jesus in Matthew 24:14.
We have put it on the wall of our sanctuary and refer to our motto often – we are all about ‘growing deep and reaching wide.’ Where does this come from – did we pull it out of a hat – is it a current evangelical buzz? Actually, it is a rephrasing of the one-two punch that the Alliance has been known for since its inception – ‘deeper life and missions.’
Our founder, Albert Simpson, was totally committed to the principle that the quality of spiritual life must be the first priority of the believer. Jesus Christ is the source of our faith and service. This ever-deepening experience with God is lived out in context of the local church. The quality Christian life is not individualistic but communal. But to focus on ‘deep’ alone is fraught with problems. When I was a teen, we would head out to a bible camp that was situated on the edge of a lake. Problem was, the lake was seasonal – all the area runoff in the spring would fill the lake up, but as there was no outlet, it just spent the summer growing weeds and stagnating. By the end of the summer, you could hardly put your canoe oar in the weedy water it was so thick! This is the problem with ‘deeper only.’ The lack of an outlet for all that spiritual growth makes the believer grow weedy and stinky. In one of my churches, we had an influx of Christians from another group that emphasized ‘deeper only.’ It had become a stifling environment that leaned toward religious pride and works.
‘Deeper’ alone is not enough according to Jesus in the Great Commission in Matthew 28. We are to go ‘wider’ to the world with the message that Jesus saves.
In the Alliance, we believe in the spiritual lostness of people who don’t know Christ. How important that people be given an opportunity to hear about Him and choose for Him! The verse quoted above is tied in with Simpson’s eschatology – the return of Christ is linked with world evangelization. Not that every person becomes a Christian but that there be representatives in heaven from every tribe, tongue and nation. Simpson called this verse “bringing back the King.” To that end, he moved to New York where all the missionaries came and went from. He founded a missions magazine there that mobilized gospel driven Christians from across North America.
But Simpson didn’t only focus on world missions – he personally went to the ethnic enclaves of NY city and shared Christ’s love with them. At one point, 100 Italian immigrants came to know Christ this way. We have typically tried to go to the least reached people of the world – but with today’s global climate, I wonder who they are now? Rampant immigration policies in Canada have brought the ‘least reached’ to our doors! They are living here in Chilliwack! This is one of the reasons why our church has adopted our neighborhood as our parish – can we touch the world – AND our neighborhood for Christ?
To only go ‘wide’ is to operate in our own strength – we are simply a religious ‘self help’ group. No – we need the balance of both deep and wide!
Simpson summarized the uniqueness of the Alliance this way: “First, it stands for an absolute faith in supernatural things and a supernatural God. It represents a Christianity which is out-and-out for God, and it gathers to it those and only those who believe something, and believe it with all their heart and soul and strength. In a word, it represents intense spiritual earnestness. And secondly, along with this as the outgo and overflow of this deeper life of faith and consecration, it represents intense aggressiveness in its work for God, an overflow and outgo that is ever reaching on to the regions beyond, and seeking to pass on to other the blessings we have ourselves received.”
This my friend, is an ongoing daily Encounter with Jesus who called us to himself and is calling others to himself even as you read this…
Pastor Leon Throness
