“Gospel presentation seeks to facilitate a process whereby people everywhere, belonging to every family, tribe, language and nation, may hear God speak in appropriate and relevant ways that impact the deep-level meaning of their worldview” (1).

I’m reminded of this ongoing dialogue between Peter and Jesus.  It went something like this:

Peter:  I’m ready, Lord.
Jesus:  No, Peter, you’re not (Matt 14, as he lifts Peter from the water)

Peter:  I’m ready, Lord.
Jesus:  Nope.  Not yet (Matt 16: “Get behind me, Satan…”)

Peter:  I’m ready, Lord.
Jesus:  No, Peter, you’re not (Matthew 26, as He told Peter of his coming denial of the Lord)

Then, things changed.  Jesus died but came back in victory.  But he left again. Imagine how Peter must have felt.  He had failed.  Bad decision after bad decision seemed to leave him in a place he didn’t want to be.  But Jesus had other plans.

Peter:  I’m not ready, Lord.
Jesus:  Yes, Peter, you are (Acts 2, the Holy Spirit falls, Peter preaches, and thousands respond).

I often think I’m ready.  Lord, I’m ready to do something big.  I’m ready to be what you made me to be.  I’m ready to go.  Like Peter, though, I’m on a journey of Jesus’ preparation — where he turns my pride to reliance, my little faith to mountain-moving faith, my self-trust to God-trust.

I’m not ready.  Use me, Lord Jesus.

You?

“The results of past missionary efforts, appear to indicate that we, like the apostles, must adopt the system of home laborers, if we would evangelize the world. We must get natives to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation. The men whom we send forth to missionary stations must then be qualified to instruct the native preachers in all the elements of theological education. They will not only have to put the Bible into their hands as a textbook, but they will have to prepare, in the native language, or translate into it such books of theology, as shall give them adequate instruction.”
– James Petigru Boyce, first President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The city where you live is a place of contrasts.  There is at the same time opportunity and brokenness, creativity and decay, wealth and poverty, plenty and suffering.  How does a believer or a church begin to influence a city like that?  Where do you start?  What does it look like to engage your community?

I started writing this article on a quick trip to New York City to meet with a group of men and women planting churches in urban areas.  As we descended into LaGuardia Airport, I could see Manhattan, a long strip of land packed with busy streets and skyscrapers.  The Island is literally bristling with bridges and tunnels that connect it to the rest of New York.  Thousands of trains, cars, trucks, and people cross every day.  That’s a great picture of engaging a city:  it’s about building bridges into the community.

The bridges that you and your church build into your city are the way that the gospel goes out and lives are changed.  They can be anything from deep neighbor-to-neighbor relationships to events like VBS, block parties, or Bible studies.  They may last a moment, like a conversation at the playground, or a lifetime. Your creativity is really the only limit.

To start engaging your city by building bridges, try these first steps

·         Open your eyes – Prayer is the vital first step in any attempt to build bridges into your community.  Ask God for wisdom (James 1:5).  Pray for vision, guidance, and ministry opportunities.  And pray with your eyes open.  Walk around your neighborhood, praying for the people you see and into the situations you notice.  Do you see a school?  Pray for the teachers, children, and parents.  Is there an apartment building?  Ask God to give you ideas on how to reach out to all the people who live there.

Get to know your city.  When you open your eyes to building bridges and praying for wisdom, you will see the people and places of your community in a new way.  What nationalities and religions are represented in your neighborhood?  Are there more families with children or senior adults?  Where do people tend to gather together?  When?  All of these factors and more will help guide you as you think about how to engage your city.

·         Open your heart – Once you’ve prayed for your city and seen your neighborhood, learn to love your city – all of it.  Love what the people around you love, and you will find that relationships come naturally.  Loving the city is not always easy, especially when it is noisy, dirty, or unfriendly.  God has great compassion, and so must we.  Whether you are learning to love the homeless, those with HIV/AIDS, or busy professionals, you will be reflecting Christ’s love when you build bridges to people who are different from you.

Opening your heart and loving your city doesn’t mean accepting everything.  It may be that the best way you can impact your city is by living a holy life in front of your neighbors.  Read Philippians 2:12-18 where Paul encourages us to live like “stars in the world” who are “faultless in a crooked and perverse generation.”  You might have the most influence by being different.

·         Open your door – Loving the city and its people will lead to giving to the city.  There is no shortage of need in urban centers.  1 John 3:17 says, “If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him—how can God’s love reside in him?”  That makes it pretty clear.  We don’t have much of an option when James says that “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27).

If you’re not doing it already, you will be amazed at the number of bridges you can build by giving of yourself to the community.  If while you are praying through your city and see a particular need, act on it.  It might be as simple as joining in a soccer match at the park or as complicated as starting a clinic for pregnant teenagers.  For example, I had some wonderful conversations with elderly neighbors in our apartment building after my son carried their groceries up the stairs or gave them a seat on the bus.  On a larger scale, Gallery Church in New York builds bridges into its community by partnering with a local organization to offer free HIV testing.

·         Open your mouth – This may seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked:  share the good news.  In the community where I worked for several years, relationships were vital to witnessing.  Too often, however, believers tried so hard to be good friends with their neighbors that they never shared the gospel.  When Peter wrote, “always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason  Or who demands of you an accountingfor the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), he was talking about taking risks in order to do good.  Your neighbors will ask you why you are helping them.  Tell them it’s because your life has been changed for the better because of Jesus Christ.  If they don’t ask, tell them anyway.  Seed that is never sown will never bear fruit.  If your community never hears that the church is doing ministry in the community because of the gospel, they will think you are just nice people.  That would be a tragedy.

If you are not sure what to say, start with your own story.  Tell about the way that you first heard about Jesus, how He has changed your own life, and what it means for you to be His disciple.  Study the Bible to find out what is important for you to share.  The “How to Become a Christian” page in this book is a great start.

If you are teaching a Bible study in your church, you are already impacting your city.  You have been teaching about influence and impact.  Lead your class or small group to engage the community around your church and their own neighborhoods.  Pray with one another and work together to make a difference.  Be creative and build bridges.  Your city will never be the same.

One of my favorite profs in seminary has been Tim Beougher, who models well the value of historical understanding for contemporary ministry.  With gratitude to Dr. Beougher, I adapt here (over the next few days) his four reasons that we ought to study the past in order to do ministry well in the present.

First, the study of the history of missions helps us to be more aware of our own presuppositions, as well as the dangers of not knowing we have them.  Historical study in general reminds us that we have a certain outlook on the world that is greatly influenced by our current context.  We tend to honor and judge the past based on our own viewpoints.  In 2010, we ask how anyone could have possible supported segregation in the 1950s or, worse, slavery in the 1850s.  Historical study doesn’t soften the dark realities of past practice, but it does help contemporary readers to understand the impact of culture on our ancestors.  Reading the original writings of pastors who advocated human bondage reminds us that we all look at the world through foggy lenses.  And how much more vivid is the courage of Martin Luther King, Jr., or the striking Memphis sanitation workers of 1968 when we understand the climate under which they lived?

Studying the history of missions reminds us constantly of the assumptions and presuppositions of those who have gone before us in the Great Commission task.  As a result, we are forced to step back and consider our own.  No longer can we look back and ask self-righteously how nineteenth-century missionaries could launch compounds and impose Western culture on national populations.  We must also ask how our own strategies and methodologies reflect our home culture and history.

Here’s an example:  One of the classics of nineteenth century missions is John L. Nevius’s The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches, first published in 1886.  Nevius was an early advocate of self-supporting indigenous churches.  A missionary in China, he argued that the contemporary method of starting “mission stations” by paying native (his word) evangelists and workers was flawed in that it produced weak churches that failed more often than they succeeded.  At the same time, he exhibited attitudes rejected by later missionaries, often referring to nationals as “childlike” in intelligence and promoting the use of Western forms such as hymns and printed catechisms.

Nevius was well ahead of the majority of missions thinkers of the day in terms of indigenous church principles but remained heavily influenced by the practices of his denomination and the prejudices of his culture.  It would remain for other missionaries to consider how to build on Nevius’s obvious belief in national leaders and how best to contextualize the practices of Christian worship and discipleship.

The same is true throughout all of missions history.  Every great missionary has his or her blind spots, and so do we.  The more we study the past, the more clearly we see.

Next:  Humility

So, what exactly does that mean?  Last year, my own denomination’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force cast a vision that “every local church must operate as a missional strategy center, releasing and sending Christ followers to advance the Gospel regionally, nationally, and globally to penetrate the lostness in our world.”  It’s a great thing to recognize the centrality of 40,000+ local churches in the Great Commission task, but it’s an entirely different matter to equip those churches and believers for cross-cultural evangelism and church planting.

Two areas in particular come repeatedly to mind.  First, churches and believers must understand missiology.  Missiology means simply the study of missions, but it entails all of the disciplines that play a role in our understanding of how to do missions:  theology, cultural anthropology, communication, etc.  There’s no question that good missionaries must have a solid, biblical theology, but solid theology alone does not a good missionary make.  Churches with a Great Commission passion need equipping.

Second, I believe that one of the best ways to understand and communicate good missiology is by thinking about history.  The original source is disputed, but whoever said that the history of the church is the history of missions was right.  History reminds us of why we are who we are.  And that’s important.

The Dayspring Project has always been about sharing the Light of the world with those “sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:78-79).  Thinking about the “how” of missiology and the “since when” of history will, Lord willing, better equip us for our Great Commission task.

So, there we are.  Another fresh start.

Next up:  Why Study the History of Missions?

One thing, however, is sure:  you should read David Sills’ Reaching and Teaching: A Call to Great Commission Obedience (Moody, 2010).  I guess I should offer the disclaimer that Sills is one of my favorite professors at Southern Seminary and a member of my dissertation committee.  Even so, this his latest book offers a welcome voice (perhaps a corrective one) in contemporary mission theology and strategy.

I offer here some comments from a review recently published in the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (Summer 2010).

The last half century has seen a phenomenal increase in the study of Christian missions – its theology, history, strategy, and effectiveness.  Even as we rejoice in the ways that God is touching the nations, the rapid growth of missions activity has sometimes led to well-intended strategies based more on pragmatism, speed, and urgency than on sound biblical foundations.  In Reaching and Teaching, Southern Seminary missions professor David Sills argues that the church must address the Great Commission in its entirety.  Not only must missionaries proclaim the gospel where it has not been heard and received, but they must also follow through by teaching all that Christ commanded (Matt 28:18-20).

Sills supports his argument with solid biblical and missiological research, case studies from the mission field, and input from field practitioners.  He confronts contemporary missions strategies that emphasize rapid reproduction (“the need for speed”) and extreme pragmatism (“the greater good mentality”).  While Sills understands the urgency of evangelism, he also traces difficulties that come when new believers and churches do not have a solid base of biblical and theological teaching.  Missions strategies must have a two-fold goal: share the gospel and equip future leaders of healthy national churches.

Within the larger issue of teaching new believers and training leaders, Sills deals with three specific matters.  First, he contends that theological education is a vital but neglected facet of twenty-first century missions.  Both national pastors and missionaries need a solid foundation.  A disturbing contemporary trend is the number of missionary church planters who go to the field with no biblical understanding of ecclesiology.

Another difficulty related to teaching believers is orality.  Only 20-30% of the global population is highly literate, but the majority of missionary teaching and materials is designed for that minority.  Throughout most of the world, orality is a cultural issue rather than an educational one; that is, many oral cultures have no desire to become literate.  Missionaries must develop and utilize methodologies that work within cultural orality.  As Sills contends, “you cannot reach and teach people where you wish they were, only where they actually are” (190).

Finally, in one of the most valuable chapters of the book, Sills deals with the issue of contextualization.  In recent years, some North American pastors have criticized the notion of contextualization, but Sills develops a clear definition of the term that maintains a high regard for both Scripture and culture.  He presents a four-fold method (based on that of Paul Hiebert) for presenting a culturally relevant understanding of the gospel while avoiding syncretism.

Reaching and Teaching is an important contribution to current missiological literature.  Sills served as a missionary and educator in South America, and the book reflects that experience.  The work would benefit, however, from a broader range of examples an cases from some regions.  Academics will miss fuller information on sources and background.  Sills has nonetheless provided an excellent corrective to well intentioned but overzealous missionary strategies that address only part of the Great Commission command to reach and teach.

]]> http://jeffkwalters.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/books-a-pastor-should-read-first-installment/feed/ 0 jeffkwalters reachingandteachingmedium http://jeffkwalters.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/what-should-a-seminary-graduate-know-about-missions/ http://jeffkwalters.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/what-should-a-seminary-graduate-know-about-missions/#comments Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:50:10 +0000 jeffkwalters http://jeffkwalters.com/?p=14 Continue reading →]]> I’m thankful to work in a seminary that requires every student (in the Master of Divinity) to take an introduction to missiology.  We recognize that pastors and church leaders must have at least a rudimentary understanding of the biblical basis of missions, missions history, strategy, culture, and our work through the Southern Baptist Convention.

But is that enough?  In my dream world, what would a seminary graduate have in their toolbelt in order to touch the nations, whether in the local church or on the field? 

Just before his death, Donald McGavran (arguably one of the most influential missiologists of the twentieth century) wrote Effective Evangelism: a Theological Mandate in which he listed five courses that every seminary curriculum should include:

1. Theology of evangelism — every seminarian should have a solid biblical and theological understanding of missions and evangelism.
2. Training laypeople for evangelism — McGavran understood that pastors, ministers, and missionaries cannot be the only church members involved in sharing the gospel.  At the same time, he also saw that many pastors are not equipped to train and mentor others to share their faith.
3. Congregational multiplication — the heart of mission is making disciples, and discipleship best takes place in the context of local churches.  McGavran’s missiology was deeply centered in the local church and church planting.  This would involve key elements of cultural anthropology and social science.
4. The state of churches and denominations in other continents — wise strategy begins with an accurate understanding of field realities.
5. The ways of evangelism that God has blessed — this course is the methodology and best practices class.  Pastors and missionaries should have a broad knowledge of the ways that people around the world are sharing Christ.

I’m sure that we could list much more that we would like to see in a seminary curriculum, but this is a good place to start.  Over the next few weeks, I will post some reviews of key books that every seminarian/pastor should read on missiology and evangelism.

As God-called, God-sent missionaries to our communities and the nations, we go as light — carrying the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who “sit in darkness.”  Christ is the “sunrise,” (or as I love it in the KJV), the “Dayspring.”  We are proclaimers of the good news that even as darkness seems to grow, the dawn has come.

May we be faithful, gospel-centered churches who carry such good news to gospel-hungry nations.