DRIVEN BY ONE QUESTION
There is a madness in missions driven by one ultimate question: “Does it work?” That question will usually be surrounded by lots of biblical language and qualifications. But at the end of the day, the argument made in defense of many methods is nothing more than pragmatism: “It works and you can’t argue with its results.” One man promoting CPM methods told me, “Numbers don’t lie.”
But he’s wrong; numbers lie all the time.
So how do we evaluate different methodologies? Well, this answer is simple enough: all methodologies must be tested as to whether or not they’re faithful to the biblical mandate.
Okay, but what is the biblical mandate?
THE MANDATE: “MAKE DISCIPLES”
Our mandate is most succinctly laid out in Matthew 28: “make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Unfortunately, the seeming simplicity of this mandate—proclaiming the glory of God in the face of Christ, displayed at the cross—is too often overwhelmed by the complexity of our methods. I fear that in our quest for the “silver bullet,” we’ve ceased to be stunned by the glory of Christ which compels us to say, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
This was the heart of Paul as he came to the end of his life. Motivated to a life of suffering by the grace he’d been shown by Christ, Paul reminded Timothy of the necessity of prioritizing preaching the Word and discipling faithful men. “Preach the Word, Timothy. And, since you won’t be around forever, get some faithful men and train them to do the same thing. Preach the Word to the end, even if people don’t want to listen.”
Paul had no need for charts or statistics. Why? Because he had a simple confidence in speaking the Word of reconciliation, resting in the knowledge that whether people receive it or not, whether we’re “effective” or not, Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.
CONCLUSION
Let’s end the madness. Let’s stop overcomplicating the mission.
Behold the glory of Christ and then proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The woman at the well needed mercy to release her to speak. The demoniac needed deliverance to proclaim his Savior. Peter needed grace to compel him to boldness. Paul needed love for the chief of sinners to control him. Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the Word of God. When we know the gospel, we speak the gospel, which over time leads new believers to gather eagerly around the gospel and be transformed by the gospel.
Ultimately, this is how the kingdom grows.
This article originally appeared here.
