Christian Mission

Christian Social Responsibility

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Article 5 of the Lausanne Covenant addresses Christian Social Responsibility as part of the church’s global mission:

We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all men. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression. Because men and women are made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, color, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he or she should be respected and served, not exploited. Here too we express penitence both for our neglect and for having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive. Although reconciliation with other people is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty. For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and Man, our love for our neighbor and our obedience to Jesus Christ. The message of salvation implies also a message of judgment upon every form of alienation, oppression and discrimination, and we should not be afraid to denounce evil and injustice wherever they exist. When people receive Christ they are born again into his kingdom and must seek not only to exhibit but also to spread its righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous world. The salvation we claim should be transforming us in the totality of our personal and social responsibilities. Faith without works is dead.

Just so there is no question in anyone’s mind whether the above statement is biblical and part of the missio dei (the Mission of God), take some time to reflect upon these scripture verses and passages:

Acts 17.26,31; Genesis 18.25; Isaiah 1.17; Psalm 45.7; Genesis 1.26-27; James 3.9; Leviticus 19.18; Luke 6.27,35; James 2.14-26; John 3.3,5; Matthew 5.20; Matthew 6.33; 2 Corinthians 3.18; James 2.20

Lost Art of Discipleship

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Sometimes we need to face up to difficult questions. Michael Horton, in his book The Gospel Commission, asks some really tough ones that every church, every church leader, every church member needs to ask themselves:

Instead of reaching the lost, are we losing the reached? Or are those reared in our own churches being truly reached in the first place? Do they know what they believe and why they believe it? Are we making disciples even of our own members – our own children – much less the Nations?

I honestly wonder if making disciples is even really the goal of many Christians or churches.  Some are apathetic and/or complacent. Some seem to think taking the time to instruct people in sound doctrine (what we must believe about God and Man) somehow gets in the way with mission.  Some are so contented in their own activity and busyness for the Lord that they sense no need to spend time with the Lord. And many seem to be satisfied with sheer increase in numbers.

Perhaps the task of making disciples seems daunting.  But Jesus gave good news to those who are willing to reclaim this priority:

  • All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. …And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18, 20)
  • But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1.8)

He provides his authority, his power, and his presence to all who endeavor to make disciples.

Mission @ the Heart of God

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

There are the five parts of the Bible:

  • The God of the Old Testament is a missionary God, calling one family in order to bless all the families of the earth.
  • The Christ of the Gospels is a missionary Christ; he sent the church out to witness.
  • The Spirit of the Acts is a missionary Spirit; he drove the church out from Jerusalem to Rome.
  • The Church of the epistles is a missionary Church, a worldwide community with a worldwide vocation.
  • The end of the Revelation is a missionary End, a countless throng from every nation.

So I think we have to say the religion of the Bible is a missionary religion. The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable.

Mission cannot be regarded as a regrettable lapse from tolerance or decency. Mission cannot be regarded as the hobby of a few fanatical eccentrics in the church. Mission lies at the heart of God and therefore at the very heart of the church. A church without mission is no longer a church. It is contradicting an essential part of its identity. The church is mission.

~ John R. W. Stott, from Authentic Christianity

Serving as Senders

/ Dennis Griffith / 3 Comments

There are no by-standers enlisted in the Great Commission. Everyone called by Christ is called both to Christ and to engage in the Missio Dei – the Mission of God in this world. 

That is not a new concept. I suspect few who have spent even the minimalist time in an Evangelical church would be able to honestly say that they have not heard the above statement, or at least something very, very close.  The question, however, that people seem to stumble over is: What is MY Part?

While there are several ways this can be answered, for the sake of simplicity in this post I will divide the roles into two categories:

  • Some people are Goers
  • Some people are Senders

Obviously some people will do both. But never should a Christian do neither.  Some go on short-term mission trips, and in that way, at least, many are goers.  But in the strictest sense of the roles, most of us short-termers cannot consider ourselves actual “Go-ers”. That should be reserved for those who commit to long-term cross cultural service. 

The role of the typical church member, and of local church missions committees, is to be Senders. But while that may be easy enough to understand, what seems to stump many people, and many committees, is a clear definition of what it means to be a Sender. 

Missiologist Neil Pirolo has penned a very helpful book: Serving as Senders. In this book Pirolo outlines the parameters of being a Sender.  You get the idea even by simply thinking about the outline of the Chapters:

  1. The Need for Senders
  2. Moral Support
  3. Logistics Support
  4. Financial Support
  5. Prayer Support
  6. Communication Support
  7. Re-Entry Support
  8. Your Part in the BIG Picture

While the book is short, and certainly not exhaustive even on this subject, Pirolo’s thoughts are a great starting point. I plan to provide a copy for members of the missions committee at our church.

Serving as Senders is also available as a free e-book. Click the link above, or click: Senders.

Cat & Dog Theology

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments
It seems to be going great.

Our church is in the middle of hosting the Cat & Dog Theology seminar as part of our missions conference. And despite those reservations that would usually be expected when a conservative church hosts a seminar with such a preposterous sounding theme, those in attendance seem to be benefiting from the teaching and experience.

To be honest, this is what I expected when we scheduled the conference. I’ve been familiar with this seminar, and the host agency, UnveilinGLORY, for some time. We hosted this same seminar in the previous church I served, and we used the material that pre-dated Cat & Dog Theology in the church I served before that.

The seminar title catches your attention, but most people are not quite sure what to expect. It’s easy to assume that even if the teaching is kosher, how much depth could there possibly be? But you’d be surprised.

Cat & Dog Theology is based on an old joke about the differences between cats and dogs. It is said that while dogs have masters, cats have staff. And the sad truth is that too many Christians live in relationship to God more like cats who assume God exists simply to provide for us, with little regard for His Glory, His Purpose, and His Mission, except as it benefits us. Dogs, on the other hand, delight to be in their master’s presence. And in that sense we ought to be far more dogged.

What has any of this to do with World Evangelization? That’s a common question, once people understand the basis of the conference, and overcome initial apprehensions and skepticisms.

The fundamental motive and goal of Christian mission should be God-centered: it is for the purpose of declaring His glory among all Nations. While the result of effective mission will be the salvation of peoples from every tribe, tongue, and Nation, the ultimate goal (and result) is the gathering of heartfelt worshippers of the One True God from among all the Peoples of the Earth.

Cat & Dog Theology, by helping unveil the Glory of God, the mission of God (Missio Dei) revealed consistently from Genesis to Revelation, and the call to all Christians to be participants in this mission, not only moves us out into the world, but it reminds us of the ultimate reason we go.

The conference continues and concludes tonight.

If you are in the area I invite you to join us. For readers of this blog who are not part of Walnut Hill Church, I highly recommend hosting the Cat & Dog Theology seminar in your church. It will make a world of difference, as you consider how you can – and why you should – make a difference in the world.

For those of you from Walnut Hill, I invite you to comment on what you learned and what you thought. It should make for some enlightening discussions.

Mission: The Fourth Mark of the Church

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

A number of years ago, when the well-known conference speaker Ralph L. Keiper was preaching at a missions conference in Deerfield Street, New Jersey, he told about a little girl who had come to see him early in his ministry. She was about eight years old.  She had been to the church’s daily vacation Bible school. And when she came into his study she asked, “Mr. Keiper, is it all right if I commit suicide?” 

 The young pastor was startled. But he had learned never to give a quick Yes or No answer to a child’s question without first discovering why the child is asking the question. So he countered,“Mary, why would you ever want to commit suicide?” 

 “Well,” Mary said, “it’s because of what I learned in Bible school this morning.” 

 Keiper wondered to himself, “What was this child told?” 

She said, “We were taught that heaven is a wonderful place – no fear, no crying, no fighting, just to be with the Lord. Won’t that be wonderful! We were taught that when we die we will be with Jesus. Did I hear it right, Mr. Keiper?” 

“Yes, you did, Mary. But why would you want to commit suicide?” 

“Well,” she said, “you have been in my home. You know my mother and daddy. They don’t know Jesus. Many times they are drunk. So we have to get ourselves up in the morning, get our own breakfast and go to school with dirty clothes. The children make fun of us, and when we come home again we hear fighting and things that make us afraid. Why couldn’t I commit suicide?” 

It is clear that Mary did not believe in theoretical theology; she believed in practical theology, and she was facing a very practical problem. What she was really asking is why are we in this world anyway. If this world is such a sin-cursed place and heaven is such a blessed place, why do we have to stay here? Why does God not take us to heaven immediately upon our conversion? Or, failing that, why do we not all take our own life and so speed up what is an inevitable ending anyway?

Keiper answered by saying, “Mary, there is only one reason in God’s world why we are here. And that is that through our testimony, by life and by word, we might have the privilege of bringing people to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus.” He then indicated that, as Mary did this, it might be in the Lord’s providence that her parents would come to know the Lord as their Savior. Later, her mother did. 

Keiper’s story is important in light of the fourth mark of the church.

Up to this point we have been talking about those things which concern the church itself or which concern individual Christians personally. We have looked at joy, holiness and truth. But while these are important and undoubtedly attainable to a large degree in this life, nevertheless it does not take much thinking to figure out that all three of them would be more quickly attained if we could only be transported to heaven. Here we have joy; that is true. But what is this joy compared to the joy we will have when we see the source of our joy face to face? The Bible acknowledges this when it speaks of the blessedness of the redeemed saints, from whose eyes all tears shall be wiped away (Rev. 7:17; 21:4). Again, in this world we undoubtedly know a degree of sanctification. But what of that day when we shall be completely like him (1 John 3:2)? Or again, here we are able to assimilate some aspects of God’s truth and know truly. But in the day of our final redemption we shall know fully. “Now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then, face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). If this is true, why should we not go to heaven immediately? 

The answer is in the mark of the church to which we come now. For the church is not only to look inward and find joy, to look Christ-ward and find sanctification, to look to the Scriptures and find truth. The church is also to look outward to the world and there find the object of her God-given mission. 

The word “mission” comes from the Latin verb mitto, mittere, misi, missum, which means “to send” or “dispatch.” A mission is a sending forth. “But to whom is the church sent? Where are we sent as Christian missionaries?” The answer is, into the world. Jesus says quite clearly, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world” (v. 18). 

Here is why the evangelical church in the U.S. is not as much of a missionary church as it claims to be. It is not that the evangelical church does not support foreign missions. Rather it lies at the point of the evangelicals’ personal withdrawal from the culture. Many seem afraid of their culture. Hence, they try to keep as far from the world as possible lest they be contaminated or polluted by it. Thus they have developed their own subculture. As some Bible teachers have pointed out, it is possible, for example, to be born of Christian parents, grow up in that Christian family, have Christian friends, go to Christian schools and colleges, read Christian books, attend a Christian country club (known as a church), watch Christian movies, get Christian employment, be attended by a Christian doctor, and finally, one may suppose, die and be buried by a Christian undertaker on holy ground. But this is certainly not what Jesus meant when he spoke of his followers being “in the world.” 

What does it mean to be in the world as a Christian? It does not mean to be like the world; the marks of the church are to make the church different. It does not mean that we are to abandon Christian fellowship or our other basic Christian orientations. All it means is that we are to know non-Christians, befriend them, and enter into their own lives in such a way that we begin to infect them with the gospel, rather than their infecting us with their worldliness, which is the wrong way around. 

The second thing the text talks about is the character of the ones who are to conduct this mission. The point here is that we are to be as Christ in the world. This is made clear both in verse 18 and 19, for Jesus compares the disciples to himself both in the area of his having been sent into the world by the Father and of his being sanctified or set apart totally to that work. He says, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” In other words, we are to be in our mission as Jesus was in his mission. We are to be like the One whom we are presenting. 

Perhaps you are saying, “I do not know if I am like Jesus or not. In what areas should I be like him?” Obviously we are to be like him in every way. In other words; as his life was characterized by joy, so is our life to be characterized by joy. As he was sanctified, so are we to be sanctified. As he was characterized by truth, so are we to be. 

We are also to be like the Lord Jesus Christ in our unity. The world is fractured in a million ways. It is the logical outcome of the work of Satan, one of whose most revealing names is the disrupter (diabolos). If Christians would win the world, they must show a genuine unity which is in itself desirable and winsome and which at the same time points to the great unity within the Godhead, which is its source. 

Finally, the church must be marked by love, if it is to be as Christ in the world. Jesus loved the world; he really did. It was out of love for it that he died. Consequently, if we would win the world, we must love the world too – not the world’s system or sin, of course, but rather those who are in it. 

Once my family was eating in a restaurant, and my youngest daughter knocked over her glass of coke for about the thousandth time. I was visibly annoyed, as I always am (since we never seem to get through a meal without the identical accident). But we cleaned up and shortly after that left the restaurant. My daughter walked along in silence for awhile; but then she said, “You really hate it when we spill our cokes, don’t you?” I replied that I certainly did. She looked serious, but then she brightened up as if a particularly happy thought had just passed through her mind. She threw her arms around me in a big hug and added, “But you love me!” 

She knew the difference between love of the sinner and hatred of sin. And so will we if we look to Jesus. We must be like him in love, knowing that if we are, the world will see it and be drawn to him.  

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This is the fourth in a series of six posts by Dr James M. Boice concerning the characteristics of a healthy church.