“‘Man is altogether vanity.’ He passeth away as a shadow. His only true home is Heaven. Strangers and pilgrims indeed are we on the earth…. We believe this movement to be from Him. If he prosper us, we shall be the means of planting here a Christian colony and a pure church, as we believe, in this vast wilderness, and of extending hence its precious blessings to these savage heathen.
“Blessed will it be for us, blessed for this land, for this vast continent! Nay, from generation to generation will the blessing descend. Generations to come shall look back to this hour, and these scenes of agonizing trial, this day of small things, and say, ‘Here was our beginning as a people. These were our fathers. Through these trials we inherit our blessings. Their faith is our faith; their hope our hope; their God our God.’ The prospect brightens before me; it ends not on earth; it enters heaven! Let us go hence, then, to work with our might, that which we have to do. No small undertaking is it, that we have in hand. The opportunity for working will soon be past, and we shall be called to our account, and if faithful, to our reward.”
These words, spoken by the lay pastor of the Mayflower and the Plymouth Colony in the 1620s, reveal that the pilgrims’ journey to the New World served more than one purpose. While we recognize and celebrate the religious freedom we have inherited through their sacrifice, we should also realize that the pilgrims came here to be church-planting evangelists. Behold what God hath wrought through their sacrifice!
Like the pilgrims, we believe our movement is from God. He will prosper us as we go forth to unknown territories to establish congregations and movements that will present Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. And those who are raised up and follow after will share our faith, our hope and our God.
Let us go to those unreached peoples and work with all our might before the opportunity for working has passed. Jesus is coming soon! If faithful, we shall reap a harvest and a reward.
Please contact us so we can speed you on the way in your own Mayflower journey to new worlds of missionary opportunity.
