Re-thinking Missions Part 2 – Church or Kingdom?
If my first message on missions didn’t challenge your views, this one probably will.
I appreciate the hard work put in by generations of missionaries who have sown and harvested in the field of God. I stand in awe of the sacrifices they’ve made. This is a discussion aimed at identifying things we can improve on and that means looking at things we aren’t doing very well.
A common complaint I heard in my discussion question on missions was that missionaries often find themselves evangelizing people who made prior commitments to Christ. The transformation that is supposed to take place in the heart of a new convert doesn’t always happen. When the next team of missionaries is sent out, they reach the same people who were saved by the preaching of the previous team.
This phenomenon is not limited to missions. Chances are the church that sent out the missionaries sees a handful of people every week who respond (repeatedly) to an alter call to re-dedicate their lives to Jesus. Many leaders expect this kind of behavior and never question why it happens. I think it deserves a little examination.
The effect of the gospel on those who hear it is somewhat determined by what the preacher expects it to do. I believe that my message will bring physical healing (among other things) to those who hear it and most of the time – people are healed when I give a message. Some people believe their message will bring the baptism of the Holy Spirit and it usually happens when they preach. Everyone believes something different about their message. Every message has a unique effect on those who hear it.
There are two different views of the gospel that I’d like to look at. One view sees the gospel as a means of salvation for the soul from eternal torment. Conversion places the believer in heaven when their earthly life ends. A secondary effect of the gospel is the development of holiness in the life of the believer.
People who hold this view generally define missional activities as:
- Preaching the gospel
- Winning converts
- Planting churches
Preaching is the tactical approach. Winning converts is the missional objective. Planting churches is the overall goal. When these things are done, missionaries are said to be successful
Other missional activities include intervention in human trafficking, providing food and clothing, drilling wells, building orphanages and medical clinics, and providing disaster relief. (This is only a brief summary of the most common missional activities of this group – it is not meant to be all-inclusive.)
People with this view of the gospel spend much of their time and energy on church planting. Success or failure in missions is often defined by this goal. Because the building of churches is the ultimate goal, this mindset has been called the church mindset. I’d like to contrast this view with what some have called the kingdom mindset.
When I traveled to Australia last year, I saw a stark contrast between the church mindset and the kingdom mindset.
One of the groups I taught had been trained to lead people in the sinner’s prayer after ministering healing to them. If the individual they prayed with was open to it, they would invite them to a Sunday church service. That was the extent of their understanding of how the gospel is to be preached. Converts who come to a Sunday service are expected to make new friends, attend regular services, begin reading the bible, avoid sinful behavior and contribute financially to the church. Pastors know all too well that in the majority of cases the new converts drop off the radar in a few months and are never heard from again. This is typically the effect that the gospel has among people with a church mindset.
I asked the man who hosted me to explain his understanding of how the gospel is to be preached. Over the next six months, he began to share his thoughts. This is a brief summary of his views:
His understanding of the gospel is that it is intended to create a complete cultural transformation wherever it goes. While he believes that the gospel is intended to save the soul of the believer, he believes that salvation is only the beginning. The gospel is intended to reduce or eliminate violent crime, poverty, starvation, disease, enslavement, corporate greed, political corruption, class warfare, genocide, religious war, and other forms of social dysfunction. He believes that when the kingdom of God invades a region, the entire region should come under the righteous rule of Jesus and His kingdom. He believes that wherever the gospel goes, the resources of heaven are available to transform society. He believes that our job, as ambassadors of heaven is to mentor new disciples in the ways of the kingdom and facilitate a cultural transformation. This is the vision my friend has for missions. It comes from a man who has a kingdom mindset.
How would missions be changed if instead of building orphanages, our goal was to create a culture where orphanages were never needed again?
What would missions look like if instead of bringing food to starving people, and hoping it was enough, we transformed their homeland, making it possible for them to grow their own food and sell the surplus to make a living?
What would missions look like if instead of planting churches, we established outposts of heaven where the power and the glory of God became firmly entrenched in the culture?
What would missions be like if the villages we reached never again needed to have missionaries return to provide aid because they became self-sufficient during our stay?
As with many things the church does – we’ve suffered from a vision that is just too small. And frankly – we’ve run out of excuses for expecting meager results. We must begin to think bigger. We must recruit people with financial resources and technical expertise that can help us solve the problems of the third world – permanently. We need to make the lives of our hosts as livable as our lives are back home. We must be able to leave them knowing that they’ll be able to maintain a decent standard of living for generations to come.
Welcome to missions the kingdom way.
Related Articles:
I would love to hear the comments from everyone who is not an arm-chair missionary…just saying:):)
I have seen this approach expressed in three instances.
The Celtic church model was to build an abbey (?) at a crossroads and build a visible boundary establishing that the kingdom if God is manifest within its walls.
The Sentinel Group, a group that used “spiritual mapping” as a tool to “subdue” the earth and establish the kingdom in villages scattered in South America saw high percentages of towns come to Christ and the economics rose because their crops were blessed with water when there was none (the crops of unbelievers failed) and the harvest was great not just in quantity but in size.
There was a book called
Eternity In Their Hearts
Where the author gathered stories of missionaries coming into a people group and finding that there was revelation of God already among the people group and they recognized and built on the foundation that God had already established within that culture.
To often missionaries go in carrying Paul’s statement “do what I do” and forget that he also said “be all things to all men”
I don’t know that the context supports it, but I think perhaps the instruction to eat meat offered to idols is really more a reference to missional meals. The translation that I’m remembering in I think said if it offends you, don’t, but it won’t offend God either way.
If we live based solely on biblical mandates we create a bluster that will blow out and beginning flame.
If we live in a manner inspired by our relationship with God we are the flame.
Todd – if we manage to get this thing moving forward, It would be nice to have people on board with the kind of wisdom you have about cultural preservation. I don’t see much good coming from the wholesale removal of anyone’s cultural identity. The trick would be to maintain that while introducing the kingdom.
The trick is to parse out the authentic and bless it. Discern immoral from ammoral and respect the culture, listening to what they are saying as opposed to reacting to what we are hearing. If one lives an authentic kingdom lifestyle, then those who know your love will want to emulate in their best way.
Chief Spokane of the Spokane nation was taught by the Jesuits with Hudson’s bay (I think) and had an authentic meeting of Jesus and a great education. He returned to his people and built a flour mill and a church. Then missionaries came in and upon realizing that those they hoped to convert we’re already going to Spokane’s church disqualified him and took his membership.
Most of it can be dealt with by giving a measure of grace that meets the measure we have been given. You can’t major in the minors.
PM, excellent questions and thoughts on this challenging issue. I feel exactly the same way you do about the reality of the effects of the Kingdom being established in a person’s life and thus affecting the culture in a locality. So here are my answers to your questions.
How would missions be changed if instead of building orphanages, our goal was to create a culture where orphanages were never needed again? If, people who were citizens of the Kingdom of God were to open their homes to house children abandoned regardless of the reason and took them in and loved, nurtured and discipled them it would not only provide a blessing for the child but also for the ones welcoming them into their houses. Then Jesus took a small child. Jesus stood the child before the followers. Jesus held the child in his arms and said, “If a person accepts children like these in my name, then that person is also accepting me. And if a person accepts me, then that person is also accepting the One (God) that sent me.” (ERV).
What would missions look like if instead of bringing food to starving people, and hoping it was enough, we transformed their homeland, making it possible for them to grow their own food and sell the surplus to make a living? My son loves to eat fish and of course dear ole’ Dad would always bring home fresh trout. One day we went out together because I got him a children’s fishing rod and that day we landed our limit. From that day on he would always go out and fish and now he’s grown up and married he fishes for his family. Enough said!
What would missions look like if instead of planting churches, we established outposts of heaven where the power and the glory of God became firmly entrenched in the culture? I’ve suffered over this terminology ‘church planting, going to church, visiting a church. If we look at this word ‘church-ecclesia’ in its purest form it simply means “called out of the world into Christ” It is the gathering of the called out ones”. I cannot “go to church” anymore but I can meet with the church that gathers on Woodland Lane, or sometimes at McDonalds or sometimes in Gainesville at the Free Chapel building. This is not nit-picking or at least I don’t think so? But these are outposts of the Kingdom, where two or three are gathered in His Name” – Where His Name is established and the Kingdom comes in power and demonstration over the effects of the kingdom of darkness. We need a change of mindset concerning the concept of church and Kingdom.
What would missions be like if the villages we reached never again needed to have missionaries return to provide aide, because they became self-sufficient during our stay? Glorious!
Thanks for your comments Jim.
Always a joy to hear from you, buddy!
wowza
PM,
Thank you for this! Love it! I remember the first time I had the revelation from Matthew 24:14 – “And this gospel OF THE KINGDOM will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
We have seen “the gospel of salvation” preached in the whole world, but not the “gospel of the Kingdom” There is a big difference. We are to make disciples of Christ, not just decisions for Christ. The “Gospel of the Kingdom” is so much more than just salvation! Salvation is good, but as you said, God is after cultural transformation, heaven invading earth, His Kingdom come to earth. Jesus talked and taught so much about “the Kingdom.” That is why He came – to bring the Kingdom, to reveal the Kingdom of God that is “at hand,” and we are to do the same. The Kingdom is not a matter of talk, but of power! The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace & joy in the Holy Spirit! Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done!
Josh – I love your enthusiasm. I’m so blessed to see you following this discussion. Stay tuned for the next installment and let me know your thoughts.
Having been to Kenya in Africa in November of this year, I get your heart to see permanent change. I was very moved by the experience of seeing their lives and their poverty and how it affected their mentality.
For example, we went to the school and gave every child a pencil case filled with pencils, pens, etc. However, as all the cases had been donated, some had lots of contents, others very little. We told them, why don’t you share it out between you so you all have the same? They very frankly answered: We are selfish and we are not going to share.
Why? Because they have very little and cannot see beyond that reality.
They live hand to mouth and if they get something, they clamp onto it for dear life, as if it is the last thing they will ever get. This means that even if they do get something, they will not use it to build anything lasting, but instead hold onto it for living now. And if no-one invests & builds for the future, then the poverty remains for all.
Realistically, change comes by investing in the people. Building relationships with the people on the ground and helping them to help themselves. Helping them to lift their eyes to a bigger vision. Helping them to see that improving their infrastructure such as roads, water supply, healthcare and schooling will bring the whole community out of poverty.
So you are right, it is a new mindset that needs to happen. It is the new mindset that will bring change. Truth is, they do need investment as well, to make that change happen on a practical level.
Corma – thanks so much for your reply. As always – it’s full of love and wisdom. We’re going to be moving forward (slowly) on a plan to do a missions project from a completely different perspective than how missions are usually done. Stay tuned for more updates in the future. I’d like your input.
Sounds exciting and it would be very interesting to hear more. As it stands I am off to Tanzania in February to make a film with another charity called Community Albums. Using music and media to give people a voice is an amazing way of empowering people on the ground to shout for change and see things minds and hearts changed. Here is a little bit of the story of what they did in Uganda. http://youtu.be/OPhyoQTlL5I
There is also another organisation who have been working in many different countries. Their organisation is called links international. They have also identified this need for changing mindsets and investment, so they send teams of people to train core teams on the ground and they make available micro investments ‘i.e. small business loans’ so that the people there can start their own business and start to lift themselves and their community out of poverty.
So yes, I am intrigued as to what the Lord has been telling you about doing mission His way. Please do share. 😀
Mungu Akubariki
Following these blog posts with interest. My interest is more in home based mission, (UK), so I don’t have much to contribute, except encouragement. But the principle of creating outposts of heaven, and cultural transformation through the gospel, is the same. The town where I pray for people in the marketplace is one of the poorest areas in the UK, and it’s hard to escape the poverty mindset, and generations of hopelessness, even amongst followers of Jesus. We have got to start thinking in Kingdom terms!
I love all these posts about mission, and will be watching this space!
Dear PM,
I realize this stream is more than a year old, but you have still recorded many important, enduring insights. And most of your observations regarding current mission efforts are generally true, but there are striking exceptions worthy of worthy of celebration and learning from.
In 2011 I spent a month in India getting acquainted with leaders of a network of Church Planting Movements (CPMs) which were then baptizing more than a million new people each year. One thing that surprised me about these movements was the high rate of adoption by leaders with the encouragement for others to do so, leaning toward your idea of transformation which reduces the need for orphanages. See my article in Mission Frontiers: .
In 2011 I also co-authored an article exploring how John Wesley’s ministry lifted the first mass population in history from abject poverty into middle class, embedding a work ethic, integrity and perspective on finance which laid the foundation for the industrial revolution and the MANY comforts we enjoy today which no king prior to Wesley could have dreamed of. See my article: .
You would also enjoy Landa Cope’s book “An Introduction to the Old Testament Template: Rediscovering God’s Principles for Discipling Nations,” which you can read on-line at . To paraphrase her story, Landa complained to the Lord about commanding us to disciple all nations without a clear picture of what that means. God replied, “I took the largest refugee population in history into the wilderness for 40 years and had the leader write down the principles behind the rules I gave them to become the greatest nation on earth. What more do you want?” To this point Landa had been trained only to read the Bible for personal application, but after this experience she spent 20+ years reading the Bible with colored pencils to note all that God also has to say about the various domains of life: government, education, entertainment, technology, family life, etc.
P.S. One of Landa Cope’s key points is that, just as you’ve noted here, the Church as a whole has reduced the “gospel of the Kingdom” (impacting all of society and history through God’s presence in redeemed individuals) for a much more limited gospel of salvation (securing eternity for individuals without necessarily changing their inner motivations or circumstances).