Urban Missions
I've ranted about this before, but I think I'll put it out in a more coherent, written form.
Missions.
Jesus commanded His disciples to "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20. In commemoration of this final instruction from Him before He ascended into heaven, Evangelicals today call this last word the Great Commission. Evidently, this is not a word of advice, or random teaching. Rather, it is, as the name suggests, a "commission", or a charge, a duty that has been laid out. Furthermore, since it is "great" it merits attention, effort, resources and obedience for it to be attended to. As a result of this, churches all over the world, and CHristians who form those churches all consider Evangelism an important responsibility. It is not optional.
However, as a sociological experiment, I invite you to consider what most churches (especially in Singapore) would describe as their Evangelism ministry. More often than not, it involves 3 things. Money, prayer and youths sent out. By this I mean, they consist of budgets to support certain missionaries, sent out or adopted by the church; prayer devoted to support and encourage and strengthen the ministries of these adopted missionaries, and finally, sending out our young people to 3rd world countries to try and reach the lost. In the last case, more often than not, just think about what happpens in these "mission trips". We send our 13-25 year olds to _____(usually Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China usually) and they teach English, play with kids, paint houses, bring medicine, food, sing songs, put up plays, etc- but it's usually the same set of activities and resources that we're bringing them. Teaching English is the most common one. Of course, the assumption is that when we head for these 3rd world countries, we're talking about a shortage of medicine, food, clothing, and other necessities. When we teach English, we're giving them education, empowering them to pursue employment and perhaps contribute to some other kind of economic solution to their ills. As the proverb goes, "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish." These are useful.
But let me ask something. How often have you heard of a missionary going to... Bukit Panjang. Or Orchard Road. It's all nice and dandy to ease our evangelistic conscience by sending missionaries and our young people to foreign countries where English- the language of trade and commerce, as well as food and other necessities are in shortage. But who's going to reach my neighbor? Who's going to take the light of the Gospel and shine it in the hearts of those who are richer than I am, or more privileged, or more educated or more HAPPY? Do we bring these people the gospel because we want them to be affluent and happy and economically well off? OR do we believe that the gospel meets SPIRITUAL needs and all things necessary for joy and meaningful existence? I think that many of our churches today are shortchanging themselves by focussing on these countries. Don't get me wrong. THese ministries are necessary. But we're not working hard enough on reaching our friends, our neighbors or those we consider to be our direct mission field, and I believe that our mindset when it comes to missions is a crippling factor more than anything else.
THe time tested formula of "money, food English and aid" to these impoverished nations has served us well, and is doubtlessly expanding the Kingdom of God. I say Amen and Praise God to that. But let's also think about URBAN MISSIONS. How are we going to reach the people in the cities? When they (sometimes) speak better English than we do, are more intelligent, with more degrees, or more affluent etc, how do we say that Jesus has come to bring you life and life abundant (Jn 10:10)? Do we even have that conviction?
Sadly, (and I know that I might be shooting myself in the foot) I think the evangelical churches fail in this regard. THe churches (and I commend them) for having devised an intelligent and effective way of reaching these cities are the megachurches, whose formulae of street evangelism, using the arts/music/drama, campus ministries, large scale evangelistic events and other means of community penetration have proven deeply powerful. That's why they're MEGA churches.
WHen corporations sell a product, they do incredible amounts of market research. Lately, a BBC show featured a rising industry of market researchers who dig through consumer's trash, study surveillance cameras in supermarkets, ethnovideographers conducting interviews etc just to find out how and why consumers consume. Surveys are done regularly, as are focus groups because the underlying obsession is profit and sales. They want their product to get sold, so they'll do anything to get it packaged the right way, presented the way etc. How about CHristians? I"m not saying we're SELLING Christ, but we need to have a similar attitude- we want the world to know Him, so let's minimize the obstacles in the way!
In conclusion, I think evangelicals need to pull up their socks, and learn from the megachurches. Especially since we believe that our message and teaching is Biblical and truthful, then let's get it out there! Or maybe we don't want our churches to grow. Maybe we want to retain our little family churches, and our doctrinal purity. Maybe we're content with our mediocrity. Regardless, what about the Great COmmission? None of us are absolved from it!
Whether it's music, arts, drama, relevant cultural apologetics, Christian surveys, presentation, cell group organizational strucure, and other tools, we need to reconsider Urban Missions and stop stroking our little evangelical conscience with our paltry contributions to missionaries and youth mission trips. We need to stop being pew warmers and become Urban Missionaries.
Missions.
Jesus commanded His disciples to "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20. In commemoration of this final instruction from Him before He ascended into heaven, Evangelicals today call this last word the Great Commission. Evidently, this is not a word of advice, or random teaching. Rather, it is, as the name suggests, a "commission", or a charge, a duty that has been laid out. Furthermore, since it is "great" it merits attention, effort, resources and obedience for it to be attended to. As a result of this, churches all over the world, and CHristians who form those churches all consider Evangelism an important responsibility. It is not optional.
However, as a sociological experiment, I invite you to consider what most churches (especially in Singapore) would describe as their Evangelism ministry. More often than not, it involves 3 things. Money, prayer and youths sent out. By this I mean, they consist of budgets to support certain missionaries, sent out or adopted by the church; prayer devoted to support and encourage and strengthen the ministries of these adopted missionaries, and finally, sending out our young people to 3rd world countries to try and reach the lost. In the last case, more often than not, just think about what happpens in these "mission trips". We send our 13-25 year olds to _____(usually Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China usually) and they teach English, play with kids, paint houses, bring medicine, food, sing songs, put up plays, etc- but it's usually the same set of activities and resources that we're bringing them. Teaching English is the most common one. Of course, the assumption is that when we head for these 3rd world countries, we're talking about a shortage of medicine, food, clothing, and other necessities. When we teach English, we're giving them education, empowering them to pursue employment and perhaps contribute to some other kind of economic solution to their ills. As the proverb goes, "it is better to teach a man to fish than to give a man a fish." These are useful.
But let me ask something. How often have you heard of a missionary going to... Bukit Panjang. Or Orchard Road. It's all nice and dandy to ease our evangelistic conscience by sending missionaries and our young people to foreign countries where English- the language of trade and commerce, as well as food and other necessities are in shortage. But who's going to reach my neighbor? Who's going to take the light of the Gospel and shine it in the hearts of those who are richer than I am, or more privileged, or more educated or more HAPPY? Do we bring these people the gospel because we want them to be affluent and happy and economically well off? OR do we believe that the gospel meets SPIRITUAL needs and all things necessary for joy and meaningful existence? I think that many of our churches today are shortchanging themselves by focussing on these countries. Don't get me wrong. THese ministries are necessary. But we're not working hard enough on reaching our friends, our neighbors or those we consider to be our direct mission field, and I believe that our mindset when it comes to missions is a crippling factor more than anything else.
THe time tested formula of "money, food English and aid" to these impoverished nations has served us well, and is doubtlessly expanding the Kingdom of God. I say Amen and Praise God to that. But let's also think about URBAN MISSIONS. How are we going to reach the people in the cities? When they (sometimes) speak better English than we do, are more intelligent, with more degrees, or more affluent etc, how do we say that Jesus has come to bring you life and life abundant (Jn 10:10)? Do we even have that conviction?
Sadly, (and I know that I might be shooting myself in the foot) I think the evangelical churches fail in this regard. THe churches (and I commend them) for having devised an intelligent and effective way of reaching these cities are the megachurches, whose formulae of street evangelism, using the arts/music/drama, campus ministries, large scale evangelistic events and other means of community penetration have proven deeply powerful. That's why they're MEGA churches.
WHen corporations sell a product, they do incredible amounts of market research. Lately, a BBC show featured a rising industry of market researchers who dig through consumer's trash, study surveillance cameras in supermarkets, ethnovideographers conducting interviews etc just to find out how and why consumers consume. Surveys are done regularly, as are focus groups because the underlying obsession is profit and sales. They want their product to get sold, so they'll do anything to get it packaged the right way, presented the way etc. How about CHristians? I"m not saying we're SELLING Christ, but we need to have a similar attitude- we want the world to know Him, so let's minimize the obstacles in the way!
In conclusion, I think evangelicals need to pull up their socks, and learn from the megachurches. Especially since we believe that our message and teaching is Biblical and truthful, then let's get it out there! Or maybe we don't want our churches to grow. Maybe we want to retain our little family churches, and our doctrinal purity. Maybe we're content with our mediocrity. Regardless, what about the Great COmmission? None of us are absolved from it!
Whether it's music, arts, drama, relevant cultural apologetics, Christian surveys, presentation, cell group organizational strucure, and other tools, we need to reconsider Urban Missions and stop stroking our little evangelical conscience with our paltry contributions to missionaries and youth mission trips. We need to stop being pew warmers and become Urban Missionaries.
posted by leb at 3:16 AM
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