David Rice, missionary to Mexico, delivered a timely and impassioned word to ministers at the 2017 US FCA convention, held in New York last week.
“The Holy Spirit does not anoint a method or a machine or an organization,” he said. “The Spirit anoints men and women!” Men [and women] are still God’s method—and planting them to plant churches is still God’s mission, Rice said. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is still the means God uses to accomplish his mission.
He challenged the churches of the FCA to take John 4:35 to heart. “Lift up your eyes and look,” he said. “See the need; see what God wants to do!”
Rice listed what he called some “worrisome trends”: sending others versus sending us; sending money versus sending people; sending short- versus sending long-term missionaries; and substituting projects for people.