World Mission Sunday — Epiphany 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am writing to bring your attention to the upcoming World Mission Sunday in February during Epiphany.* Epiphany is a season where people, like the original Magi, are enlightened to the Good News that Jesus is the Promised One—the Messiah. I could not think of a better time of the year to celebrate and highlight world missions than in this important season between Christmastide and Lent. This day offers us, as a Province, a chance to consider what each of us can do to advance the Kingdom of Christ around the world.
People outside the Christian faith can look at world events from the past year and feel hopeless. Even believers, when we look at circumstances and not at Jesus, can become discouraged and paralyzed at the great needs that surround us. The need to advance the Kingdom is not only an international concern; it is also a domestic one. Only China and India have more people without a saving knowledge of Jesus than those living in the United States right now. Psalm 2 aptly describes the situation both then and now:
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed…
Only Jesus satisfies our greatest needs. I am so thankful that Psalm 2 does not leave us in a hopeless state. Instead, we witness a Messianic promise given to Jesus by the Father:
The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me,
and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
We are a people of hope, and Jesus calls us to spread this hope—this light to every corner of the world so that one day every tribe, tongue, and nation will proclaim Jesus is Lord!
This past fall at the New Wineskins Global Mission Conference, the 111 vision was cast to challenge every Anglican to Be the One who shares their faith, to See the One around you who needs to hear that Jesus loves and died for them, and to Share the One True God. This Be, See and Share – 111 vision is easy to remember and calls each of us to live life on mission for Jesus in this dark world.
This World Mission Sunday, I ask you to ponder how God is calling you to share the Good News to fulfill the Great Commission. It could be as simple as an act of kindness to a newly- arrived refugee. Perhaps God is calling you to pray for an unreached people group to hear and believe. For some of us, it might even mean going across the world.
~ Reaching North America with the Transforming Love of Jesus Christ ~
If you are prayerfully considering short-term or long-term opportunities to advance the Kingdom of Christ, I encourage you to contact your diocese’s Global Mission Initiative Advocate (for our Diocese please learn more in this article) and visit newwineskins.org to learn more. You can also find great resources for World Mission Sunday at https://newwineskins.org/worldmissionsunday. Let’s accept the 111 challenge both individually and corporately until all have heard and had a chance to respond to the Gospel!
Lastly, I want to leave you with the Prayer for Mission, that we pray each week:
And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
In Christ,
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach
Archbishop and Primate, Anglican Church in North America
* The designated dates for World Mission Sunday for 2023 are Feb. 5 or Feb. 12. The official date for the future will be the second to last Sunday in Epiphany.