Missions on the Frontline
a ministry of WorldVenture
July-August 2009 International Ministry eLetter
…on the front burner…
Surprise
Recently I was talking to a couple of guys, one a believer and the other not yet, on the why of missions in a world of vying belief systems. I’m sure you’ve had similar conversations when people discover you’re a missionary. It struck me again at how a faith-in-God answer can simultaneously sound normal and absurd. To the one, missions are a natural response to one’s faith in Jesus Christ; so many need to hear of God’s love and to understand His invitation into reconciliation. To the other, missions are at best a naïve and at worst an arrogant imposition of someone’s beliefs on someone else. Eventually, there’s a moment of realization in the conversation when the subject matter becomes personal—what do you believe? But, don’t think the question is only for those who are “yet to believe.” What if someone’s faith-in-God answer is different than yours? Would you, could you recognize someone else’s genuine faith in God without all the forms we attach to our faith?
In announcing the Kingdom of God, Jesus called for an all-in response and amazingly, it’s your choice! No coercion, no imposing, no naïveté, no arrogance. This all-in commitment is the new norm in God’s Kingdom. Accompanying this all-in commitment is an all-out effort to expand God’s Kingdom. But what if God’s Kingdom doesn’t look or feel like we think it should? Let’s face it; we are probably much more comfortable with a Westernized version of Christianity and we tend to replicate its forms, our forms, despite our best efforts to facilitate indigenous expressions of faith in God. Further, we tend to measure the Gospel’s progress among peoples like we have experienced it among our people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for churches, and baptisms, and helping the needy, but what if God is at work among “them” in ways that we don’t readily recognize His presence? Could our expectations and forms of Christianity blind us to what God is doing and inadvertently keep us from knowing Him more completely?
As it was true for the 1st century Jewish band of Christ-followers, so it has been true down through the years that God is at work in others in ways that the prevailing group can hardly grasp and understand. And if church history is any indicator, the prevailing group usually doesn’t tolerate well those differences. Consider this statement from Ivan Illich:
“Missiology studies the growth of the Church into new peoples, the birth of the Church beyond its social boundaries; beyond linguistic barriers within which she feels at home; beyond poetical images in which she taught her children. The Church is led to marvel about the ever new images in which her venerable knowledge can become meaningful for the first time…missiology therefore is the study of the Church as surprise.”
What God surprises are happening right now in your context, among the peoples God has asked you to share the Good News of His Kingdom?
--Jeff Denlinger
…good to know…
This past May, Dr. Ralph Winter passed away. In honor of his significant impact in missions, I'm recommending a rather unconventional book of his this month. This work is more like a compilation of various articles, papers, letters, and thoughts of Dr. Winter's over the years. It's a treasure trove of questions, ideas, and thoughts on missions. His contributions to global missions thinking and call to action reflected his all-in commitment to Jesus. He'll be missed!
Frontiers in Mission by Ralph Winter
This is an inductive, autobiographical presentation of the process of finding, recognizing, or discovering problems. It is only secondarily focused on solving them. Its purpose is not only to search for solutions for problems already under consideration, but also to use those problems as a means of gaining expertise in the identification of other obstacles to common and uncommon goals.
WorldVenture | 1501 W. Mineral Ave., Littleton, CO 80120-5612 | 720-283-2000 InternationalMinistry@WorldVenture.com
Recently I was talking to a couple of guys, one a believer and the other not yet, on the why of missions in a world of vying belief systems. I’m sure you’ve had similar conversations when people discover you’re a missionary. It struck me again at how a faith-in-God answer can simultaneously sound normal and absurd. To the one, missions are a natural response to one’s faith in Jesus Christ; so many need to hear of God’s love and to understand His invitation into reconciliation. To the other, missions are at best a naïve and at worst an arrogant imposition of someone’s beliefs on someone else. Eventually, there’s a moment of realization in the conversation when the subject matter becomes personal—what do you believe? But, don’t think the question is only for those who are “yet to believe.” What if someone’s faith-in-God answer is different than yours? Would you, could you recognize someone else’s genuine faith in God without all the forms we attach to our faith?
In announcing the Kingdom of God, Jesus called for an all-in response and amazingly, it’s your choice! No coercion, no imposing, no naïveté, no arrogance. This all-in commitment is the new norm in God’s Kingdom. Accompanying this all-in commitment is an all-out effort to expand God’s Kingdom. But what if God’s Kingdom doesn’t look or feel like we think it should? Let’s face it; we are probably much more comfortable with a Westernized version of Christianity and we tend to replicate its forms, our forms, despite our best efforts to facilitate indigenous expressions of faith in God. Further, we tend to measure the Gospel’s progress among peoples like we have experienced it among our people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for churches, and baptisms, and helping the needy, but what if God is at work among “them” in ways that we don’t readily recognize His presence? Could our expectations and forms of Christianity blind us to what God is doing and inadvertently keep us from knowing Him more completely?
As it was true for the 1st century Jewish band of Christ-followers, so it has been true down through the years that God is at work in others in ways that the prevailing group can hardly grasp and understand. And if church history is any indicator, the prevailing group usually doesn’t tolerate well those differences. Consider this statement from Ivan Illich:
“Missiology studies the growth of the Church into new peoples, the birth of the Church beyond its social boundaries; beyond linguistic barriers within which she feels at home; beyond poetical images in which she taught her children. The Church is led to marvel about the ever new images in which her venerable knowledge can become meaningful for the first time…missiology therefore is the study of the Church as surprise.”
What God surprises are happening right now in your context, among the peoples God has asked you to share the Good News of His Kingdom?
--Jeff Denlinger
…good to know…
This past May, Dr. Ralph Winter passed away. In honor of his significant impact in missions, I'm recommending a rather unconventional book of his this month. This work is more like a compilation of various articles, papers, letters, and thoughts of Dr. Winter's over the years. It's a treasure trove of questions, ideas, and thoughts on missions. His contributions to global missions thinking and call to action reflected his all-in commitment to Jesus. He'll be missed!
Frontiers in Mission by Ralph Winter
This is an inductive, autobiographical presentation of the process of finding, recognizing, or discovering problems. It is only secondarily focused on solving them. Its purpose is not only to search for solutions for problems already under consideration, but also to use those problems as a means of gaining expertise in the identification of other obstacles to common and uncommon goals.
Comment
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Comment by Carol Banowsky on August 18, 2009 at 4:33pm -
Jeff,
I really like your thought provoking articles in "On the front burner"! I am going to look for and be open to those "surprises". Thanks
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Comment by Chris Wynn on August 1, 2009 at 8:07pm -
Jeff, your thoughts are a great contribution. Thank you so much for what I hope are many more of these.
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Comment by Leo Korcha on July 31, 2009 at 7:47am -
I appreciate the synergy of this social networking model combined with the tremendous competence and creativity of the WorldVenture community (I mean to include the multitudes of friends and partners who potentially could join in this network). Personally I've chosen to use an alias to preserve forward mobility and present and future partnerships in the least-reached parts of the world. However I think this online community can be catalytic for our most passionate endeavors. Good work! I also like having a forum where longer, more thoughtful wrestling with issues can take place. Keep it up, for God's glory.
As to the forms of how we express our God-centered living, and the indicators of healthy response to what God is doing in the communities we serve, these are good reminders, Jeff. If we over-emphasize traditional indicators, we make it easy to appear spiritual, when the heart may be far from the Lord's fondest desires. The people we serve know what we'd like to see happening, the answers we would like to hear. Unfortunately great duplicity can coexist with the most articulate defenders of what we proclaim as 'the faith.' These are days that call for discernment. Sometimes the 'unique solution' is much more appropriate than mission-as-usual approaches, and that's where WorldVenture commitments to learning the language and critical identification with the host culture bring strategic advantages.
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Comment by Rodger Schmidt on July 31, 2009 at 12:00am -
Hi Jeff,
As our ministry to Mobilize young Mozambican missionaries to the northern regions of the country we are being forced to rethink how genuine faith manifests itself in a muslim, matriarchal coastal, and much more culturally resistant reality. We are having to re-evaluate and carefully consider what does church, prayer, discipleship and all expressions of faith look like. Could church really mean sitting on a mat with some bread and tea discussing the impact of Jesus' life in the world really be considered church? The question truly is, "How is God manifesting himself in the lives of people and how can we participate? The question you posed regarding our own blindness to what God is doing because of our our western expectations and experience is an important one. I have a dear friend who is an influential man in the Muslim world and has the ear of Muslim leaders internationally. He is clearly dissatisfied with his faith and is looking for something real. However, I really can't expect him to sit in a pew, sing and dance a few african worship songs as he goes to the front and put his coins in the offering. As we look to make an impact in an Africa that is changing ever so quickly we must also take the time to study the question, Are our own definitions of faith and practice actually distracting from God is doing. Thanks for your thoughts! Rodger Schmidt
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