I recently got this email that highlights from an “old-school”, “traditional” missionary (which terms have been used to ridicule in some circles, I am now using to praise) in response to my last post. It hightlights the real problem going on in missions: generational superiority. This new generation of missionaries (of which I am the youngest) starting with, it seems, the late 80′s to early 90′s, thought they new a better way to do it that would have more results. The result is an overemphasis on business with an underemphasis on evangelism, the insider movement, etc. I thought you all deserved to see it and learn:
We have been following your ministry through your emails and rejoice in the ministry that you are currently involved. My wife and I read with interest your recent ministry with __________ (an 80 year old missionary to Muslims who recently visited us). I remember back when I was in Bible Scool praying for ________ in our muslim prayer meetings.. he was then just arriving in NA.
We all faced the same issues that you mentioned in your “Stupid” comments. We were in NA in the city where the BCC sent our courses when we did our language study. We were also the last to be expelled in 1969. My wife and I then went to Belgium where we worked for eleven and a half years in an aggressive evangelism ministry in Belgium and in Holland and Nothern France before we went to Malaga. We are glad that an Arab church is now active in that large city.
Over the years we have been witness to the change that has been taking place that grew out of the multicultural view into contextualization and now into insider movements, which are as heavily culture laden as the movement’s criticism of the older missionary efforts. I notice as these movements progressed that the missionaries seemed to be all-concerned with not doing anything to “blow their cover.” Their fear of doing anything openly was conveyed to the national believers. The church became fearful.
We have noticed that when persecution comes, one of the things that seems to come out of it is that the believers are relieved to know that the government now knows they are christians and they meet other believers in the same situation and that after they have been released life goes on.
My view is, preach the gospel, teach other believers, but let them decide how they will carry on their church life. Truth is more important than forms whether Western or contextualized. God converts and the Spirit guides the church. We should not be doing anything that they can do. Let God do His work.
Do not worry about being “stupid!” Do what you believe that Lord has laid on your heart. The biggest obstacle we face is fear. We are afraid of what might happen, but that is a mental hypothetical. We do what God wants and find that our fears are not what we imagined them to be.
We are thankful for the thirty years that God allowed us to be involved in Muslim ministries. We are thankful also that Acts 13:36 reminds us that we serve our own generation. We are glad that the Lord raises up others in the next generation to carry on to see His church planted in remote areas and that one day the church will be completed with those from “every tribe, tongue and nation.” keep on what the Lord is leading you to do and leave the consequences with Him. Don’t let the fears of what others say detract you.
Every blessing!
Did you notice what effects this very veteran missionary has observed on the church as the missionaries focus on not “blowing their cover”?
Comments?
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Ever since I first arrived on the field over five years ago I have been wrestling with this question both inwardly in my own spirit and outwardly with critics. The issue recently surfaced again through an email conversation with a past intern who desires to take the Gospel to another Arab Muslim country and has been in touch with a team of missionaries in said country with a very different philosophy than our own. All will remain anonymous because this post isn’t about calling out any person or organization but, rather, addressing a prevailing idea in front-line missions.
Here is a quote from the email my friend got from this missionary on the field:
“The main 2 things for us as workers is 1)”don’t do anything stupid” and 2)”share truth in the context of relationships”. It is illegal for us to pass out books on a street corner, street prch, etc. If I did these things, someone would probably show up at my door by the end of the month and tell me I have 48 hours to pack my bags and get out. It could also mean that everyone who teaches in my same institute would lose their residency in the country as well. This happened with one guy who “did something stupid.” The entire community development agency he worked with got kicked out.”
When I first arrived here I started an evangelistic campaign that I asked people overseas to get involved in. A believer from Ireland told a pastor friend of mine there that I was foolish to evangelize in such a way since it would bring the local believers under more scrutiny and possible persecution. Later, when our ministry here became under fire in the press because of conversions of local Muslims, I was called “crazy” by a missionary who had seen no conversions but had been quite successful at staying “under cover” and “secure”.
I realize that most who read this blog aren’t missionaries to places like this so you feel inadequate to judge on this subject but we all, as Christians, have a stake in this work among the Muslim countries where it is illegal to preach the Gospel. Here are some considerations to help think through this issue:
1. Would Jesus, Paul, or Peter ever consider it stupid, crazy, or foolish to peach Christ?
2. What should be the reasonable thing to expect as a result of preaching Christ?
3. Would a New Testament preacher (mostly Jesus, Paul, or Peter, who we know the most about) ever stay quite in order to maintain residency in a certain place?
4. If the strategy that is employed (one that reacts to persecution with the ceasing of preaching and meeting with believers) is observed by the local believers what kind of disciples will be made? Thus, what will the result of the spread of the Gospel be?
5. Do we have any evidence of any New Testament preacher scolding another believer for being too bold, too zealous for the Gospel, or for causing persecution as a result of preaching?
6. If we are at war, should we expect casualties? Watch a war movie sometime and imagine what it would look like for the Allies if they took an “avoid-loss-of-blood-at-any-cost” strategy.
Now, a few caveats: this being said, it does not mean that we go out looking for problems, persecution, etc. Those are only natural results of obedience to the Great Commission. They are to be delighted in, rejoiced over, and thanked for.
Also, this understanding is a process. I have been very timid and scared. I have wimped out at many opportunities to preach the Gospel. I know missionaries who have radically changed their philosophies after finding by experience that modern methods of “living” the Gospel aren’t near as effective as the Biblical method of preaching it, too. This is an ongoing work of sanctification in all of God’s children. One does not have a right to boast over another for his boldness or another’s lack thereof.
Lastly, I am not calling anyone stupid by this post. Quite the opposite I am pointing out the fact that preaching is labeled as stupid by modern missionaries and I’m against that.
To read a few of the other voices out there who would echo mine (and there aren’t many), check out these blog posts here and here.
A video I saw yesterday that will stir your heart for this topic can be watched here.
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Today we were taking a few visitors to see the biggest Mosque in Africa. It is also the biggest mosque in the world outside of Saudi Arabia. During our visit we went to the lowest level where 4,000 Muslims can perform the ritual cleansing before prayer at once at the marble fountains.
The door keeper of the mosque, Sayeed, was a large man with a big smile, a thick green robe, and a red fez covering just the top of his short black hair.
As we left I asked him, “So I have visited your mosque but have you ever read the Gospel?”
“No.” he responded, “I have only heard of it.”
“I’ll get you one if you’ll read it.” I told him.
For a little while I stood there with Sayeed explaining to him how the water that washes the hands, feet, and face of the Muslim cannot wash away his sin which is spiritual and in his heart. I explained to him about the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, the perfect lamb of God.
So Sayeed has a New Testament now, thanks to the efforts a coworker who took it to him from my car. I was especially honored to preach Christ in such a huge place dedicated to the worship of a strange deity. I wonder when was the last time you took the Gospel outside of the walls of the church all the way to the temples of those who are not gods? It is thrilling and I’d challenge you to do it again…soon!
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I saw a Snoopy cartoon not long ago where Snoop was shooting with his bow and arrow at a wall. He would then run to the wall and paint a bull’s eye around the spot where his arrow had landed. Charlie Brown, looking on, asked him what he was doing. “This way I never miss!” was Snoopy’s response.
So in missions (and life), what is your target? Is it fixed? Or can we move it at will?
It is easy to do like Snoopy. What I mean is to rejoice in what we have accomplished in a way that makes whatever we accomplished exactly what we were aiming for. So we’ve got a legitimate business going in a creative access country…so we’ve built some strong relationships with some higher-ups in the community…so we’ve had a lot of opportunities to share the Gospel to a nodding listener over a cup of tea…so we’ve become an insider in the culture and learned the language with great skill…so we’ve been able to help a village build a school or put in a playground or dig a fresh water well…so…so what?
All of that is good but the One who sets the bull’s eye has already written it down plainly. As a missionary (or a Christian in general) we have a few in concentric circles that our Boss has already laid out:
Big Circle: Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all nations
Small Circle: Start churches with all those who believe (baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit)
Smallest Circle: Teaching them to obey all things whatsoever I (Jesus) have commanded you.
So here are some penetrating questions to ask your would be Snoopy’s (missionaries or self, in fact):
How are you doing at getting the Gospel out in a way that some are responding?
How are you doing at gathering believers and baptizing them into a church?
How are you doing at training the believers to be faithful? to be men of God? to be preachers and pastors?
If you’ll ask yourself these questions honestly, you just might save yourself a lot of misguided target practice.
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This week a loaded up my car with preachers (I love doing that) and we (all five of us) drove three hours away to a small town to meet a national believer. When we pulled into this picturesque town I was immediately taken by their vast views of the snow capped mountains in the distance past the brown hills spotted by green shrubs in the arid landscape. It is the kind of place you can breathe deep (even with half a lung =).
We spent four hours that day in this man’s one room home without moving except to eat a snack his dear wife brought. He told us the story of the last years of police antagonism and attacks from radical Muslims. This man has been a believer for ten years and is one of the few believers who has the great privilege of having a Christian wife. During his first few years as a believer he was tested in his faith by his unbelieving family. This is a common trial all Muslim background believers must go threw.
The last two years, however, have been a trial on all sides. He and his wife have both been arrested, questioned, and threatened on multiple occasions. As the unofficial leader of the small house church in his town he was singled out for the worst of the treatment. One thing that struck me as I listened intently for those four hours to his enthusiasm for Christ was the comparison between the three still attending his church and the average church attendee at an American church this weekend.
You see, this man had about 14 people in his church gathering weekly and claiming to be believers. During the week three years ago the police came to his house, arrested he and his wife, and threatened them. They both stood strong in the face of this pressure. At one point he told the police, “You can cut off my head and I will still worship Christ. You cannot stop me from being a Christian.” They asked him if he was meeting with Muslims and shaking their faith. To which he replied, “We meet to study the Bible in my home. You are welcome if you’d like to come.”
The Sunday following this conflict with the police his congregation when from 14 to 3! He is not discouraged, though. He claims that God is using this persecution to reveal who are the real believers in Christ. He compared it to the fire that cleanses gold.
So how about you? If you knew that the police would be watching you tomorrow as you go to church? If you knew that they might arrest you? If you knew that they would try to ruin your business or your job? If you knew that you would get death threats? Would you still go to church tomorrow? If you were put to the same test, where would you come down on it?
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