2021: Preaching the Gospel

He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Mark 16:15 (NIV)

What did Jesus' disciples experience when they heard Jesus give them this command to go and preach the gospel to all the world? I think Jesus' command caused insecurity, if not fear. Yes, they did have a little preaching experience under Jesus' guidance, but Jesus was leaving now and they are on their own. Can they handle it? Will their message be heard? How to share the Gospel with people whose cultures and worldviews are so different? Where to start at all? I believe many of us find ourselves asking similar questions because sharing the Gospel is a great challenge for us as well. We are not used to doing that. We live in a materialistic, postmodern society among people who have little interest in Christian teaching. Where to start and how to reach people with the message of Christ? In 2021, in the Methodist church in Estonia we want to work together to find answers to these questions and bring our focus back to sharing the Gospel on both personal and church level. We must learn to do it again, because the eternal life of people depends on it, and it is also a question of fulfilling the mission of the church and the survival of the church.

In Acts 1:8 (NIV) Jesus says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Preaching the good news of the Gospel was not just a human effort. It was the work of the Holy Spirit through disciples in both natural and supernatural ways. Only with the power of God could Christianity spread in the first century so fast and so far. Jesus' command to preach the Gospel can frighten us with its greatness or even impossibility. But God is looking for those who are willing to share the Gospel, and He will also give them the power of His Holy Spirit to do that work.

Dear friends, in 2021, I invite you to pray for your loved ones and friends who do not know God, to take every opportunity to share Christ with others and lead someone to Him.

With God’s blessings,
Robert Tšerenkov
Superintendent of Estonian Methodist Church (UMC)