The central activity of missions is the communication of the gospel. Why? Because as Mark 8:36 notes,

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

So called “Missions” efforts that only address physical needs have missed the point and left their recipients “for dead.” It’s not an “either or” but a “both and.” Jesus himself healed, cast out demons, raised the dead, and fed the hungry, but all these activities were secondary to his primary mission of the proclamation of the gospel.  In fact, communication was so central to Jesus’ “mission trip” from heaven to earth that one of his key names was “Word”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”(John 1:1,14)

Eric Wright says it well in “A Practical Theology of Missions” when he writes,

“Missionary activity that fails to focus on the proclamation of the gospel fails to be missionary. Philanthropy, perhaps; missions, no. However, as sinners grow in grace they increasingly manifest both love for God and love for their neighbors. Works of concern and compassion spring up as believers see neighbors in need. Evangelism precedes and produces, social action.”

 Billy Graham stated,

“Rejecting Christ leaves people dead on the inside. Dead Spiritually. 1 Timothy 5:6 says, the soul separated from God is dead even while she liveth.”

 Missions must address both the body and the soul. Otherwise, people are “left for dead” in “their trespasses and sins” (Colossians 2:1).  The above picture shows a mother of a student in the Emanuel House Ministry in Quisqueya, Dominican Republic who received in August a much-needed new floor and latrine, as well as well as the all-important need of Christ as her savior.  Missions: addressing both physical and spiritual needs.