CBCC Mission Conference 2024: ‘God’s Mission, Corporate Mission’

Our Correspondent
Kohima | November 9

Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) General Secretary Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho said, “Mission is not something that we can do alone. We must partner with each other to send out missionaries to the world.”

Speaking on the second day of the Mission Conference 2024 of the Chakhesang Baptist Church Council (CBCC) at Phek Town Baptist Church, Rev Dr Keyho said Nagas are people who benefitted by the provision of God. When the gospel first came to us it was not meant for us but for other, he said.

Talking on the topic “God’s Mission, Corporate Mission,” he said “The missionaries came to our region with the intent to cross over to the Shan people. But finding out that they could not go any further because of the terrain they halted in our region and gave us the gospel. They gave to us what belonged to the Shans. We become the beneficiaries. Now it is our responsibility to take the gospel to people who are yet to hear the good news.”

Stating that the church mission is God’s own mission, he said “Mission was birthed in the heart of God out of love for the lost world. He came seeking the lost. God is a missionary God and he demonstrated that heart of mission by sending his beloved Son. The Father sent the Son and the father Son sent the Holy Spirit and the three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit sent the church, the believers. In this, we see the very concept of the corporate mission.”

Dr Rema Chhakchhuak, Asian Mission Mobilizer, Baptist Mission, Australia, took plenary session as resource person with youth. “Most of our days are filled with church activities but lives are not changing,” he lamented Referring to Matthew 28:18-19, he said “We identify ourselves as Christians but we do not know whom we follow.”

He said the main command of the Great Commission is not “to go” but to “make disciple.” The whole point of being disciples of Jesus is to know Jesus in a relational, intimate manner and to continue to learn at his feet as they are being transformed daily in his likeness, Dr Chhakchhuak said.

Plenary session with Sunday School Teachers
“Things must evolve, so change is unavoidable; however, positive change should be the goal of every sensible citizen, especially those in the responsibility of teaching,” said Rev Dr Chekrovei Cho-o, executive secretary CBCC while taking plenary session with Sunday School Teachers.

He said that change is a buzz word of our day! Everybody talk about it, but only few are serious about it!

To change things around, we must, first of all, be the change because we just can’t give away what we don’t have!, he said.

He said that training up a child has become a huge responsibility in Naga society today “because we are surrounded and confronted by uncertainty of our children’s future.”

Looking at Naga context today, ecclesiastical or societal change is next to impossible, Rev Dr Cho-o said adding that justice appears to be a fantasy and peace a far cry.

“Even the integrity of the church is questioned left and right because we have spent too much time on repairing men and women. But the good news is we’ve our children who can be the change both in the church and society. Therefore, we need to prepare the ground work today in our children/students to live in the light of God’s perspective,” he said.

Plenary session with missionaries
Rev Sehu Belho, Strategic Co-ordinator on Course Mission, Nagaland stressed on the need to pray to remain faithful to “our Lord and his call.”

Throughout church and mission history, mission had been done in the midst of hardships and persecution, he said.

Currently, Open Doors International has listed 50 most persecuted countries in which India ranked 11.

Let us be faithful in our walk with Jesus and our work for him and let us pray for grace and courage if we have to face suffering in order to do his will, he said.

He said there is a need for our churches to learn from the apostles and the early Christians with regards to how we should respond to persecution in our time. “Jesus is the supreme model in enduring persecution and triumphing over it. He is our supreme model and inspiration,” Rev Belho said.

Our mission is to a fallen and hostile world but the mission is a commissioned task. The commission comes from God. And God has charged his church with divine authority and empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out the task of reconciling the world to God and thereby participate in God’s mission of redeeming mankind and reclaiming his kingdom, he said.

Our confidence and competence in mission come from the commission/mandate we have received from God, he added.

‘The power for the mission does not lie with human institutions or resources or schemes – not even with the missionary however educated or gifted or enterprising or lowly and ordinary. The power for the mission is divine. I would like to call the power for mission, the combo-power of love, the gospel, and the Holy Spirit,” he said. Our faithful communication and demonstration of God’s love and his gospel and our utter reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit is key to the effectiveness of the mission, he added.

Role of women in God’s Mission
Vedukholu Theyo, resource person for plenary session with women said that women play a significant role in carrying out God’s Mission in the whole of the Bible in different instances through different responsibilities.

She said God’s Mission is to redeem the world from sin; to restore and renew so the world acknowledges Him in worship as their Creator and King and Jesus as Savior and Lord.

She said that mission starts with God, it belongs to God and we are invited to be participants in His mission.

“Mission is not an option to be considered but a mandate to obey. When we accept Jesus as our Savior automatically, we become part of His Mission,” she said.

She said that women started to stand out in mission as they were able to minister to places where men cannot enter meeting needs like poverty, education, health care, hygiene, disaster relief etc.

“Today two third of Missionaries are women,” she said and stressed on the need to involve in domestic/international mission with church, family and friends.

Other resource persons of the plenary session includes; Ravikho-ü Kera (with Pastors), and Rev Dr Sülüveyi Rhakho (with Local Mission Board).

Earlier, the morning gospel service was led by Rev Dr Nüvocho Dzüdo, Pastor CBC East Dimapur. Prayer of adoration was led by Rev Kevengoi Sakhamo and experiential sharing by Ruveto Tetseo, Missionary at Chuyo, Myanmar.

The mission conference will conclude on November 10.