Missions and the Kingdom (Day 4)
by JM · 05 July 2008

author's note: This is a longer post than usual, so I implore forgiveness from those of you who appreciate my more typical brevity. I assure you I am normally far too verbose.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about missions?

Lesslie Newbigin's writings on Mission in Christ's Way deeply challenge some of our thinking about missions. As I take these insights and questions to heart, I hope you will join me in doing so. Newbigin considers Acts 1:6-8 a great starting point for our reflexions on missions. The disciples, gathered together, now believe in the resurrection. They ask Jesus, who has appeared before them after the resurrection, if he will now restore the kingdom to Israel. Newbigin understands his response to be twofold: "a warning and a promise". The warning is against thinking that the kingdom is our programme. Rather, it is God's kingdom. The promise is that "the Holy Spirit will come and you will be witnesses".

Newbigin ponders a common question:

I have very often been asked: "Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the gospel in India?" When one gets asked the same question a hundred times one is inclined to develop a standard answer. My standard answer is: "I believe in the resurrection of Jesus and therefore the question does not arise." The gospel is news of a fact—the presence of the kingdom of God in Jesus. About a fact, the question "optimistic or pessimistic?" does not arise. About a programme one can be optimistic or pessimistic, but about a fact you have to ask a different question: "Do you believe it or do you not believe it?" If you believe, the other question does not arise.

How often are we tempted to think about ministry—and especially missions—in programmatic terms? The more heavily we focus our attentions on strategy and human action, the more likely we are to find ourselves down such a path. Do we truly believe that the ministries of worship, prayer and waiting on God are as important as preaching? This is not to suggest that any of these are dispensable—quite the contrary! It seems to me that preaching ought to result in worship, prayer and waiting on God as much as these ministries should lead to preaching empowered by the Spirit.

As Newbigin attests, it is common to be asked questions that betray a humanistic outlook on spiritual work. Not a few of these questions come from within the church. Eventually, we give in to the questions and determine that they require an answer. We formulate, perhaps in thoughtful prayer, what we think is an appropriate response. Yet, in accepting the question as a valid one, we have swerved off the King's highway.

A warning

Newbigin continues:

We need this warning. We are constantly tempted to see the cause of the gospel as if it were a programme about which we could be optimistic or pessimistic. In England, where the churches are on the defensive, we are always tempted to fall into the world's way of looking at the church. For the media, Christianity is a "good cause" that requires support and that will collapse if enough people do not rally to its support. Christians are tempted to fall into this absurd way of thinking...
We need the warning. The kingdom of God is, quite simply, God's reign; it is not our programme. The question is not optimism or pessimism; it is belief or unbelief.

In the process of raising support, when we discuss missions with churches are we not tempted to believe that our efforts and the efforts of our supporters will make the difference? In our communications do we suggest, or even subtly hint, that by our presence or efforts we will turn the tide? Should we not rather proclaim the majesty and reign of God in His church? I am not suggesting that we refrain from communicating with excellence what God is doing, but that we would be cautious of overstating our importance in God's mission. We are unworthy servants who have been made heirs to the kingdom by God's sovereign grace. When the Spirit comes upon us, we give witness to the amazing things He has done. But such things are amazing, and worthy of proclamation.

A promise

Similarly, the promise is not that we shall undertake a programme of witnessing, but rather that the Holy Spirit's presence will cause us to be witnesses. Newbigin says it this way after quoting Isaiah 43:8-11:

It is clear that God is not calling the oppressed Israelites to undertake some kind of campaign for liberation. It is he, the mighty Lord, who is going to act, and they will be the witnesses, interpreting to the nations what he has done. Here is the background for the assurance "You shall be witnesses." It is not that the church is called upon to undertake a programme. It is that the liberating presence of the Spirit will constitute the church a witness to the mighty acts of the living God who alone is king.

This is where I think things get messy. Although the church is not to create programmes out of mission or the proclaiming of the Kingdom, there is a significant record of individuals and church movements which take on what appear to be characteristics of a programme, if considered from a purely human perspective. Newbigin mentions Paul's statement, "Woe is me if I do not preach". If I quoted the entire section from Newbigin all of it would be worth considering. Newbigin's point, though, is that Paul is expressing an outpouring of the Spirit from within himself which compels him to preach the gospel. Other men and women have felt similar compulsion throughout history. It is this outpouring I think particularly worth our attention.

...mission is wrongly understood if it is seen primarily as a task laid upon us. It is primarily a work of the Spirit, a spill-over from Pentecost.

Revivals are an obvious example of this spill-over, though we tend to consider them in terms of people movements. Prophets, carried along by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), are another example. Apostles and missionaries, compelled to preach the gospel are yet another example of the Spirit's work.

Diagnostic Questions

For this reason, I urge you if you are considering missionary service—or any ministry, for that matter—to consider your motivation. Are you compelled by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, whose power is at work within you, or are you intrigued by the work in strictly human terms? Perhaps in a later article I may suggest some diagnostic questions to assist us in evaluating our motivations for ministry.

Total comments on this post (1)

This is wonderful stuff and great reminder ... regardless of where our mission field is. Be it in our home, work, church, neighborhood, etc.... where is our heart. Where is our motivation? Anyway ... thanks!

— posted by Janet
July 8, 2008 9:18:00 AM CDT