Missions – the Heartbeat of the Diocese

Close to 500 years ago, Mission was the heartbeat of the Western Church. Europeans were in search of spices and treasures, and many set out to bring the riches of the Far East and other continents to the West. Other motives notwithstanding, God used them as instruments for the Gospel to reach even the remotest parts of the earth. In 1521 the Spaniards in their galleons arrived in the Philippines. Magellan’s cross was planted - a memorial marking Jesus as Lord over the uttermost parts of the earth and a symbol of faith that would forever be embedded in the hearts and minds of the people.

In Justo Gonzales’ “The History of Christianity Volume II’ (Copyright 1984), he underlined on one hand, the phenomenal growth in the recent years of the church in Asia, Africa and Latin America and on the other hand, the subsequent decline of the faith in Europe and the west. He concludes his book by saying that perhaps those from the ends of the earth may be one day be given the opportunity to bring the gospel to the descendants of those who once brought it to them. “What ye plant is what ye shall reap”.

Our diocese was conceived when a prophecy was given to Archbishop Hines that he was to send “Generals” abroad to the ‘Armies” who were awaiting them. It was birthed when in obedience to God he brought Bishop Elmer to Madrid in 1984. Curiously, it was around that time that Justo Gonzales’ book came off the press.

It would seem therefore that in recent years, the influx of the people from the Third World into Europe and the West is more than just the search for greener pastures and the sending of remittances from the West to the ends of the earth. Just as the Westerners had wrong motives in entering our shores, we on our 747’s had wrong motives in coming to Europe. Yet behind it is a divine purpose. In our generation God intends the revival of the Church in Europe. The recent selection of a European Pope who envisions this very revival of the church in Europe confirms this purpose. In 1999 God gave Bishop Elmer a word that ‘We are a new fire kindled from the embers of old”. If only we can see through God’s eyes. Our missionary endeavors of replanting crosses throughout Europe and the West are “The History of Christianity Volume III” in the making. The crosses stand as memorials that Jesus has never ceased to be Lord over Europe and the West. We in 500 years after the Western Mission, have embraced “Missions as the heartbeat of our Diocese”.