Vital Signs In Global Mission!
No one can deny that a fresh wind of God's Spirit is moving around the
world. The heightening optimism in mission circles today for the
completion of The Great Commission is not unfounded. There is now
evidence of the existence of believers in almost every inhabited
political entity in the world. The Church of Jesus Christ has become
truly global both in presence and in mission. Here are five encouraging
vital signs of how the Lord is continuing to build His Church (Matthew
16:18)
Increased Partnership
A growing number of mission agencies concede, "We can't complete The
Great Commission alone". Along with that recognition, there is an
unprecedented willingness to cooperate.
The virus of individualism of the West and from which the Western
Church suffers had also infiltrated the mission agencies. Competition
and criticism among them were rampant in the homeland and overseas.
Today cooperation and trust are replacing competition and criticism and
the big “K” Kingdom-thinking is beginning to emerge. Now, agencies
aren't so much concerned about turf protection as they are in the
sharing of expertise, research, tools and resources. Mission agencies
are even seconding personnel to work under one another’s agency
supervision. All these cooperative efforts are creating a global
synergy in the missionary enterprise that has never been seen before.
Impetus for this spirit of partnership hails back to the International
Congress on Evangelism of 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland. 2,700 church
leaders who gathered from around the world signed the Lausanne Covenant
of World Evangelization which stated the fundamentals of common belief
and called for proactive cooperation in finishing the task of world
evangelization.
The demonstration of cooperation was slow in forthcoming until the
mid-eighties. Since then, there have been marvelous strategic
alliances, and partnerships and even mergers. Bible translation
agencies, evangelism and church planting agencies, global radio
networks, and relief agencies have cooperated to speed up the
fulfillment of the Great Commission.
For the glory of God such cooperation between denominations,
para-church and mission agencies is demonstrating the unity Jesus
prayed for in John 17, while reducing duplication in efforts or wastage
of resources in moving ahead the Kingdom agenda.
Increased Personnel
For decades mission agencies recruited primarily individuals to go
overseas as career missionaries. They wanted individuals who sensed
God's call for a life-long of service and were willing to subject
themselves to adequate theological training and foreign language
studies and then enter a country with a missionary visa. Recruitment
today has a much broader appeal and includes non-career missionaries.
Since the late seventies, thousands are going overseas as
short-termers. They range from young college-age students to senior
citizens who are willing to go cross-culturally and spend from a couple
of weeks to a couple of years. With little or no theological training
and foreign language skills the contribution of short-termers is
limited but valued.
Often young short-termers with a positive experience will return home,
upgrade their theological education and return as career missionaries.
Short-termers who are led to stay home are some of the most powerful
mobilizers of missions locally. Therefore, the personnel offices of
mission agencies are discovering that short-termers are an effective
recruiting tool.
Bi-vocationals or tentmakers are another category of non-career
missionaries who are growing in numbers. The refusal of many countries
to grant visas for career missionaries has boosted the need for
tentmakers. Visas may be denied for reasons varying from an
anti-Christian stance in one country to the protection of employment
opportunities for nationals in another.
Countries referred to as "creative access nations" may only allow entry
for possible Christian ministry with appropriate vocational permits.
Individuals with business, professional and technical expertise are
welcomed. It is estimated that nearly 80 percent of the unreached
people in the world live in such nations. Globalization of the world's
economy has made it possible for Christian entrepreneurs to begin
"Great Commission companies" in several lucrative business arenas which
allow Christians to be self-funded, enhance the host country’s economy
while being a witness of Jesus Christ.
Increased Participation
As late as 1970, the missionary enterprise around the world was
virtually monopolized by men and women with white skin. A missionary
was defined as an individual who was white and came from Europe, North
America, Australia and New Zealand. Praise God ... that definition is
out of date.
Over 150,000 Protestant missionaries have come from churches of Asia,
Africa and Latin America in the last 35 years. These brown, black and
yellow missionaries have joined the Lord's global army of harvesters.
Most of these Two-Thirds World missionaries have been trained in local
theological institutions, often they speak two or more languages (other
than English or French) fluently and they receive their salaries in
cruzeiros, pesos, rand, ringgit, rupees and yen.
This group of Two-Thirds World missionaries is growing several times
faster than the group from the West. A majority of these missionaries
are working under indigenous mission agencies. And these mission
agencies have been born, bred, administered and increasingly supported
primarily by funds from the Two-Thirds World churches.
What is amazing is that the numbers in our missionary ranks worldwide
are increasing with wider participation of the global Church. In the
last four decades, frontier missionaries have come in all colors
including white. Missionaries are coming from everywhere, going
everywhere and trying to reach everyone.
Increased Persecution
Yes, persecution is a vital sign of growth! The persecution of
Christians today is worldwide, massive and is escalating. No single
week goes by without shocking reports coming in from Pakistan, China,
India, Sudan, Egypt, Indonesia and the Middle East. Christians are
experiencing threats, riots, discrimination, violence, loss of property
and possessions, kidnapping, imprisonment, physical and mental torture
and even death. Such atrocities are predicted to increase sharply.
Anyone going into missions must count the cost of possible suffering,
misfortune and even martyrdom.
Human history is replete with examples of many forms of persecution and
suffering of Christians and the Church. No matter how many trials and
tortures, defamations and deaths the Church has gone through it has
always brought in more believers into the Church. God is still proving
true the phrase the historian Tertullian (160-240 A.D.) coined: "The
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
Wherever the Church is being attacked and the uncompromising Christians
experience suffering and shame the unsaved are responding in greater
numbers to the proclamation of the gospel. It is being proven again
that the Church always thrives in the midst of persecution.
Increased Prayer
One has never witnessed so much prayer mobilization occurring at local,
national and global levels. There is such an increase in numbers of
people praying that Dr. Peter Wagner, Coordinator of the United Prayer
Track of the former AD2000 and Beyond Movement exclaimed in the late
nineties, "The prayer movement is simply out of control!" Today, the
numbers who intercede for the lost defy calculation.
The variety and scope of prayer initiatives are unbelievable, e.g.
Concerts of Prayer, Citywide Prayer, Prayer Walks, Prayer Summits for
pastors, 30 Days Muslim Prayer Focus, Prayer for Hindus, National Days
of Prayer, Prayer Journeys, Prayer Alerts, Solemn Assemblies, and
Global Day of Prayer.
A healthy sense of desperation is growing in the Body of Christ
worldwide on NOT relying on human abilities and resources to fulfil the
Great Commission. Instead, relying on God's intervention and witnessing
the release of God's power. Historically, mighty movements of prayer
have always preceded spiritual revival. With such unprecedented
globe-encircling prayer could we not expect the Spirit of God to cause
a global blaze of revival fire?
Conclusion:
Our world has never been more crowded than it is right now. The world
population is nearing 6.5 billion with 1.4 billion in China and 1.3
billion in India alone. The Church has never been better focused and
strategically positioned to proclaim the whole Gospel to the whole
world. It is a great day to be alive and be engaged in God’s mission of
victory and dominion over Satan and evil.
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