Running Toward the Goal: Mission Here and Far Away

Introduction

This Sunday, Serge Oulaï, pastor of the church in Créteil in the Val-de-Marne, came to share the Word with a double purpose: to present the work of the Bible Mission in Ivory Coast and Haiti, and to meditate with you on a text that shaped the apostle Paul's whole life, Philippians 3:8-14.

The title of the message says it all: "Running Toward the Goal: Mission Here and Far Away." Because mission isn't only what happens 6,000 miles away. Mission is also what God wants to do in you, in your family, in your local church, in your neighborhood. Here and there. At the same time.

Serge Oulaï puts it simply: "He and I are the fruit of this mission." In the 1920s, a young couple, the Richards, left for what was then called the Gold Coast, in West Africa. They were in their twenties. There were no planes. They crossed by boat. A hundred years later, entire generations of pastors, churches, and changed lives testify that no missionary effort is ever lost.

So listen to this message as though Paul were writing to you today: "I don't consider that I have yet grasped the prize, but I forget what is behind me and press on toward the goal."

Outline of the Message

1. The Text That Shaped Paul: Philippians 3:8-14

Serge Oulaï opens his Bible and reads this passage, which Paul wrote near the end of his ministry, knowing the Lord was about to call him home:

"I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith… that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection… Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Three missionary journeys. Prisons. Shipwrecks. Betrayals. And yet this phrase keeps coming back: "to know Christ." Everything else, Paul counts as refuse. Do you feel the force of that contrast? What the world sells you as success, status, security, Paul says that next to Christ, it's garbage.

This isn't a pose. It's a life that has been taken hold of. Paul writes: "I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus." Before you ever run toward God, God ran toward you. That's what sets you in motion.

2. A Missionary Legacy: 1927, Ivory Coast, and the Birth of the Bible Mission

The Bible Mission was born in 1927. A young couple, the Richards, was sent out by one of the pioneering pastors of the Tabernacle church. They left with an invitation to a region then called the Gold Coast, today's Ivory Coast, in West Africa.

They began on the coast, in Sassandra. Traces of their work still remain today in an institute in that town. Then they went further, 375 miles inland, into the mountainous west of the country. There, they did three things in sequence:

• evangelism work among the local population,
• discipleship work to strengthen the first believers,
• and finally training work to raise up the first generation of pastors.

They left behind a Bible institute whose name, in the local language (Yacouba), literally means "the village of God, the village of the Word of God." That institute still stands today. It has trained generations of pastors. The Ivorian pastor Ivan André, present at the service, is one of its fruits.

Almost a hundred years later, the Union of Evangelical Churches, Services and Works that grew out of it now counts: 14 regions covered, 70,000 members, 132 pastors, 24,000 baptized. And those numbers are already out of date.

3. Today's Vision: Three Areas of Engagement

Serge Oulaï insists: mission is no longer an enterprise imported from elsewhere. It's now carried out on the ground by servants raised up by God, in Ivory Coast and in Haiti. The Bible Mission's role today is to walk alongside, not to direct. Three areas:

a) Teaching and theological training. God has raised up local teachers and pastors. The Bible Mission occasionally sends French or Swiss teachers to complement local teams. It supports academic, biblical, and pastoral training through several institutions, including the institute founded by the Richards, as well as a partnership with the CFC, which trains pastors and servants of God for three years across various fields of African evangelism.

b) Evangelism. Whether in Ivory Coast or Haiti, there are frontline evangelism departments, with teams deployed throughout both countries. The role of the French committee: to stir up prayer in churches for these teams, and to support concrete evangelism projects.

c) Social action, education, health, and development. Serge Oulaï says it plainly: "You can't evangelize someone who is hungry without feeding them. You can't tell someone in very poor health, 'everything will be fine, just believe in the Lord Jesus.'" The gospel cannot stay disconnected from the body. The Bible Mission therefore supports:

• schools (elementary and secondary, including Maranatha College in Haiti and a school in one of the toughest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, with a cafeteria serving two meals a day so children don't come to study on an empty stomach),
• two health centers in Ivory Coast, one of them in a majority-Muslim region, plus a project launched two years ago with the Swiss: a mobile health center that travels through remote villages around Danané (a team of nurses fully funded by the Mission),
• children's homes that take in children in difficulty for a few years (5 years maximum, with the goal that the child returns to their family, because family remains their rightful place),
• micro-development projects, including small financial support schemes to help women launch self-funded ventures.

4. Haiti: Resilience in the Midst of Crisis

In Haiti, the Bible Mission works with the Union of Baptist Churches of Haiti (UEBH): 4 out of 9 departments covered, around sixty churches planted, 60,000 members, 100 pastors, 40,000 baptized.

You know the news out of Haiti. It isn't cheerful. Gang violence, political and economic crises, part of the country living under constant threat. And yet, every time Serge Oulaï meets with Pastor Robert, president of the UEBH, it is Serge who comes away encouraged. "They have a strength, a support of the Spirit of God, that is incredible."

In this context, Haitian churches keep on:

• ordaining new pastors,
• holding their big annual conference (July 2025: 10,000 people gathered, 200 conversions),
• keeping Maranatha College running, one of the most respected schools in Haiti,
• keeping the school in the Bel-Air neighborhood running, one of the toughest in Port-au-Prince,
• running a medical center in the north of the country, which has stayed active despite the crisis.

They could have fled. Some did. But these believers chose to stay and remain on the mission field. They believe their country, their nation, can still be touched and restored by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Serge Oulaï says it with conviction: "That kind of determination, that kind of courage deserves to be backed, walked alongside, and supported."

5. The Real Question: God's Mission in You

After presenting the Bible Mission, Serge Oulaï comes back to the text. And he makes a crucial shift. He tells you: "My message today won't necessarily be about mission. I'm going to talk about the mission of God in us, because that's the one that actually moves us."

Look at Paul. As soon as he was touched by Christ (Acts 9), he was gripped by a calling: to make Christ known to the whole world. Why is this so important? Because it is Christ who changes hearts, Christ who changes lives. And you yourself are a witness of that change in your own life, and maybe in your family's too.

What mattered most to Paul was to live out Christ in every dimension of his life, to the point that, knowing his end was near, he could say that what counted was that Christ live in him and Christ be proclaimed, so that others might taste the power of the resurrection.

And that resurrection isn't first of all bodily. It's the one that moves a person from being a sinner to being a son. Serge Oulaï reminds us what sin is: "Sin is that inclination that pushes us, sometimes almost unconditionally, to do more evil than good." Paul talks about it in Romans 7: the tension between the good he identifies and his ability to actually do it.

We live in a world that keeps advancing (medicine, technology), and we should be grateful for that. But in that same world, we see the horror of evil. A couple thousand miles from here, there is war. "How do these horrors happen? Because evil is in us. Because our hearts are pushed more toward evil than good."

And that's what mission is. Mission is how God uses you so that Christ can take hold of your heart, change your life, change how you see the world, change your perspective. So that you can live out what he calls you to live: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love others, so that the world will know you are his disciples."

6. Generosity: An Investment for Eternity

Serge Oulaï quotes 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Paul's charge to Timothy: "Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Charge them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life."

Serge translates that for you this morning through the lens of mission: investing in mission is laying up treasure in a safe place. If there's one place you can invest, it's already your local church, your neighborhood. This church that you are. This light you're meant to carry, telling yourself: "We're here. God needs us right here."

It's worth investing in. It takes a bit of time. Actually, it takes a lot of time. It takes commitment. It also takes a bit of money, sometimes a lot. And all of it is worthwhile.

Be careful, he says, with wealth in the West: it can be a trap because it's unstable. Let it instead be an opportunity to do good, to be generous. Generosity is what your communities need. It's your generosity that gives churches the means to do the work God calls them to. It's your generosity that fuels the missions presented this morning.

7. Running Toward the Goal: What Is Your Goal?

Serge Oulaï comes back to the heart of Philippians 3. "So in the end, what is our goal?" His answer: "To live our life with the grace God gives us in our families, with this journey where Jesus keeps investing himself in us, changing our hearts."

And he adds this gem: "Our changed hearts are already happiness for our families." To love people better, you have to let Christ invest himself in you. The more he invests in you, the more open and changed you become, able to love the people close to you, but also able to love even your enemies. That's the hardest part. And yet, it's Jesus who invites you to go there.

"To gain Christ and be found in him." This isn't a performance to achieve. It's a path to receive every day.

8. God's Design for the Local Church: Romans 12

Serge Oulaï then quotes Romans 12:3-16: "For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don't have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another, having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us."

Then, in verse 14: "Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don't curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Don't set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don't be wise in your own conceits."

The message is clear: each of us, in the calling God has given us (in our families, in our individual lives, but also together as a church), is here to do a work God needs done. One missionary once said: "Who does your work in this part of town, Lord?, It's this church. They're here. They're the ones doing this work here."

Serge loves this thought. You're not just there every Sunday to be there every Sunday. You're there to carry out God's mission here and to carry it out far away too, by supporting other missionaries. All of that is part of the good work Paul is calling you into.

9. Shine Like a Light

Serge Oulaï closes with this word from Philippians 2:15-16: "Shine as lights in the world, holding out the word of life."

We have a challenge, beloved. A good challenge: to keep making the gospel shine in a society that badly needs it. How does God do that? Through your life. Our lives are holy, our lives are stretched forward, and we are lights.

Do you want those lights to stay lit? Of course you do. That's why you're here this Sunday. That's why you gather, why you do church together: to encourage each other, to spur each other on, so that the light stays lit and so that you keep carrying the word of life, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of salvation.

Let God change your heart, change your life. Let him invest in your homes, your marriages, your relationships.

Key Takeaways

1. Mission is here and there, never one without the other. Your local church and distant mission fields are two faces of the same work of God.
2. It's not you who grasped Christ; Christ already grasped you. All your forward running is a response to a hand extended before you ever reached for it (Philippians 3:12).
3. Mission begins in your heart. Before the outward projects, there is the mission of God in you, which transforms you and enables you to truly love.
4. Generosity is treasure laid up in a safe place (1 Timothy 6:17-19). Investing in God's work, in your local church, in mission far away, is investing for eternity.
5. You are a light, not a spectator. The gospel shines through your ordinary life, in your home, your neighborhood, your work.

Personal Application

Take a few minutes before God and honestly ask yourself these questions:

1. What do I "count as refuse" next to knowing Christ, today, in my actual life? Are there things I'm still holding onto too tightly?
2. Where does the "mission of God in me" stand right now? Am I really letting Christ transform my heart, my reflexes, the way I love my family and the people close to me?
3. How am I praying for churches and missionaries "far away", in Ivory Coast, Haiti, or elsewhere? Do I have the name of a team, a country, or a brother or sister I can intercede for this week?
4. Is my generosity in step with the wealth God has entrusted to me? Or has financial security quietly become a trap I don't dare talk about?
5. Am I engaged in my local church beyond Sunday morning? Can I say, like the churches in Haiti weathering the storm: "I choose to stay and be on the mission field right here"?

Scriptures Cited

• Philippians 3:8-14 · the central text: knowing Christ and running toward the goal.
• Philippians 2:15-16 · shining as lights, holding out the word of life.
• 1 Timothy 6:17-19 · wealth, generosity, the true treasure laid up in a safe place.
• Romans 12:3-16 · one body, differing gifts, one shared call to love.
• Romans 7 · the tension between the good I want and the evil I do.
• Acts 9 · Paul's conversion and the start of his missionary calling.
• Deuteronomy 6:5 · loving the LORD with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength.

FAQ

Why does mission "far away" still matter when evangelism is already so hard here at home?

Because mission isn't a question of "us first, them later." Serge Oulaï says it plainly: mission is here and there, at the same time, in every direction. A Christian who prays and gives for Ivory Coast or Haiti isn't praying any less for their own neighborhood, quite the opposite, their heart grows bigger. And they discover that churches "far away" often have a vitality that in turn encourages them to keep going at home.

What is the Bible Mission?

It's a Franco-Swiss mission organization founded in 1927. It currently partners with two church unions: the Union of Evangelical Churches, Services and Works in Ivory Coast, and the Union of Baptist Churches of Haiti (UEBH). It works across three areas: theological training, evangelism, and social action (schools, health centers, children's homes, micro-development). Website: mission-biblique.org.

How do I balance generosity toward mission with the needs of my own family?

Scripture doesn't call you to give what you don't have. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 is addressed to those who are rich, reminding them not to set their hope on that wealth. The question isn't "how much?" but "where is your heart?" Start by praying, by learning more, by interceding. Then, according to what God has entrusted to you, give, far away, yes, but first in your local church, which is your first mission field.

What does Paul mean by "running toward the goal"?

It isn't running to earn salvation, Paul is very clear about that: "It is God who justifies, who justifies the one who believes." Running toward the goal means living each day heading toward Christ, letting Christ transform your heart, forgetting what's behind (both the failures and the successes that could hold you back), and straining toward what's ahead: knowing Christ ever more deeply and reflecting him in your life.