It's All About Who You Know & Where They Live

A few years ago while trekking with a seasoned missionary we got to talking about the bigger picture of missions. I had finished reading some weighty books in missiology and some others by popular leading thinkers and doers, and wanted to get my friend’s opinion and thoughts on how this good stuff plays out on the field.

I mentioned a well known mission expert and his latest book. My friend had not heard of him or his book. I wondered how this could be, since my friend was so accomplished in the area of missiology himself. So, I explained the thesis and some of the ideas. The issues were relevant and he appreciated the usefulness of the insights and we interacted for a while. 

Then I mentioned a second book. He had not heard about that one either. I really respected this friend of mine, but was starting to think that he had been gone too long and had lost touch. How about the journals, surely he kept up with these, even wrote for them on occasion? No. 

The conversation turned as he now mentioned some names to me I didn’t recognize. He went on to talk about great advances taking place in Kingdom work in this particular country and asked me if I had heard the stories or knew the leaders. I knew a couple of the stories, none of the leaders though; and so, I really knew very little at all. 

He kindly proceeded to explain to me that the people and ideas that matter the most in his context are the ones right there, not in America. And they included nationals as well as expatriates working together, perhaps no-names elsewhere but respected in their context because of their work. I knew this, but now I knew it better. 

There is a mysteriously long list of names in Romans 16:1-16. Some of them we know something about; most of them we know nothing about. As we read through the list we wonder who all these people were. What did they do for the Gospel’s advance? What were their amazing stories? And why were they so important? The individuals and the ideas that are most valuable depend on the context and the needs. 

Today, there are even more Gospel servants all around the world, and many of them have great ideas to share and stories to tell. It is important to learn from everyone. Sharing our connections and telling the untold stories brings encouragement, develops partnerships and enhances everyone’s missionary practice.

Subjugating Demons: Getting The Emphasis Right

Seventy-two of Jesus’ disciples return from their short-term mission trip and give Jesus a report.  He conducts the debriefing and provides fascinating commentary in Luke 10.  

The Mission Report by the Disciples

Luke 10:17 ESV “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!””

Apparently, the mission had gone very well.  The 72 have been and are likely still very busy telling one another their “war stories.”  The mission was successful all around--in works of power, in preaching, in strategy, and in many coming to salvation.

They report their amazement at the subjection of the demons in the name of Jesus.  They have the right perspective--it is about Jesus’ authority and glory, not theirs.  They would have witnessed demons coming out of the possessed and their oppression of communities coming to an end.  They would have observed their influence over people for sin and believing what is false being greatly reduced.  Bottom line, they would have seen many come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and the beginning of many new churches.

This one recorded comment of theirs might be their focus; or maybe it is just an example of the types of things they were saying.  Maybe it is because this aspect of the mission was a great surprise to them.  It could even be recorded because of Jesus’ response and its importance to Luke and the Church.

The Mission Analysis by the Lord Jesus

Luke 10:18–20 ESV “And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””

The comments of Jesus whole-heartedly match the disciples’ excitement and success.  He too greatly delights in the defeat of Satan by their recent work in the mission campaign.  The forces of evil are shaking as they are being routed and reminded of their coming eternal doom.  “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8b)  The Mission of the Church continues the plundering of Satan’s house until Christ Himself returns in glory (Luke 11:20-22).

Jesus makes it clear that He gave disciples great authority for that brief mission tour and for the whole of the Mission.  They will trample on snakes and scorpions – a reference to Satan and demons and all the powers of the enemy. (v.20; Genesis 3:15; Deuteronomy 8:15; Psalm 91:13)  Nothing can really harm us as His disciples in any ultimate sense.  This doesn’t mean there won’t be difficulties, discouragements, and sufferings.  But, in facing them we can exhibit great courage and boldness, being strong in the strength of His might and fighting with Divine power (Ephesians 6:10-12; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Our Lord Jesus then goes on to point out that the joy in this power over the demons is not the ultimate joy.  He is not saying they shouldn’t be joyful in such spiritual victories.  Don’t make this common mistake.  He is simply using language of comparison.  This is not a rebuke; it is a clarification of perspective--getting the emphasis right.

True and foundational joy is not in the power, but in the security of one’s own salvation. And the emphasis needs to remain here.  It is this security that will truly empower us, give us constant joy, fearlessness and inspire us to continue.  But, again, by all means take great joy in the power, as well!

God Will Soon Crush Satan Under Our Feet

Gospel ministry and mission should be characterized by going on the offensive against the evil one.  We should not be playing church cautiously in a defensive posture.  We should go on the attack with the Gospel and our authority in Jesus’ Name.  We should be fearless, having the greatest advantage.  And we should be joyful about it like the disciples.  We are crushing the forces of evil and Jesus is “looking on” with great joy!

Jesus’ final words of analysis and joy that day:
Luke 10:23–24 ESV “Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.””

Core Values Shape Each Church's Story

There are many values that churches hold in common, such as, grace, faith, love, hope, the Word, evangelism, discipleship, community, spirituality, et cetera.  And then each church will describe them a little differently and put different weight on certain ones.  Understanding broad Biblical values for life and ministry is important, but a list of our favorite value terms is not sufficient to drive our ministries and guide us in fulfilling our calling as a church.

Core values are more than general values; they are the values that are most prominent, characteristic, and ultimately unique to a particular congregation.  They reveal the spiritual passions and ministry motivations of a particular congregation, and have greater power than general values to shape its future.

Core values define us a church--who we are and what we are about as a particular community of believers.  They remind us of the common commitments we cherish and hold most dear.  They express more completely our preferred culture than a simple list of general Christian values, even if somewhat nuanced.

It is of vital importance to articulate core values, know them and know them well, because they, more than any other single factor, will inform our vision and direct our strategies.  They will guide us in what we do and what we don’t do; they will provide answers to the question, “why?”

At Lancaster EFC we were guided by six core values, three of which were missional (and are shared below).  These pushed us forward and continuously challenged us to stay focused on fulfilling our unique calling as a church, rather than just doing generic church things, or becoming a clearinghouse for multitudes of good ministry ideas.  We made decisions as a leadership team with these in front of us, and we talked about them as a congregation while doing ministry together.

Adventurous Faith

We are committed to being a missional church that takes great risks, without fear of failure, for the advancement of the fame of Jesus Christ.  We seek to develop emerging leaders in our church body and to cultivate and resource their God-given ideas.  At Lancaster Evangelical Free Church, we believe that life and ministry are meant to be experienced as a faith adventure with God.

We are committed to being a missionary people, strategic in establishing healthy, reproducing churches in North America and, most especially, among those who have never heard the Gospel.  These people are our highest evangelistic priority; we are intentional in getting this done.  We thrive upon the vision of the glory of God among all peoples and their full enjoyment of Him.

Investing Outside Ourselves

We are committed to providing the vital basic ministries for our church life together, but we will invest most of our ministry resources, energy, and people in outreach to the world.  As a church, we want to experience how much more blessed it is to give than to receive.  Our focus is outward with a long-term perspective for what God might do through us.

We are committed to evangelical ecumenism, that is, fellowship and ministry partnership with evangelicals from various perspectives.  Viewing collaboration as stimulating and productive, we endeavor together to creatively engage and transform the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our congregation affirms each member’s God-given calling for the furtherance of His glory throughout society and culture.

Earnest Discipleship

We are committed to develop fully as genuine and earnest disciples of Jesus Christ, living just as He has taught us.  Determined to grow up into the fullness of Christ and be worthy of our high calling, we graciously encourage one another to excel still more in our spiritual disciplines and in our disciple-making.

We are committed to give up our lives and resources; and have resolved up front that this will mean great sacrifice and suffering as we fulfill our calling, but also the greatest of joys.  As a church family, we uphold and encourage one another to persevere in grace for the glory of Christ in His Church.  With a resilient faith, we share with one another the peace and hope of the Kingdom of God.

Let's Allow Everyone To Learn By Doing

There is often too cautious a reception to hearing the amazing stories being told of God’s glorious workings in the world.  After suspicious listening come the probing questions to determine whether or not huge mistakes are being made.  

Christians excited about the Gospel can be made to feel like they are undergoing a medical examination, tax audit, or answering the supreme inquisitor:  “Have you done this?”  “You haven’t done that I hope?”  “You know, you really need to be careful about something.”  

This is a real problem.  Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has successes.  Why does it seem that only some are allowed to make mistakes and others are not trusted to do so?  As a whole, mistakes are too harshly criticized and learning by doing is too undervalued.  And the reality is that some have forgotten that this is how they got where they are today.

Stories the New Testament Tells

The success stories of the Twelve and the Seventy-Two from their village to village short-term preaching ministries were received by our Lord Jesus with joy and intense delight (Luke 9-10).  The church at Antioch listened intently to the stories of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas as they recounted that first real “to the ends of the earth” missionary trip (Acts 13-14).  And the Gospel success stories only continue to mount throughout the New Testament.  In fact, that is the very content of the New Testament and its reason for existence--the Gospel’s progress throughout the world.

Did the Apostles ever make mistakes?  Of course they did.  But, mistakes are not recorded because mistakes are just not that important.  Besides, the Gospel is powerful unto salvation by itself (Romans 1:16), and it is impossible to really mess it up if one just declares the Gospel.  Yet, one sure way to mess things up (speaking from a human perspective) is not to clearly proclaim Jesus at all.  Even the Apostles become better over time because they practiced in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Tell Stories to Those Who Will Listen

American Christians generally think there is more power in human persuasion and cultural insight than God has placed in His Gospel inherently.  As a result, mistakes are very serious matters.  This theological and perspectival blunder is also why so few believe the stories of success when they hear them.  It seems too good to be true; something must not be right.

However, when understanding things rightly, there is great freedom in Gospel proclamation and great encouragement to keep on learning how to do things better.  There is trust in God for God’s work.  The joy is for those who believe the stories because they believe the Gospel is more powerful than human hearts and ingenuity. 

Keep Proclaiming, Making Mistakes, and Learning by Doing

It is much more preferable to encourage the preaching of Jesus and trust Jesus to take care of His own Gospel, its success, and even the proclaimers and the hearers of it.  He is much better at this than we are at being its guardians.

What if we unleashed people to proclaim the Gospel with only a little training?  And then, what if we listened to their stories without telling them what they did wrong?  And then, what if we encouraged them to keep preaching Jesus?  

What if we shared in the joy and delight of the success of God’s Gospel along with them?  What if we let them get better on their own, perhaps just facilitating their learning together?

Every Church A Mission Team

At a mission conference a few years ago, I attended a small session led by a highly creative and strategic-minded woman.  She was leading a seminar on mission strategies to reach the unreached cities and peoples of Asia.  She proposed a simple but powerful idea:  what if churches became strategy coordinators for this?

I was greatly stirred by this proposal.  Up until this point it had never occurred to me that a local church could play such a vital role in world missions.  I could see how this might work, and work so much better than the typical models of church involvement, where the church contributes very little at the strategic level.

After the session, I spent a significant amount of time with her discussing the details of what such an approach might look like in a local church and how to get it done.  I attended a couple more of her consultations.  And then as a church we set out to strategically engage an unreached people.  How freeing and revitalizing for ministry and mission it has been to be both a sodality and a modality!

The Split

Many Christians are not familiar with the terms “sodality” and “modality,” or understand their meaning, but ever since they were introduced in 1974 by Ralph Winter, the relationship of local churches to the world mission have changed.  Churches have come to accept the position of being a modality, focusing primarily on their local ministry, while giving up their leadership role and responsibility in world mission to the sodalities, that is to agencies, to operate independently, while only utilizing the churches. (n1)

We should be suspicious of this two-tiered structural analysis of the Church in its splitting the Church and local congregations from their primary responsibility in missions and evangelism.  Instead of empowering the Church, this new paradigm has inappropriately shifted power to the para-churches by legitimizing them as another form of church. (n2)

The Splice

What if we could mobilize complete congregations in world evangelization and strategic church planting, especially among the unengaged unreached?  Might the results end up being healthier and more effective churches, both here and abroad?

What if agencies even made it their goal to serve local churches in helping them take the lead in world mission and get the job done?  Might it be more helpful to re-think the meaning of para-church, or even use a new term like dia-church, that is “through the church?”
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¹ Eckhard J. Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, rev. ed. (Downers Grove:  IVP, 2004), vol. 2, 1578-1579.  See also David J. Hesselgrave, Planting Churches Cross-Culturally, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids:  Baker, 2000).

² Bruce K. Camp, “A Theological Examination of the Two-Structure Theory,” Missiology 23:2 (1995), 197-209.