Claim a Country: Henrietta Mears and the Vision to Reach the Nations
A schoolteacher from Minnesota moved to Los Angeles and became the Sunday School director of Hollywood Presbyterian Church. From that one church, Henrietta Mears impacted thousands. However, perhaps her greatest contribution was her ability to disciple young men and women and give them a vision for the nations.
She profoundly shaped the faith of Bill Bright (Cru/Campus Crusade for Christ), Bob Pierce (World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse), Jim Rayburn (Young Life), Cameron Townsend (Wycliffe Bible Translators), Dawson Trotman (Navigators), Billy Graham, and hundreds of others who entered full-time Christian service.
My own life has been deeply impacted by Mears—first through the ripple effect of Young Life and Billy Graham, and later through her biographies. Through them, I came to admire her passion for Jesus, her commitment to excellence, her gracious love for the lost, the role of camp ministry in spiritual formation, and her unwavering vision for the nations.
One story that especially moved me was told in Amazing Faith: The Authorized Biography of Bill Bright. Miss Mears once entered a room full of young adults and declared that each person should claim a country for Christ. Bright chose Russia and began praying for it daily for decades. After the Soviet Union collapsed, he was invited to share the Gospel on national television in Russia. On another trip, he addressed the Russian Parliament. Following that, a cabinet minister invited him to show the Jesus Film in every public school. Did Henrietta Mears know that something as odd as “claiming a country for Christ” would lead to something so astonishing over 30 years later? Maybe, maybe not. But her faith—and the culture she created—empowered others to believe that God could use that little room to touch the nations.
Shaping the DNA of Nations Church
Our desire for Nations Church is to instill a vision for the nations in every member: to pray, to support, and to go. We plan to nurture this by regularly praying for global revival, developing relationships with churches around the world, and sending our people on mission.
One of Mears’s most impactful strategies was called deputation. She organized young people into teams who ministered up and down the California coast. They prayed, planned, prepared, and went. They preached, led worship, and ran youth gatherings. They gained leadership skills, encountered the power of God, and came back with testimonies.
In the same way, we believe deputation should be part of our church's culture. We envision teams going out regularly to share the Gospel across our city, minister in other churches, lead VBS programs, host youth camps, and serve where needed. We want to send teams to other nations—and to receive teams as well, welcoming others to minister to us.
Like Henrietta Mears, we want to create a culture of faith that makes the impossible possible. A church where every believer can dream with God—and believe they can touch the nations for Christ.
Dream Big. Go To The Nations. Pray for the world.
