In his Purpose-Driven Church Rick Warren offers the analogy of church life as running the bases on a baseball diamond. Getting to first base is Knowing God and becoming part of a Christian fellowship. Second is learning about and Growing in Christ. Third is Serving God through ministry to others.
Getting to the fourth base (home) is what I am focusing on here. This is Sharing Christ in mission to others. Base-running means Knowing, then Growing, then Serving, and finally scoring the run by Sharing. The purpose of Christian churches is to be in the mission sharing the Gospel in Christ. That purpose puts the rest of church life in perspective. Many theologians argue that any understanding not focused on reaching out to share Christ is inadequate for a biblically based Christian church.
Almost all churches do reasonably well at the first base of Knowing Christ. Mainline churches with classical theology heritage don’t do well on the second base of Growing. That heritage emphasized being faithful more than becoming closer to God through the sanctification of more Christ-like living. Most churches understand the third base of serving others, at least in theory if not much in reality. The fourth, home base may be honored as a symbol but typically generates little energy.
Disputed today is whether a project is a true mission without directly proclaiming the Gospel. Otherwise, it remains a service project. My answer is to be sure the Gospel gets presented somewhere in the process. I have participated in eyeglass clinics in other countries through MOST Ministries. The last stage for all in line is presentation of a simplified Gospel. We have helped Lutheran churches in Haiti build out their campuses through physical labor as well as administering funding. Those congregations have a pastor and do several worship services a week.
Less clear is sending church teams to do house repairs in a county in the foothills of Appalachia. This is clearly service. But it is done under the sponsorship of a Christian welfare service with staff who do share their Gospel motivation. My congregation works with a distinction between service within the congregation, and mission beyond the congregation. We explain and leave behind a special grace and mercy coin that allows a quick three-phrases summary of the Gospel. It is available at hiscoin@gmail.com.
I teach that the purpose for doing mission projects through a church is two-fold. Half is to serve and evangelize those we are reaching out to. The other half is to provide opportunity for church participants to experience mission and get them engaged in other mission efforts. We do an annual Garage Sale that increases mission awareness and generates funds to cover the travel expenses of the next mission trip by participants.
Our mission planning team is evolving a strategy for identifying new mission opportunities. We want to support a mission that is within a short airplane trip so that our people can be involved. This means, for us, the Dominican Republic, Haiti. Again, the purpose is to get our people and their friends out and engaged.
The second base of Growing in Christ and the third base of Serving can in reality be interchanged. Getting people involved in service can be the springboard for Growing in Christ, which otherwise takes special motivation. To serve others comes easily for most Christians. It does not take special skills, and the motivation is not complicated. This makes it a good starting point.
Verbally sharing the Gospel is a daunting challenge for most ordinary church people. Getting to home base is beyond their reach, and so mission stays on the fringes of their church life. The leadership challenge is to make the next step of personal growth in Christ as easy as possible. One way is to surround participants with mission outreach efforts. Feature missionaries beyond the congregation and present opportunities to support them. For congregations in a denominational structure, move beyond supporting their mission in general to sponsoring individual men and women out in the mission field.
I once visited a large Evangelical church that featured a display of about twenty missionaries they were supporting. That message alone conveys a congregation that knows why it exists. It probably also has an exciting church life.
How much emphasis does your church put on getting its people out in mission to others?
Thanks for persisting in an astonishing variety of mission endeavors launched from Cleveland Ohio for over 30 years. They continue to bear fruit far and wide… ” to the ends of the earth.”
Thanks, Jim. Right now with the earthquake in Les Cayes I am thinking of the 19 trips to Lutheran churches in Haiti and all the relationships built up.
Tying the idea of mission to vocation can be very helpful here. While mission trips can be very good for growth, helping our members see those we have opportunities to serve right here helps them to grow as well. When we see our children, their friends, our neighbors and co-workers as people God has given us to serve in the name of Christ, there are many many opportunities to share the Gospel. It is, perhaps, less romantic than traveling (and there is something helpful about the way mission trips focus individuals on serving and witnessing) but it is important to remember that God’s mission is His mission, and He will use us where He has placed us.
Yes, our calling is to be in mission to others. There are many ways to do that. Finding them is a task for leaders. Doing a mission trip to another country, as you and several others from your church did to Leogane, Haiti, can sometimes be more attention getting. Blessings on your efforts to feature other closer-to-home opportunities.
Hello Pastor Luecke.
I think of you often and hope that you, Marsha and your family are well. I’m writing to thank you for writing What Happened to our Churches. This subject has troubled me for quite awhile, along with the disinterest of our youth in worship or ministry. I appreciate your teaching. God bless you. Lynn
Thanks, Lynn. I suspect you are seeing the problem up close with your extended family.
We have been doing P.A.C.K. (Planned Acts of Christian Kindness) every month for over 25 years. This uses simple acts of kindness and a Connect Card to bring the love & message of Jesus to life in the hearts of everyone. PACK is typically performed out in busy public locations where we love on everyone that the Spirit sends our way. It doesn’t take long to witness why we say that. Even though with the FREE PACK program you easily can plan out events a year in advance something will happen that day either prior to or during that will create a perfect “God moment” as we call it. Where a recipient of our kindness that we would least expect, based on their outward appearance & demeanor, will be immediately transformed from smiles to tears and from deep in their well-guarded heart will come a testimony of a serious crisis they are right in the midst of. When these moments happen they are so powerful they cannot be forgotten. There is just no denying of God’s divine presence. This only happens because we are not just out there giving or doing free stuff for people, the Connect Card declares that these gifts are coming from Jesus, not us and not our church. God’s timing is always perfect so we were sent to this specific time & place, as unusual as it may be, to make sure these specific people know that Jesus is there for them. Some it will be there first encounter with the Holy Spirit, some will be the faith boost they needed at that time, for some it will be the touch that makes them commit to action, for some will bring healing, some will feel God thanking them for their unselfish service and many more blessings. PACK allows you to take slow small steps, but has led to some major outreach initiatives in our community, state, country and internationally. Mission trips that include ministry work as well as rebuilding efforts, but in every case the recipients of our efforts receives a Connect Card, in Spanish or English, that gives all the glory to Jesus. When we are working away from home we give thanks to the host church and direct those that we love on to go there to find out more about Jesus. This makes doing the Lord’s work much easier even when their may be a language barrier. The PACK program is totally FREE and at work in 114 countries. Just go to http://www.acts18.org for the free download.
Again, you are doing a great ministry.