Missions
Tears of the Saints
This moving video was sent to me by one of our missionaries serving among the Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims living in England. It is a powerful reminder of the need to intentionally and strategically prioritize the planting of churches among the Unreached Peoples of the world.
To learn more about each of the Unreached People Groups, check out: Joshua Project
Mission @ the Heart of God
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.
Serving as Senders
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:
- The Need for Senders
- Moral Support
- Logistics Support
- Financial Support
- Prayer Support
- Communication Support
- Re-Entry Support
- 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.
Global Missions is Not For SuperChristians
Missions is not just for Super Christians. The Great Commission will be accomplished by ordinary people, who posess a heartfelt faith in Jesus Christ, and who are faithful to follow Jesus’ instruction to go into all the world to make discples.
Simple, right?
Well, the concept is simple. Even the decision to oby or not obey is a simple choice. There are only two options, yes and no. There is no in between. But the implementation is not so simple. Each individual has a question to answer regarding his/her role. Even before that role is determined one must be informed about what roles there are that need to be played. Then there are the questions about what God is doing in the world. What skills do I have, or do I need to develop? How do I figure out where in the world I should go?
Every Christian is called to answer these questions. No one can slip by, simply dismissing Jesus’ mandate by saying, “I’m not called to missions.” Even if that were true – and I suspect it would be more accurate to say “I am not called to go overseas” – we are still left to answer the question: Then what are you called to do? And, Where are you called to do it? No one whom God has called has been called without a purpose for his/her life. And frankly, whatever the specific purpose, at least an aspect of everyone’s calling is connected to taking the Gospel to the Nations.
I am aware of no better tool to help people discover what God is doing in the world and what role they can play in God’s Mission (missio dei) than the PERSPECTIVES course. This course does take work, but the benefits far overshadow the expended effort. To say PERSPECTIVES makes a life-changing impact is not mere hyperoble. It’s true.
The above video offers testimonies from some who have participated in this couse. The video encourages you to find a class near you, which I would also urge. But what is not revealed in the video is that if an intensive 15 week course is not feasible for you, for whatever reasons, there are alternatives. One is an Intensive PERSPECTIVES class, where participants are indundated with God’s Global Glory for either one or three weeks of instruction. I am not sure how the corresponding readings are handled. Another option is to take this course online. When taken online you don’t have the benefit of interaction with other participants, but you can spread your reading out over the course of a year. For this option check out: PERSPECTIVES Online.
And finally, if you are a college or seminary student, PERSPECTIVES can be taken for either undergad or grad school credits.
Cats & Dogs and God’s Global Glory
First among the Core Values at Walnut Hill Church is God’s Global Glory. This is the recognition that we do not exist, as a church or as individuals, primarily for ourselves, but for God and for his glory.
Expressing this as a platitude is one thing. Getting newcomers to agree with this premise is something else. And getting people to embrace it as an actual value that is lived out in their lives, and in the life of our church, is something else altogether.
How do we get people to reorient their thinking and make corresponding changes in their lives? That’s the question the leaders of the church have to wrestle with. Making it all the more difficult is our own inconsistency. We are the living embodiment of the words from the old hymn: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it… Prone to leave the God I love…” And so are the people we are called to lead. (And, most likely, so are you.)
One of the most effetive tools I am aware of regarding the teaching of this value is Cat & Dog Theology developed by UnveilinGlory. (See video above.)
I introduced Cat & Dog Theology to our church about a year ago, at our first missions conference at Walnut Hill. We had Gerald Robison, vice president of UnveilinGlory as the keynote speaker. From time to time church members still talk about both the conference and, more importantly, what they learned through the messages.
But how do we build on that?
UnvelinGlory has now developed a series of web-based instructional videos that makes Cat & Dog Theology, along with other resources, available online. So far I’ve only had opportunity glance through a few of the videos, but it looks promising. Each of the videos is relatively short – 20 minutes, more or less. But the videos I’ve seen contain both the substance and style that makes the seminar interesting and instructive.
I encourage you to check out: Our Journey With Him.
While there is an opportunity to sign up for a Premium membership, all the videos are available for free if you sign in as a guest.
Mapping Out Missions in Your Church
It was theirs for the taking. So Moses, at God’s prompting, sent a dozen spies into the Canaan to explore the land God promised to give to Israel. But God never promised Moses that taking the land would be easy. Canaan was filled with powerful people and fortified cities. Ten of the spies weighed the risk and decided it wasn’t worth it. Two, however, Joshua & Caleb, were men of courage, faith, and faithfulness. God had promised them that land. God had instructed them to take it. “Let’s roll” they said. “We should go take posession of the land. We can do it.” (Numbers 13)
You may be in a similar situation. You may not have thought about it this way, but that is the scenario facing everyone selcted to serve on the missions committee of thier church.
God the Son has issued a mandate for world evangelization. (Matthew 28.18-20) He intends to claim the hearts and lives of men & women, boys & girls, from every Tribe on earth. He has promised to supply the power. (Acts 1.8) He has guaranteed ultimate success. Still, the task ahead is not easy. The faithful will experience all kinds of obstacles and opposition. And just like Joshua & Caleb, some of that opposition will come from inside the camp, from those who are commissioned to partner with you, but who are too timid to carry out the mission. Completion will take courage, commitment, and sacrifice. It requires faithfulness.
So yo are a Joshua or a Caleb. You are on the missions committee, and you are determined to take the lands. You are just not sure exactly how to go about it. It’s a big job. What does it entail? Where do you begin?
It is important to remember that all Christians are called to the advancement of the Gospel to all Nations. This task is not the responsibility of a select few who serve, whether you volunteered or you were appointed by their church, as a missions committee. Missions is not one ministry among many in the church. Mission, along with worship, is the essence of Being the church. And every church member has a role, whether they are Go-ers, Senders, and/or Mobilizers.
The task of the missions committee is to facilitate the work of global missions in the church through leadership, evaluation, administration, and delegation of the various tasks associated with cross cultural ministry.
The following list is an overview of the roles of the mission ministry. It takes into consideration mission ministry strengths identified by mission mobilization network ACMC, but I have consolidated them into more manageable categories. A healthy missions ministry will include every category. However, no church can be equally great at all possible functions within each category.
Strategy
Every church must have a clear strategy that recognizes its responsibility to participate in the completion of the Great Commission, and the specific ways it will participate to accomplish that task. Simple mission involvement, while good, is not an adequate objective.
Strategy of the church includes: Adoption of Unreached Peoples; Sending Structures; and Partnerships with Agencies and or Nationals.
Mobilization
Mobilization is active involvement toward accomplishing the remaining task of the Great Commission.
There are various roles (i.e. Go-ers, Senders, Mobilizers), various levels of readiness, and different callings among church members. In other words, it is rare that someone will be called and prepared for career missions without having initially taken short term mission trips. On the other hand, most who go on short term trips will never be called to career missions. Appropriate entry and preparation levels need to be offered. And church members should be encouraged and expected to discern his/her own role in the task of reaching the Nations.
Mobilization means getting increasing numbers of people to actively carry out their distinct role. Mobiolization means equipping them to do so.
Mobilization includes: Short Term Cross Cultural trips; Encouraging Tent-making; Adoption of Unreached Peoples; Training Candidates; Strategic Partnerships; Prayer; and Ministry to Internationals.
Care
Missionary Care focuses on caring for the missionaries, both on the field and while at home on Home Missionary Assignment, or HMA. (NOTE: This used to be referred to as Furlough). It also applies to caring for those who are in preparation for career mission.
This is one area I anticipate our church, Walnut Hill PCA, should excel in as we grow in our missions ministry. One of the great strengths of our church – perhaps the greatest strength – is the way the people love one another. Missionary Care is simply an extension of that love. And this practical love is part of our mission. Paraphrasing Francis Schaeffer: “The way we love one another is a demonstration of the Gospel we proclaim.” (John 13.34-35)
Practical means of Missionary Care includes: Caring for Tangible, Emotional, and Spiritual Needs; Communication with Missionaries; Holistic Prayer; Funding & Support; Visiting Missionaries on the Field.
Education
Education is teaching people about God’s heart for the Nations and about the Great Commission. It keeps people informed about what God is doing around the world. It is the reminder of the remaining task. And it is the equipping of each church member to carry out his/her particular roles.
Means of Education include: Missions Conferences/Festivals; Classes & Seminars; Publications; Hands-on Experiences; Training & Preparation for Short-term and/or career missions.
The Scope of Missions Education should include the whole church. Intentional attention should be given to Children, and to Teens, who are preparing to make life decisions. But most adults also benefit from missions education.
Administration
Administration is dealing with all the behind-the-scenes details of missions, and management of this ministry. This is an important aspect of Mobilizing. And each of the above categories requires some level of administration.
Pertaining to the missions committee, Administration includes: Policy Development; Job Descriptions for committee members, and others who serve specific functions (i.e. Missions Conference Planner); Communications with Missionaries; Missions Budget Preparation and Management; and Vetting & Selection of Missionaries to be supported.
The task of taking the Nations for Christ through missions may seem like a battle agianst giants. But remember, you are not doing it alone. If each church plays its part there will be a great army advancing the Kingdom of God’s Grace. There are more than 600 Evangelical churches in the world for every Unreached People Group. If every church – if even a significant minority of those churches – gears up for the task, missions experts tell us that the completion of the Great Commission can very definitely be accomplished in this generation!
Pray that God would give you the spirit of Joshua & Caleb. They recognized the strength of their opposition and the difficult battles ahead of them. But they also knew that God would empower them to do whatever he called them to do.
The Supremacy of God in Missions Through Worship
by John Piper
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.
Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (Psalm 97.1). “Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Psalm 67.3-4).
But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!”, who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Psalm 104.34; 9.2). Missions begins and ends in worship.
If the pursuit of God’s glory is not ordered above the pursuit of man’s good in the affections of the heart and the priorities of the church, man will not be well served and God will not be duly honored. I am not pleading for a diminishing of missions but for a magnifying of God. When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God’s true worth, the light of missions will shine to the most remote peoples on earth. And I long for that day to come!
Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak. Churches that are not centered on the exaltation of the majesty and beauty of God will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to “declare his glory among the nations” (Psalm 96.3). Even outsiders feel the disparity between the boldness of our claims upon the nations and the blandness of our engagement with God.
Albert Einstein’s Indictment
For example, Charles Misner, a scientific specialist in general relativity theory, expressed Albert Einstein‘s skepticism over the church with words that should waken us to the shallowness of our experience with God in worship.
“The design of the universe…is very magnificent and shouldn’t be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preacher said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had every imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that religions he’d run across did not have proper respect…for the author of the universe.”
The charge of blasphemy is loaded. The point is to pack a wallop behind the charge that in our worship services God simply doesn’t come through for who he is. He is unwittingly belittled. For those who are stunned by the indescribable magnitude of what God has made, not to mention the infinite greatness of the One who made it, the steady diet on Sunday morning of practical “how to’s” and psychological soothing and relational therapy and tactical planning seem dramatically out of touch with Reality–the God of overwhelming greatness.
It is possible to be distracted from God in trying to serve God. Martha-like , we neglect the one thing needful, and soon begin to present God as busy and fretful. A.W. Tozer warned us about this:
“We commonly represent God as a busy, eager, somewhat frustrated Father hurrying about seeking help to carry out His benevolent plan to bring peace and salvation to the world. … Too many missionary appeals are based upon this fancied frustration of Almighty God.”
Scientists know that light travels at the speed of 5.87 trillion miles in a year. They also know that the galaxy of which our solar system is a part is about 100,000 light-years in diameter–about five hundred eighty seven thousand trillion miles. It is one of about a million such galaxies in the optical range of our most powerful telescopes. In our galaxy there are about 100 billion stars. The sun is one of them, a modest star burning at about 6,000 degrees Centigrade on the surface, and traveling in an orbit at 155 miles per second, which means it will take about 200 million years to complete a revolution around the galaxy.
Scientists know these things and are awed by them. And they say, “If there is a personal God, as the Christians say, who spoke this universe into being, then there is a certain respect and reverence and wonder and dread that would have to come through when we talk about him and when we worship him.”
We who believe the Bible know this even better than the scientists because we have heard something even more amazing:
“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these (stars)? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. (Isaiah 40.25-26)
Every one of the billions of stars in the universe is there by God’s specific appointment. He knows their number. And, most astonishing of all, he knows them by name. They do his bidding as his personal agents. When we feel the weight of this grandeur in the heavens, we have only touched the hem of his garment. “Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways! And how small a whisper do we hear of him” (Job 26.14). That is why we cry ‘Be exalted, O God, Above the heavens!’ (Psalm 57.5). God is the absolute reality that everyone in the universe must come to terms with. Everything depends utterly on his will. All other realities compare to him like a raindrop compares to the ocean, or like an anthill compares to Mt. Everest. To ignore him or belittle him is unintelligible and suicidal folly. How shall one ever be the emissary of this great God who has not trembled before him with joyful wonder?
The Second Greatest Activity in the World
The most crucial issue in missions is the centrality of God in the life of the church. Where people are not stunned by the greatness of God, how can they be sent with the ringing message, “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods!” (Psalm 96.4)? Missions is not first and ultimate: God is. And these are not just words. This truth is the lifeblood of missionary inspiration and endurance. William Carey, the father of modern missions, who set sail for India from England in 1793, expressed the connection:
“When I left England, my hope of India’s conversion was very strong; but amongst so many obstacles, it would die, unless upheld by God. Well, I have God, and His Word is true. Though the superstitions of the heathen were a thousand times stronger than they are, and the example of the Europeans a thousand times worse; though I were deserted by all and persecuted by all, yet my faith, fixed on the sure Word, would rise above all obstructions and overcome every trial. God’s cause will triumph.”
Carey and thousands like him have been moved by the vision of a great and triumphant God. That vision must come first. Savoring it in worship precedes spreading it in missions. All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white-hot worship of God and his Son among all the peoples of the earth. Missions is not that goal. It is the means. And for that reason it is the second greatest human activity in the world.
God’s Passion for God Is the Foundation for Ours
One of the things God uses to make this truth take hold of a person and a church is the stunning realization that it is also true for God himself. Missions is not God’s ultimate goal, worship is. And when this sinks into a person’s heart everything changes. The world is often turned on its head. And everything looks different–including the missionary enterprise.
The ultimate foundation for our passion to see God glorified is his own passion to be glorified. God is central and supreme in his own affections. There are no rivals for the supremacy of God’s glory in his own heart. God is not an idolater. He does not disobey the first and great commandment. With all his heart and soul and strength and mind he delights in the glory of his manifold perfections. The most passionate heart for God in all the universe is God’s heart.
This truth, more than any other I know, seals the conviction that worship is the fuel and goal of missions. The deepest reason why our passion for God should fuel missions is that God’s passion for God fuels missions. Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God’s delight in being God. And the deepest reason why worship is the goal in missions is that worship is God’s goal. We are confirmed in this goal by the Biblical record of God’s relentless pursuit of praise among the nations. “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!” (Psalm 117.1). If it is God’s goal it must be our goal.
The Chief End of God Is to Glorify God and Enjoy Himself For Ever
All my years of preaching and teaching on the supremacy of God in the heart of God have proved that this truth hits most people like a truck laden with unknown fruit. If they survive the impact, they discover that it is the most luscious fruit on the planet. I have unpacked this truth with lengthy arguments in other places. So here I will just give a brief overview of the Biblical basis. What I am claiming is that the answer to the first question of the Westminster Catechism is the same when asked concerning God as it is when asked concerning man. Question: “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.” Question: “What is the chief end of God?” Answer: “The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy himself for ever.”
Another way to say it is simply, God is righteous. The opposite of righteousness is to value and enjoy what is not truly valuable or rewarding. This is why people are called unrighteous in Romans 1.18. They suppress the truth of God’s value and exchange God for created things. So they belittle God and discredit his worth. Righteousness is the opposite. It means recognizing true value for what it is and esteeming it and enjoying it in proportion to its true worth. The unrighteous in 2 Thessalonians 2.10 perish because they refuse to love the truth. The righteous, then, are those who welcome a love for the truth. Righteousness is recognizing and welcoming and loving and upholding what is truly valuable. God is righteous. This means that he recognizes, welcomes, loves and upholds with infinite jealousy and energy what is infinitely valuable, namely, the worth of God. God’s righteousness passion and delight is to display and uphold his infinitely valuable glory. This is not a vague theological conjecture. It flows inevitably from dozens of Biblical texts that show God in the relentless pursuit of praise and honor from creation to consummation.
Probably no text in the Bible reveals the passion of God for his own glory more clearly and bluntly than Isaiah 48.9-11 where God says,
“For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”
I have found that for many people these words come like six hammer blows to a man-centered way of looking at the world:
For my name’s sake! For the sake of my praise! For my own sake! For my own sake! How should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another!
What this text hammers home to us is the centrality of God in his own affections. The most passionate heart for the glorification of God is God’s heart. God’s ultimate goal is to uphold and display the glory of his name.
“For the Sake of His Name among All the Nations
Paul makes crystal clear in Romans 1.5 that his mission and calling are for the name of Christ among all the nations: “We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations.”
The apostle John described the motive of early Christian missionaries in the same way. He wrote to tell one of his churches that they should send out Christian brothers in a manner “worthy of God.” And the reason he gives is that “they have gone out for the sake of his name, taking nothing from the Gentiles.” ( 3 John 6-7).
John Stott comments on these two texts (Romans 1:5; 3 John 7):
“They knew that God had superexalted Jesus, enthroning him at his right hand and bestowing upon him the highest rank, in order that every tongue should confess his lordship. They longed that Jesus should receive the honor due his name.”
This longing is not a dream but a certainty. at the bottom of all our hope, when everything else has given way, we stand on this great reality: the everlasting, all- sufficient God is infinitely, unwaveringly, and eternally committed to the glory of his great and holy name. For the sake of his fame among the nations he will act. His name will not be profaned forever. The mission of the church will be victorious. He will vindicate his people and his cause in all the earth.
The absence of [David] Brainerd‘s passion for God is the great cause of missionary weakness in the churches. This was Andrew Murray‘s judgement a hundred years ago:
“As we seek to find out why, with such millions of Christians, the real army of God that is fighting the hosts of darkness is so small, the only answer is–lack of heart. The enthusiasm of the kingdom is missing. And that is because there is so little enthusiasm for the King.”
The zeal of the church for the glory of her King will not rise until pastors and mission leaders and seminary teachers make much more of the King. When the glory of God himself saturates our preaching and teaching and conversation and writings, and when he predominates above our talk of methods and strategies and psychological buzz words and cultural trends, then the people might begin to feel that he is the central reality of their lives and that the spread of his glory is more important than all their possessions and all their plans.
The Call of God
God is calling us above all else to be the kind of people whose theme and passion is the supremacy of God in all of life. No one will be able to rise to the magnificence of the missionary cause who does not feel the magnificence of Christ. There will be no big world vision without a big God. There will be no passion to draw others into our worship where there is no passion for worship.
God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of his name among the nations. Therefore let us bring our affections into line with his, and, for the sake of his name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts, and join his global purpose. If we do this, God’s omnipotent commitment to his name will be over us like a banner, and we will not lose, in spite of many tribulations (Acts 9.16; Romans 8.35-39). Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. The Great Commission is first to delight yourself in the Lord (Psalm 37.4) . And then to declare, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Psalm 67.4). In this way God will be glorified from beginning to end and worship will empower the missionary enterprise till the coming of the Lord.
Great and wonderful are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the ages! Who shall not fear and glorify your name, O Lord? For you alone are holy. All nations shall come and worship you, for your judgments have been revealed. –Revelation 15.3-4
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This article is excerpted from the first chapter of John Piper’s book, Let the Nations Be Glad. This article also appeared in Mission Frontiers magazine from the U.S. Center for World Mission.
Building a House of Prayer
As the officers of our church and I work through our vision and philosophy of ministry process, there are two simple and fundamental truths that serve as a foundation and shape my thinking.
First, Jesus says: “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18) And the psalmist says: “Unless the Lord builds the house the laborers labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) In other words, unless a church (or a home) is built upon the way the Lord wants it, and by the power of God himself, no matter how grand, no matter how great it appears, all our efforts are in vain. Unless God builds our church, God will not be pleased with anything we develop.
Second, one of the characteristics the Lord specifically says will mark his church – his “house” – is prayer. “My house will be called a house of prayer for all Nations.” (see Isaiah 56:7; Matthew 21:13)
Cheryl Sacks, in her book The Prayer Saturated Church, points out that there are some important differences between a church that prays and a house of prayer. (Click: God’s Standard)
I guess, if you think about it, that passage adds two other dimensions to the house God builds.
First we see Global Missions. The passage indicates the Lord is concerned about the Nations – ALL Nations. One aspect of a house of prayer for all Nations is that our prayers should include passionate intercession for the advancement of the Gospel among all People Groups (ethnos) throughout the world.
But another aspect this verse seems to indicate is Unity in Diversity. Our churches should be open to, even cultivate, a cultural diversity within our doors. Our churches ought to be places where peoples from any Nation (literally all ethnos, or ethnicities) should be welcome to come to join for prayer. While not every community has a diverse international community, perhaps our churches ought to at least reflect some of the diversity of our neighborhoods.
As I think about that, Matthew 21:13 provides both a foundation (prayer) and scope or goal of ministry (Nations). That’s a big job. I’m glad God is the builder.
Are We Declaring a Defective Gospel?
by Rick Wood, Managing Editor
Is the Gospel message that hundreds of thousands of missionaries are proclaiming around the world defective? Have hundreds of millions of people bought into a message that is, at its heart, unbiblical? If true, this would be like Bill Gates sending out the latest Microsoft operating system which after installed for a year deletes all the files on the computer. To say the least, it would be a disaster, a catastrophe, and an apocalyptic nightmare all in one. But some are claiming that we are in fact proclaiming a defective, unbiblical Gospel.
Could this be one reason that so many are leaving their faith behind and the once vibrant Evangelical awakenings in Britain and America are but distant memories? The implications for world evangelization are immense. If the Gospel we proclaim will self destruct once installed on the hard drives of people’s hearts, then much of our work among un-reached peoples could be in danger of collapse as it has in much of Europe. Vishal Mangalwadi warns of this danger in his home country of India in his article, Pursuit of Knowldege & Truth: Key to a New Reformation.
Hundreds of millions of people have likely read the Four Spiritual Laws, the booklet written by Bill Bright and published by Campus Crusade for Christ. The first law in this little booklet says, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This sounds great and it is just the kind of message that people want to hear. Many are eager to accept such a message and justifiably so. Who would not want this to be true in their lives. They say, “Wow, I would love to have a loving God on my side to make my life wonderful, to make my life complete.”
This message is proclaimed in books, songs and sermons across the world.
But what if this message is not true – at least not true in the way that most people want it and expect it to be true? Don’t get me wrong, I have the greatest respect for Bill Bright and the ministry of Campus Crusade, but this focus of our Gospel presentation can be misunderstood by, and misleading to, a whole generation of people who want to add God to their lives to make their lives complete. In all fairness, the Four Spiritual Laws does go on to identify sin as the problem and to provide the proper solution.
But what kind of expectations are we providing to people when we say, “Come to Christ and God will reveal to you a wonderful plan for an abundant life?” Are we setting people up with false expectations of what God will do for them? Are we promising more than what God has promised to deliver? Are we trying to market the Gospel to a generation of self centered people who really don’t understand their desperately lost state before a holy God and are therefore not really saved? Have millions of ‘believers” simply hired God to make their lives complete?
Ray Comfort in his book, The Way of the Master says,
“[t]he enemy has very subtly diverted our attention away from our core message. Instead of proclaiming the Good News that sinners can be made righteous in Christ and escape the wrath to come, we have settled for a “gospel” that implies that God’s primary purpose in saving us is to unfold a “wonderful plan” for our lives to solve our problems, make us happy in Christ, and rescue us from the hassles of this life.” (p.19)
Is that the central purpose of the Gospel we preach, to give us an abundant, full and rewarding life? Many have sadly bought into this and are disillusioned when everything does not go according to plan.
One dedicated missionary family I know had their daughter brutally murdered. The very first house they ever owned after years of faithful overseas service burned to the ground just days after they moved in along with a lifetime of possessions. They did not even have a chance to unpack their boxes. Then the wife dies of cancer after a long battle.
The husband of another missionary couple I know developed Multiple Sclerosis and spent years bedridden and unable to speak until his death left his wife with four kids to raise by herself. Are these the exceptions to the wonderful, abundant Christian life that we have been promised? There seems to be a disconnect here between what the “wonderful plan” Gospel message promises and the reality of our life experiences in Christ.
This disconnect between the promise and the reality has all sorts of ramifications for our spiritual lives. As Ray Comfort explains,
“Those who come to faith through the door of seeking happiness in Christ will think that their happiness is evidence of God’s love. They may even think that God has forsaken them when trials come and their happiness leaves. But those who look to the Cross as a token of God’s love will never doubt His steadfast devotion to them. (p. 44)
Certainly many of those who have walked away from their faith have done so because the reality of their lives does not match up with the promised wonderful plan that their loving Heavenly Father has for them.
When the Church presents Jesus as the one who came to “solve our problems” and “make us happy” then we attract only those who have problems or are unhappy and those are the kinds of people who will then fill our churches. If they do not repent of their sins then they are false converts and they are not new creatures in Christ. As unsaved people who claim to be Christians, they have simply brought their sins and problems into the church. This overworks the pastors, hobbles the outreach of the Church and its mission, and defames the name of Christ when supposed Christians continue in their sins. The irony is that these will also be the people who will be most likely to leave when Jesus does not solve all their problems or make them happy. They become disillusioned and bitter because they were not presented with the true Gospel in the first place (Comfort, p.36).
The Gospel is a promise of the righteousness of Christ for all who will repent of their sins and trust Christ as their Savior. To have a right relationship with God, people must come to the understanding that they are lost and doomed to suffer the wrath of God unless they repent of their sins and trust Christ for their salvation. This must be at the heart of our Gospel message. The Gospel is not a promise of a happy, problem-free life-just the opposite.
When someone comes to genuine faith in Christ and seeks to live a life of obedience, he becomes an active soldier in the ongoing battle between God and Satan. His faith in Christ essentially puts a target on his back and makes him an object of Satan’s wrath. That person becomes an active threat to Satan and his hold on power. Satan will then take every opportunity to take any genuine believer out of action.
But if people who come to Christ are not told of this spiritual reality then there will be tremendous confusion and disillusionment when the truth of this unknown spiritual reality breaks in upon their lives.
It is like a person who buys a vacation package to the French Riviera expecting a wonderful time of fun and relaxation only to discover upon his arrival that there is open warfare taking place with bombs going off , bullets flying and the wounded littering the sandy beaches. Such a person would naturally think: “What is going on here? This is not what I signed up for.”
Until we realize that we are in a war for our lives, we will be sitting ducks for Satan’s attacks and schemes. We will continue to lose those people who were never adequately prepared for battle. We must proclaim a true Gospel of grace and forgiveness of sin and stop trying to market the Gospel as the solution to all of our problems. It is already the greatest gift anyone can receive.
For a .pdf copy of this article click: a-defective-gospel?
Global Missions Glossary
Adherent: A follower of a particular religion, church or philosophy. This is the broadest possible category of such followers and includes professing and affiliated adults and also their children (practicing and non-practicing) who may reside in a given area or country.
Adoption (of an unreached people): Making a commitment to an unreached people until there is an indigenous, reproducing church established among them. Aspects may include prayer, research, and networking toward church planting. Sometimes called “people group adoption” or adopt-a-people.
Advocate: People group advocates are individuals who have committed themselves to one specific people group (ethnic group), to learn about them, their environment, culture, demographics, status, etc. They pray about how churches can be established among them. They may network and partner with others to encourage their involvement.
Affinity Bloc: Families of peoples related in aspects such as religion, culture, history, politics, and geography. In nearly every bloc there are widely dissimilar and unrelated linguistic minorities, but often there is one particular culture that is dominant.
Church planting: Missionary role of evangelism, discipleship and training of leaders for the establishment of a body of believers, or a church. Does not refer to a physical building.
Closed Country: Countries that limit or prevent Christian ministry by expatriates as missionaries. Alternatively they are called creative-access countries, restricted access countries, closing countries, restrictive countries, sensitive countries.
Cluster: Grouping of peoples within each affinity bloc which are closely related peoples and, for strategic purposes, may be clustered together. These relationships are often based on a common identity of language and name, but sometimes on the basis of culture, religion, economy, or dominance of one group over another.
Collaboration: To combine forces and resources to meet a common goal.
Contextualization: Adapting a biblical concept, mission method, etc., without changing the substance, to make it understood within the context of an ethnic culture.
Ethnocentrism: Seeing the world through self-colored glasses, so that your culture always looks best and becomes the pattern everyone else should fit into. By no means is ethnocentrism restricted to the majority culture in a country, but it is a nearly universal tendency among humans.
Ethnolinguistic People: An ethnic or racial group speaking its own language. A people group distinguished by its self-identity with traditions of common descent, history, customs and language. Also known as a people.
Evangelism: An effective presentation of the Gospel by someone from the same culture, and within a culture where the missiological breakthrough of a viable church has already taken place.
Expatriate: One who has taken up residence in a foreign country.
Field: The location where ministry, church planting, and evangelism takes place.
Field-based: Strategy determined by those on the field, rather than from those at the “home,” sending, or resource base.
Frontier: Pertaining to unreached areas or peoples.
Frontier Missions: Cross-cultural evangelism to People Groups where no missiological breakthroughs have occurred (or among a People Group where no viable church exists).
Harvest Field: All who are not true Christians; not part of the Body of Christ.
Harvest Force: Those of the Body of Christ who are involved in a direct or indirect way in helping to bring in the harvest of souls.
Indigenous peoples or persons: Those individuals or groups who originate from a particular area; a national, a native.
Joshua Project Unreached Peoples List: A listing of “country-distinct” peoples each over 10,000 in population that were chosen by their ethnolinguistic distinction and their status of being less than 2% Evangelical and less that 5% Christian adherents. (see Joshua Project)
Martyr: A Christian believer who dies in a situation of witness as a result of human hostility.
Mission: The loving work of God to bring humankind to himself as the Church (missio dei). Secondarily, the overall ministry of the Church for world evangelization.
Missiology: The study of missions and mission strategies; the theology of missions; how and why we do missions.
Mission agency: A Christian organization helping to further God’s work in the world. “Mission board” and “sending agency” are virtually the same thing.
Missionary: One who is sent with a message. The Christian missionary is one commissioned by a local church to evangelize, plant churches and disciple people away from his home area, among people of a different race, culture or language (i.e. cross culture).
Missions Resource Organization: These agencies support the work of field missions and missionaries by offering information, resources, materials, and mobilization of the Church.
National: Any person who is from the country to which a missionary is going.
Network: An extended group of people with similar interests or concerns who interact and remain in informal contact for mutual assistance or support.
Non-Resident Missionary: Professional career missionary who is working towards the evangelization of a particular people or cluster, but resides outside the group, usually in a city with good international communications facilities and no surveillance.
Para-church: Refers to a Christian organization independent of any church denominational structures.
Partnership: An association of two or more autonomous bodies who have formed a trusting relationship and agreed upon expectations by sharing complementary strengths and resources, to reach their mutual goal.
People Group: A significantly large sociological grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another. From the viewpoint of evangelization, this is the largest possible group within which the gospel can be spread without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.
Prayer journey: A trip to pray on location for the lost. Team members may spend extended time prayerwalking, asking God to bring the Gospel to that unreached people group. It does not entail evangelism or mercy ministries.
Prayerwalking: Praying “on-site with insight.” Taking prayers outside the church walls as we walk through an area. Praying in the very places we expect to see God bring forth His answers. Usually low profile and unobtrusive in appearance.
Praying Through the Window: Prayer initiatives developed for the purpose of worldwide focused prayer for the countries and peoples in the 10/40 Window. (see Pray Thru the Window)
Reached/unreached: A term that is widely used today to describe people groups and areas that have or have not responded to the preaching of the gospel. Strictly, it should be a measure of the exposure of a people group to the gospel and not a measure of the response.
Regular Missions: Pertaining to cross cultureal evangelism by a different-culture worker, in association with same-cultural workers if possible, where a missiological breakthrough has already taken place.
Strategy Coordinator: One who develops and implements a strategy to reach a people group, working with a team or network. Support: The finances and prayer needed and given for mission trips & work.
Syncretism: Fusion of differing systems of belief. Mixing Christianity with heresy.
Synergy: The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Cooperative interaction among groups that creates an enhanced combined effect.
Tentmaker: A cross-cultural witness who works at a paying, usually secular, job overseas. Often they are able to gain entry into “closed” countries which restrict traditional mission efforts.
10/40 Window: The area of the world between latitudes 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the equator in the Eastern hemisphere, covering North Africa, Middle East and Asia. The window has in view most of the world’s areas of greatest physical and spiritual need, most of the world’s least-reached peoples and most of the governments that oppose Christianity. (see 10/40 Window.org and Window International Network)
Unreached /Least Reached People Group: A people or people group among whom there is no viable indigenous community of believing Christians (i.e. no church) with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize their own people without outside (cross-cultural) assistance. The general defining critieria is a People Group that is less than 2% Evangelical Christian and less than 5% Christian Adherents. (see Joshua Project)
World Evangelization: The whole Church taking the whole gospel to the whole world. The goal of giving every person the opportunity to hear the gospel in a way they understand, to become disciples of Christ, and to join with others in fellowship without leaving their own culture or people.
A Mind for Missions: Global Evangelism
With our church having just come through the front end of our first missions conference in at least a generation there are a number of people who are sensitive to what God is doing in the world, and hungry to explore what part he has in mind for us – the average Christian. Wanting to take advantage of the high interest while it is still at its keenest, I thought I’d suggest a few books – some that are are almost must reads – for anyone wanting to learn about the advancement of the Gospel as a global enterprise.
And while I have in mind those people from our church, I know that there are many others out there searching the web for recommendations of good mission books. The following list is for those wanting to dig deeper, not necessarily for those who are experienced in mobilization and sending.
This is in no way exhaustive, so feel free to add to the list.
- Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper
- The Church is BIGGER Than You Think by Patrick Johnstone
- A Mind For Mission by Paul Borthwick
- How to Be a World-Class Christian by Paul Borthwick
- Christian Mission in the Modern World by John Stott
- What in the World is God Doing? by Gordon Olson
- Transforming Mission by David Bosch
- Run With the Vision by Bob Sjogren and Bill & Amy Stearns
Cat & Dog Theology
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.
GRACE & PEACE 