Gearing Up For The Mission Field Without Evangelism...

This past semester I had the opportunity to lead the Perspectives course on the world Christian movement. It’s a 15 week class that is packed full of incredible material which simply breeds missionaries and senders for the sake of the gospel. After a bit of reflection from the class and from conversations I’ve had over the past month, I’ve come to a rather severe conviction about the status of our thoughts about the mission of the church. I’ve noticed that my thoughts and those of others have turned into a rather distorted image regarding God’s global mandate to take the gospel to all nations.

The problem is simple but subtle in the way that it manifests itself. The problem lies in a distinction that has been made over time between the mission field and world evangelization. Much of those in my generation are too focused on the mission field and not focused at all on evangelism. The two shouldn’t be separate. We are either raising support to go overseas or raising support to send others, and while doing this our vision is blurred and we neglect to share the gospel with those around us. We are in a constant mode of planning, but in reality we are running from the truth of the gospel.

I may be wrong but I think this is a fairly recent development that serves as just another self-limiting factor from presenting the gospel to others. I know we may not consciously do this but we might be saying to ourselves, ‘I’m preparing to go on the mission field; therefore I can add that prep-time to the evangelism quota for the day…’ Folks, it doesn’t work like that. Evangelism is the mission field. The two should not be separate. Our soul’s longing shouldn’t be an image of a distant land where possible hardship and frustration awaits. We should long for others to come to know the surpassing glory of God through Christ who was sacrificed on the cross for their sin and ours. Let us not gain excitement from adventure and a romanticized lifestyle. Let us gain our fuel and power from seeing others weep because of the redemption that they’ve been given through Christ.

To prove my point a little further I’ll give you some personal thoughts from three of my favorite missionaries of years past…

While preparing to serve in China Hudson Taylor writes to his mother:
“Oh, Mother, I cannot tell you, I cannot describe how I long to be a missionary; to carry the Glad Tidings to poor, perishing sinners; to spend and be spent for Him who died for me!...Think, Mother, of twelve millions-a number so great that it is impossible to realize it – yes, twelve million souls in China, every year, passing without God and without hope into eternity…Oh, let us look with compassion on this multitude! God has been merciful to us; let us be like Him…”

Or consider Jim Elliot, writing to his parents on the way to Ecuador:
“…those loves which we regard as closest, He told us must become as hate in comparison with our desires to uphold His cause. Grieve not, then, if your sons seem to desert you, but rejoice, rather, seeing the will of God done gladly. Remember how the Psalmist described children? He said that they were as an heritage from the Lord, and that every man should be happy who had his quiver full of them. And what is a quiver full of but arrows? And what are arrows for but to shoot? So, with the strong arms of prayer, draw the bowstring back and let the arrows fly – all of them, straight at the Enemy’s hosts.
‘Give of thy sons to bear the message glorious,
Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way,
Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious,
And all thou spendest Jesus will repay.’”

Lastly, consider the depth of C.T. Studd’s words as he traveled throughout China, India, and Central Africa:
“And do you think that I can consent to turn a deaf ear to the cries of these people clamouring for the Gospel and craving for teachers? If I cant’ send them teachers because there are no teachers to send, yet at least I can stop one yawning gap myself. If I am not so efficient as youngsters, yet at least I may be more efficient than an absentee, a nobody. And if others have failed to hear and respond to these awful pleadings of sinful men going to hell, yet desiring to know the way to heaven, at least my presence can assure them that there are still some who to save them will count life and all they hold dear as of no account in comparison.”