The Light of the Gospel for a World in Darkness

The 9th chapter of the Old Testament book of Isaiah begins with a reflection on the distress and despair of a people who walked in darkness. But the narrative turns quickly to hope and joy when the gloom of that darkness is shattered by the light of God’s Glory. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” And of course, we know that the joy and hope of this light comes to us in the form of a Savior who delivers us from darkness, because later in the same chapter we read that “unto us a child is born…and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

In John chapter 12, we see the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words when Christ states: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” And then with all of that context we come to Paul’s reflection on the contrast between light and darkness with regard to proclamation of the gospel. It is from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that we select an annual theme verse to guide Avant’s global outreach in 2025:

So, we have great joy and hope because we who follow Christ have this light of the knowledge of God’s glory, which He has made to shine in our hearts. At the same time, we are surrounded by darkness. Avant cross-cultural workers serve in places of tremendous darkness on five continents; sometimes encountering people who have been exposed to the light of the gospel and have rejected it; often, however, seeking to reach people who have seldom or never heard the life-changing message of the gospel. In 2025, there are at least 3 billion people on our planet who fit this description.

Avant exists to make it possible for Jesus to be known by all people everywhere, to shine His light in the unreached dark places, and then to plant and develop missionally healthy churches so that they can experience the joy of that light in community. Over the next three years, we have established strategic goals to plant new churches among the unreached in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America. We also have set goals related to the development and growth of existing churches on a journey toward becoming missionally healthy reproducing communities of Christ followers.

Let it be our collective prayer in 2025, as we are called to serve globally in places of darkness and brokenness, that God will grant us abundant opportunity to proclaim the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ. May we be anchored to this lighthouse and guided by it, so that what we preach in our execution of the Great Commission is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, for the sake of His church globally!