Friday the Wall Street Journal featured a column entitled "How the Missionaries Lost their Chariots of Fire." ("Houses of Worship;" July 2, 2010.) Columnist Brad Greenberg documents that even as more Christians are traveling to international locations for the purpose of "missions," evangelism has been quickly demoted to the back of the plane. Comparing the zeal of missionaries a generation ago to the attitudes of the church today, he quotes a seminary dean at a recent missions conference: "[They] thought they were going to take over the world, and now many of our students wonder if they should even try."
American Christians still do mission trips- probably more than ever- but instead of proclaiming the Good news, they now prefer fighting poverty, working against human trafficking, doing things in the interest of "justice" rather than "redemption." But when it comes to choosing between evangelization and social ministry, Greenberg leaves no doubt about his priorities: "The reality is the church should be doing both."
I know that tension that is experienced by so many postmodern missionaries. You arrive on some distant mission field fully determined to teach and preach the Gospel, but you are quickly distracted by the hunger, the hopeless economy, the broken families, the squalid living conditions. And while you're leading a Bible Study, you realize that in a place this desperate, even the money you spend on coffee back home could make a real difference here.
Seeing the elation that spills over the face of a man in Africa when you buy him a cold orange soda, it's easy to fantasize about the change your American dollars and bright ideas could engender in a tragic land. But it's a seduction, not a vision: the biggest change wrought by easy money is the dependency it quickly fosters in the hearts of desperate people who will treat you like a Hollywood star if it seems you might have a few more dollars tomorrow!
Most of us simply aren't smart enough to fight human trafficking, except by giving some money to a reputable ministry that does. And we don't really need to travel to Bangkok to see it happening: we can pray from home and give the money we would have wasted on airfare to that ministry as well.
Our church has carried on a relationship with Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe for seven years. Zimbabwe is one of the three most desperate nations in the world, and conditions seem to worsen every year. So our work there has been multifaceted. We have done AIDS education and women's conferences. We have distributed truck loads of food, and have fitted hundreds of locals with reading glasses. But every trip requires that we work 24/7. Because in addition to showing the love of Jesus, it's our priority to preach it and teach it as well.
We have organized and grown circles of small group Bible Studies. We preach and teach in churches. Our disciples actually launched a brand new church three years ago, and it's still growing and thriving. We teach Bible Studies in a crowded curio market, and see the spiritual atmosphere improve every year.
Brad Greenberg quotes one group that explains their missionaries believe in Christ, "But do NOT want to limit themselves in any way." But frankly, doing social work alone is an extremely limited approach to ministry. We emphasize the Gospel for a better reason- we do NOT want to limit God in any way.
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