E C Does God Have a Purpose for Our Suff ering?

RICK WOOD, EDITOR, MISSION FRONTIERS

uff ering: it’s awful. We hate it. of His kingdom. God has ordained when we encounter suff ering. He wants We run from it like a gazelle that it is through much pain and us to give up on serving God and distrust fl eeing from a hungry lion. We suff ering that God’s kingdom would be God in the midst of our darkest hours. Swill do almost anything to avoid it. But established and advanced among all the Job’s wife urged him to “curse God and suff ering is an inescapable part of living peoples of the earth. die.” Satan is defeated when we humbly in this world. God does not spare even trust God with our lives and resolutely " e real question is whether we will His most faithful servants from it. determine that we will proclaim His glory accept the assignment or resist it in a no matter what suff ering or persecution Since the original sin of Adam, this futile eff ort to avoid suff ering. What is He allows into our lives. world has lived under a curse, a curse most important to us—saving our own of suff ering and death that will remain lives, or being faithful and obedient In return for his cooperation, Josef Tson until Jesus Christ is revealed as the King to God’s call to spread His glory in was promised safety and freedom. He of Kings. Our bodies grow old and suff er all the earth? " e future of world was faced with the choice to remain numerous painful ailments. Exercising evangelization will depend on how faithful to Christ or to do what his their God-given free will, sinful human each of us answers that question. captors wanted and avoid suff ering. What was his highest priority: saving HE IS OUR PRINCE, THOUGHT CHRISTIAN, AND HE DID NOT MIND his own life or glorifying God? THE PAIN. I MUST NOT, EITHER, BECAUSE I AM THE KING’S SERVANT, Pastor Tson responded to the promise AND IT IS WRITTEN IN MY BOOK THAT THE KING’S SERVANTS ARE of safety and freedom: “What you o! er me is spiritual suicide. I TO BE LIKE THE PRINCE. would much rather accept a physical death. –From Little Pilgrim’s Progress, by Helen Taylor, p. 106 To tell you the truth, I don’t see any reason to save my own life. Go on, shoot me.” Tson reports, “I cannot fully describe that man’s beings continue to infl ict devastating What is the Highest Priority fury at that moment. He suddenly realized pain on one another. And the blood of of Our Lives? that the whole plan to break me had failed.” the martyrs has often been the seed of " e life of Josef Tson, a Romanian “Why did I say I did not need to save my life? the church. In the midst of it all, many pastor, illustrates the choices we all face Here is why. During an earlier interrogation are tempted to shake their fi st at God when suff ering or persecution comes to at Ploiesti I had told another o" cer who and say, “Why me?”, as if something us. Beginning in October 1974, Pastor threatened to kill me, ‘Sir, let me explain how strange were happening to them or as if Tson was interrogated for six months, I see this issue. Your supreme weapon is killing. they expect to somehow be exempt from up to 10 hours a day, fi ve days a week, My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it the painful trials of this world. simply because of his faithfulness in works. You know that my sermons on tape We should expect suff ering in this proclaiming the gospel. " e goal of his have spread all over the country. If you kill me, life—Jesus promised it to us. We cannot interrogators was to “break” him, to those sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. expect God to spare us from all suff ering make him their slave. " ey wanted him Everyone will know I died for my preaching. when He did not spare His only Son to abandon his faith and become their And everyone who has a tape will pick it up from suff ering. But does God have an ally in destroying others who would and say, I’d better listen again to what this man ongoing purpose for our suff ering? dare to proclaim the gospel. preached, because he really meant it: he sealed it with his life. So, sir, my sermons will speak 10 One interrogator said to him, “You’re As Bob Sjogren points out in his times louder than before. I will actually rejoice going to be shot, but fi rst I want you article (pages 14-15), Jesus came on a in this supreme victory if you kill me.’” mission to suff er and die for the glory tortured so you will curse all that you 1 of God, and God has appointed us to hold sacred and holy.” " at is exactly In Josef Tson’s life he had learned to go and do likewise in the advancement what Satan would like each of us to do value Christ and his glory above his

4 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 own life, safety and freedom. For the things of this world, and this has to the degree that is required for God him the advance of the gospel was infected our churches. But when we to receive the glory He deserves. the highest priority, not saving his come to faith in Christ, we receive a No sane person seeks out suff ering. But own life. He knew that this life is not new master who has called us to be on we embrace suff ering when it comes, all there is and that a great reward mission with Him, and faithfulness to trusting in God’s sovereignty and is awaiting him for his faithfulness. that mission will involve suff ering. provision, in order to advance God’s ! e only way he could lose was by Jim Elliot so aptly said before earning a kingdom and His glory. We suff er abandoning his trust in Christ. martyr’s crown, “He is no fool who gives hardship in order to meet the needs of If we are to bring the gospel to every up what he cannot keep to gain what hurting people around the world so they tribe and tongue, we must value he cannot lose.” Like Elliot and his four can see a glorious God who loves them Christ and His kingdom above our companions who died with him in their and is worthy of their worship. We suff er own lives. Christ is worthy of all attempt to reach the Waorani people of willingly so that the whole world can see we have and all we are. We must Ecuador, we must be willing to embrace the all-surpassing value of Christ and choose to trust His sovereignty and suff ering and death, especially when His kingdom. Why should the peoples His purposes when suff ering does these come by way of our faithfulness to of the world believe anything we say if come. We must not shy away from the mission Christ has given to us. ! e we are not willing to suff er for Christ? proclaiming the gospel in order to only way to glorify God with our lives Why should we expect the peoples of protect ourselves, but rather boldly go is to trust Him with our suff ering, even the world to live for Christ if we are not to every unreached people. when it makes no sense and seems to willing to die for Him? Let us resolve to serve no purpose. respond to suff ering in our own lives and It is hard, especially for Americans, in the lives of others in such a way that to learn to die to self and the It‘s All About the Glory of God God receives the glory and His kingdom pleasures of this world. ! e Western, ! e purpose of all of life is to glorify is established in all the earth. f consumer-driven culture is designed God and to make His glory known to 1 The quotes from Josef Tson are excerpted from the around satisfying our every desire and every tribe and tongue. ! is is all part article, Thank You for the Beating by Josef Tson, avoiding suff ering. ! is is probably of God’s grand design for history—to which appeared in the Fall 2009 publication of To why some in the West have developed raise up worshippers to Himself from Every Tribe, available at www.toeverytribe.com. Josef a “health, wealth and prosperity” every tribe and tongue. As John Piper Tson has also written the book Su! ering, Martyrdom theology but not a theology of says, “Missions exists because worship and Rewards in Heaven. suff ering. We are taught to live for does not,” at least not within all peoples

Call to SAVE learn $40! how Operation WorldView: Missions curriculum based on the Perspectives course for small groups “Operation WorldView is an excellent and enjoyable summary of the main points found in the Perspectives course” —Dave Flynn, National Director, Perspectives Study Program, USCWM You’ll feel the excitement of missions through classic videos and film clips from “Ee-Taow!,” “Abraham,” “The Harvest” and “Transformations” You’ll find it easy to introduce the basics of world missions — eight lessons designed for one-hour classes using a turn-key DVD curriculum — “In over 30 years of missions involvement ideal for small groups and Sunday School classes I have never seen a more e!ective tool for mobilizing a congregation to become You’ll see the Participant Study Guide has a just-right blend of… listening guide, involved in The Story above all stories. discussion starters, compelling Bible studies, and the article, “The Story of His Glory” In fact, I am in the process of teaching Operation Worldview to all our Sunday You’ll be thrilled to see friends discovering big truths about God and the joy of being School classes, from the teens through the involved in His mission — through powerful, clear teaching and interactive learning adults…about God’s global purpose that is so powerfully presented in this course.” Operation WorldView is taught by Bob Schindler and Werner Mischke Operation WorldView, Perspectives Family Edition: $269 – Glenn R. Felty, Pastor of Missions, Cedar Crest Bible Fellowship Church, Order online: www.mission1.org Allentown, PA Call toll-free: 866-346-1354 FREE SHIPPING for orders within continental United States MISSION ONE • PO BOX 5960 • SCOTTSDALE, AZ 85261 • 480-951-0900 www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 5 Recapturing the Role of SUFFERING

NIK RIPKEN

" e following is excerpted from chapter 24 of From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues among Muslims (William Carey Library, 2008). To order copies, see page 2 of this issue of Mission Frontiers.

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, swollen rivers, across deserts and over mountains. it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it brings forth " ese messengers of God were courageous carriers much fruit.” John 12:24 of the Word, calloused of feet and hand, seasoned mentally and spiritually. " ese priests knew the he testimony of believers WWord, and they lived the Word. living in the midst of And they rightly understood persecution challenges that a life lived in the presence Tthe church in the West, and its of God would be framed by emissaries, to recapture a biblical suff ering and persecution. In missiology—a missiology that fact, for these ancient heroes of is mature enough to embrace the faith, that is what it meant to suff ering, persecution, and even share in the Kingdom of God. martyrdom. Believers in settings of persecution, through numerouss Can the same be said of us? We interviews, suggest that the churchch are the modern carriers of this in the West has lost its missiologicalcal same Word. Do we understand edge and that it has grown soft inn the central place of suff ering the face of overt persecution. and persecution in the faith we claim? Or, in light of the " e story told by persecuted freedom that has shaped us, believers calls to mind God’s have we written those troubling people of old. " e priests of the Oldld truths out of the story? Are Testament could rightly interpret thethe suff ering and persecution Ten Commandments and parse thehe essential parts of the story—or grammatical nuances of the law code.ode. But the are they relics from another work of the priests was much broaderder and richerricher timeti and place? Modern Western than merely that. " ese ancient carriers of God’s believers may revolt at the thought—but unless we Word could also place these commandments upon fi nd our identity as God’s people in the midst of their shoulders and carry them into battle, through suff ering and persecution, we will sadly discover that we have no identity. Nik Ripken is a mission veteran of 25 years with the In the former Soviet Union, believers understood International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist that their heritage was one of suff ering and Convention. He and his wife serve as Strategy Associates persecution. To this day, believers growing out of in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

6 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 RESCUING BROTHERS AND SISTERS FROM PERSECUTION AND PLANTING CHURCHES MAY NOT BE COMPATIBLE.

that heritage claim that persecution is “normal,” example of a genealogy of faith—one that both that it is as normal as the “sun coming up in the asks and answers this crucial question: “Do you east.” For decades, believers in the former U.S.S.R. want to know how to live and die in Christ? ! en and in neighboring China have lived victoriously watch our lives as we live them out in your midst.” in the midst of persecution. ! ey have done this by Such was the admonition of the apostle Paul to incarnating a genealogy of faith that models from believers in the early church. And God’s people on one generation to the next how a follower of Christ mission, even today, will fi nd the courage to say lives and how a follower of Christ dies. When the very same thing. these believers are asked, “Where did you learn Of course, making such a claim is both diffi cult to live like this? Where did you learn to die like and humbling. Entering into suff ering is this?” they answer, “I learned this from my mother unspeakably painful. But even more terrifying and my father. I learned this from my grandfather is watching “our Joseph” begin to experience his and grandmother.” ! ough enduring and excelling or her own persecution. ! at’s where most of us in the midst of persecution is never easy, these want to draw the line. How exactly do we react modern-day giants of the faith teach us through today when “our Joseph” is thrown into Pharaoh’s their fl esh and souls that following Jesus involves a prison unjustly? What do we do when our beloved cross as well as a crown. “Joseph” begins to suff er for the faith? Emails fl y as ! is is a seminal issue for fi rst-generation we demand the immediate release of “our Joseph” believers who are emerging into faith from within who has been wrongly accused and imprisoned. Islam. Who is able to teach these new [Muslim- We petition governments to intercede, and we background believers, or MBBs] how to live in bring political and military might to bear on the Christ? Who will teach these new MBBs how to situation. We threaten the persecutors. We call die in Christ? ! ese are especially critical questions the church to pray that the persecution might in light of the fact that it is often their biological end. Many Western-based and well-meaning parents and grandparents who lead in their organizations have developed a protocol for persecution. It is often immediate family members responding to events of persecution, often adopting who beat the new MBBs, place them under house a four-fold agenda that aims to: arrest, disinherit them, and then arrange marriages 1. Stop the persecution; for their believing daughters to Muslim men thirty 2. Punish the persecutors; years their senior. It is often immediate family 3. Promote Western forms of government and democracy; and members who turn the new believers over to the 4. Raise funds that will aid in the rescuing of believers from religious authorities. Who will teach these new persecution. believers how to live in Christ—and, perhaps, even to die in him? Much to our amazement, a truly biblical vision would likely respond in a diff erent way. How ! is will never happen without a genealogy of might we develop a spiritual, emotional and faith. But a genealogy of faith will likely not be physical toughness that, when Pharaoh throws “our found in the immediate family. If it is to be found Joseph” into prison unjustly, we allow him or her to at all, it will originate from the very people who have stay in jail? Where does such strength and spiritual shared with these new believers the Gospel story. ! is insight come? And, then, do we dare consider precious responsibility falls on the shoulders of this thought: to rescue Joseph prematurely from witnesses from outside the culture. ! ey will be prison, before he has the opportunity to interpret the ones to model for MBBs a genealogy of faith. Pharaoh’s dream, would lead to the starvation ! is genealogy of faith will include at least and destruction of both Egypt and Israel, the two elements. First, the witnesses will model a destruction of both persecutor and persecuted. genealogy of faith that is grounded in the story How do we know when it is within God’s will for of God’s people through the ages. ! ey will build Joseph to remain in jail for a season? For most of for these new believers, in literate and oral forms, us, the answer is easy. We can allow that as long a biblical genealogy of faith that spans no less as it is someone else’s Joseph. But when it is “our than the sixty-six books of the Bible, Genesis to Joseph” undergoing persecution, there erupts an Revelation. Second, they will incarnate a living overwhelming desire to rescue this dear brother or www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 7 sister from the prisons and crosses that necessarily safety, preferably in the West. ! erefore, church- accompany faith in the Messiah. planting is compromised. In fact, if this pattern … A biblical vision reminds us that believers is followed, the planting of a church will likely should not fear the persecution that is inherent in never happen…. following Christ, engaging in compulsive fl eeing. Believers living in settings of persecution But, at the same time, believers should not seek off er another insightful piece of counsel. out persecution when God has determined that Missionaries most often, they point out, face believers are allowed to live in a season of grace. persecution as a result of discipling, baptizing, We can learn much from the response of MBBs and gathering MBBs together within the to this telling question: “What do you learn missionaries’ living environment. ! e regular from Western witnesses?” ! e initial answers meeting of MBBs in their homes, or singling are affi rming and kind. MBBs express gratitude out MBBs and worshipping with them in their for the Gospel that witnesses have sacrifi cially location, frequently leads to persecution. And, carried to them. ! ey marvel at the selfl essness of tragically, this is persecution for reasons other witnesses as they meet human needs at great cost, than for who Jesus is. Persecution that results both fi nancially and personally. MBBs are typically from a personal relationship with a Western in awe that Western missionary families have given missionary—or persecution that grows out of up living in the rich West for the sake of the poor employment, education or worship—is diff erent and lost among the from persecution for who Jesus is. MBBs suggest, MODELING FEAR IN THE nations. MBBs have creatively, that missionaries were called by God to expend their lives among those who remain FACE OF SUFFERING many kind things to say about Western workers. in lostness. MBBs suggest, conversely, that most IS A MISSIOLOGICAL But, eventually, other missionaries get into trouble, not because they are leading lost people to Jesus, but because they are ERROR. SADLY, IT IS MORE answers are off ered. When confi dences are spending the bulk of their time among those already THAN THAT. IT IS, QUITE won, and candidness added to the Kingdom of God…. SIMPLY, SIN. appears, MBBs often MBBs ask us to consider taking most of our risks share insights that are among those who are still lost rather than taking more diffi cult to hear most of our risks among those already saved. and accept. “What do we learn from missionaries?” ! ey often repeat back to us, “Missionaries teach us Learning from the Persecutors to be afraid.” … Believers living in the midst of persecution What are Western missionaries afraid of? suggest that, when they are rejected by their According to these gracious MBBs, they fear families, thrown into prison, beaten, and killed that their platform might be compromised, that for their faith, then that is precisely the time for they might be kicked out of a country, that they the global Church to rejoice and give God praise. might lose their work permit or visa. ! ey fear Why would they make such an insane suggestion? that their children might have to move with It is these overt acts of persecution that reveal them to another country, that they might be the persecutors’ abject failure to silence witness, uprooted from their schools and friends. ! ey diminish faith, or slow Pentecost from arriving dread the thought of having to learn another once more in the midst of a resistant culture. language. Most of all, they fear that the fruit Overt persecution is a sign of the failure of the of their ministry will be targeted: that new persecutors. Failure to keep believers quiet leads believers might be persecuted, fi red from their to overt persecution—so overt persecution is an jobs, divorced from their families, and beaten. indication that believers have refused to be quiet! ! ey fear most that “our Joseph” will go to jail Overt persecution authenticates the faith within or, worse, be martyred because of the faith that resistant cultures. Overt persecution gives faith has been born because of their witness. Satan value in the eyes of those who watch believers and plays on this fear as they are accused by the marvel at their willingness to suff er and die in secular media or even other mission partners of Jesus’ name. “getting this person harmed or killed.” ! is fear What that means is that a radically diff erent tends to make them timid in their witness. When understanding of persecution, suff ering, and faith does break out, often they will extract martyrdom must be considered. In this light, “their believer” to another country of perceived countries such as Saudi Arabia and Somalia can be

8 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 MBBS ASK US TO CONSIDER TAKING MOST OF OUR RISKS AMONG THOSE WHO ARE STILL LOST RATHER THAN TAKING MOST OF OUR RISKS AMONG THOSE ALREADY SAVED.

listed at the very pinnacle of those who persecute and experience Pentecost before being visited by severe the faith and the faithful because, at their core, persecution. they seek to deny people access to the eternal life • Lose your fear and claim your freedom to be a culturally wise that is found only in Jesus. ! e implication for the and bold witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Losing Western church and her cross-cultural witnesses fear and claiming freedom have little to do with political is huge. Every day, every follower of Jesus decides environment. Followers of Christ are as free to share their faith whether to side with the persecutors or the in Afghanistan as they are in the United States or Europe. The persecuted. Believers side with the persecutors issue is not whether we are free to share; the issue is whether when they withhold their witness—and they side we are willing to su! er the consequences of expressing our with the persecuted when they are open in sharing faith. We are all free—but not all of us are willing to bear the their faith. consequences of a free and bold witness. • Be tough—emotionally, spiritually and physically—for you If persecution is defi ned by beatings, will be the cause of an increasing amount of persecution imprisonments, and martyrs alone, then the as thousands of lost people hear and believe your witness. Western church is correct to pray “for” the Persecution and response to the Gospel are the two sides of the persecuted. Persecution is about “those poor people same coin. Understand that bold witness will necessarily result and the terrible things happening to them.” But if in persecution—not because you are unwise in your practices, persecution is defi ned in terms of denying others but simply because Satan detests faith and desires that no one access to Jesus, then perhaps praying “with” the become a child of God. persecuted will have a more intimate feel as we side • Do not run from persecution—and do not seek it. with persecuted brothers and sisters by choosing to • Decide not to extract a believer. Decide not to rescue others give our witness boldly. from sharing in the su! erings of Christ. What, Then, Are We to Do? • And never regret that others joyously received your witness, even if the cost of their faith carries the high cost of What might a truly biblical missiology look like? persecution. Remember that the resurrection came through What might we choose to learn—and unlearn—in cruci" xion. light of this worldwide witness? And how might • Never lessen the price paid by believers in persecution. No we live in response? matter how the persecution event is publicized, no matter We begin with this startling word: the number what victory might be won, no matter the glorious " nale— one cause of persecution is people giving their lives persecution is not fun, and it is not to be sought. It is blood, to Jesus. We can reduce persecution, most easily, sweat, and tears. It is physical and psychological abuse. It is by reducing the number of those who come to isolation and years of separation. It is growing up as a child salvation! Most Christians in the West have been with a father in prison. It is raising children without a mate, taught to pray for persecution to end, to pray that ostracized from the community. Never slight the price paid by suff ering would cease, and to pray that martyrs believers in persecution and never become casual about the would be only an historical reference. ! e only cost. Honor the su! ering of brothers and sisters in Christ by possible way for those things to happen is to stop telling the truth about the price they have paid. people from accepting Jesus. ! e major cause of • Determine to live out your genealogy of faith, modeling for " rst persecution is people giving their lives to Christ generation, emerging believers, how a follower of Christ lives

and, then, refusing to deny others access to the and dies. Have the courage to say, “Watch my life as it is lived very same Savior. Salvation and witness inevitably out in your midst.” And then live a life that is worthy of being result in persecution for Christian believers. copied. • Through it all, become a risk-taker among lost people so Persecution, quite simply, is normal for Christians. that they—every tongue and every tribe—might have Both the witness of Scripture and the testimony opportunity to hear, understand, believe and be gathered in of history bear this out. How, then, are Western the Body of Christ. missionaries to react? Consider these simple words of counsel: f • Accept the hard truth that persecution is normal and prepare Never forget that Jesus is worth it. yourself and others for that reality. • Become culturally astute. Strive to create a safe place and space of time for lost people to hear, understand, believe

www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 9 JesusRT isHY: WO A Case Study from Mongolia

BRIAN HOGAN

! e following is excerpted, with permission, from ! ere’s a Sheep in My Bathtub: Birth of a Mongolian Church Planting Movement, by Brian Hogan (Asteroidea Books, 2008). Learn more at www.AsteroideaBooks.com

The Letter facts which provide a sort of cold comfort. Our living in Mongolia he sun defi ed all my expectations and came had nothing to do with this. The highest prevalence of S.I.D.S. up that Christmas morning. is in New Zealand, a Western country. It usually strikes healthy Just 24 hours earlier we had awakened boys, under six months, during the winter. Jed had a full checkup Tto a horror that Christmas Eve and by an American doctor just a week before he Christmas Day never broke. I got died. He was perfectly healthy. out of bed and went straight to the Yesterday was the longest day of our lives. desk, knowing somehow I had to Louise woke and noticed it was six a.m. communicate what was happening and Jed hadn’t awakened her all night. She to friends and family back home. knew. Her scream woke me to a nightmare Christmas Day, 1994 I have yet to awaken from. I ran to where he Erdenet, Mongolia was sleeping and picked up my only son. Jed was not there. I prayed for God to raise him Dear Family, from the dead. He didn’t. Louise and I wept Today is Christmas Day. Yesterday our son died.d. in shock and disbelief. The girls woke when This letter will be tough to write. I usually enjoyoy Louise had screamed, but had obeyed my writing to you and the words ! ow easily. Therere command to stay in bed. They were calling to are no words for this. Yesterday morning Louisese " nd out what was wrong. I had to go in and woke to " nd a perfect baby boy lying dead in hihiss hold them and tell them their little brother bed. Jedidiah was 52 days old. was dead. I won’t even try to describe this. I wish you could have known my son. I wish youou couldcould Louise went to get Magnus and Maria. They have held him and seen how beautiful his hands,nds, eyelashes, lips, got up and came immediately. Praise God for everything was. He learned to smile in his lasttweekHehada week. He had a our team. There is no way we could have walked smile more gorgeous than a sunrise. Jed used to stare so intently through this without them. Magnus and I labored over Jed’s body at our faces-- just as if he was memorizing every detail. again in anguished prayer. I knew (and know) God could return I don’t understand this “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.” I know life to Jed, but I began to realize the answer this time was this whoever named it never lost a baby to it. The name should re! ect body was no longer a vessel for Jedidiah’s life…. that something in the parent suddenly dies. I have heard a few We deeply love you and appreciate you, Brian, Louise, Melody, Molly, and Alice Hogan Brian Hogan serves with Church Planting Coaches, a global ministry of Youth With A Mission. He also serves YWAM on the Frontier Mission Leadership Team.

10 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 GOD HAD REDEEMED EVEN OUR DEEPEST SORROW AND TURNED IT INTO GLORY AND WORSHIPERS. AS TEARS RAN DOWN MY CHEEKS, ALL I COULD THINK WAS “JESUS IS WORTHY.”

Grieving with Hope On ! anksgiving Day, 1997, Baika and I were “Could you please explain that for me, Baika?” staring out over the endless Pacifi c Ocean when “Brian, you can’t really understand what it is like he calmly declared, “Your grief over the death of for Mongolians. In your country everyone seems your son was the most miraculous thing I have ever to believe in life after death. But in Mongolia experienced.” no one has any hope for this at all. When loved Baika Puntsag, today pastor of Denver’s Amazing ones die, they are gone forever! You will never Grace Church, America’s fi rst Mongolian meet or see them again. Mothers in my country Christian church, had come to spend the sometimes lose their minds when they lose a ! anksgiving holiday with us [in California] in a child. But you were diff erent. You were the fi rst very strange way… people we had ever seen, or even heard about, “I think you must be wondering why I wanted to who grieved with hope. It came across in what be with you.” ! e twinkle in his eye might have you said about going to where your son is, even if been the afternoon sun glancing off the breakers. he wasn’t returning to you here, in the song you taught during the funeral meal at your fl at, and “I didn’t want to ask, but yeah, I’m curious. Why us?” the statement of faith you made at Jed’s memorial “Even though we never actually met in Mongolia, service. You were being watched, then and over I know your family.... I was saved in the early days the months that followed. Seeing you and your of the coming of Christ to Mongolia…. My friend family grieve with hope fi lled the gaping hole that shared about the horrible shock of the news of Jed’s has always been in every Mongolian heart. When death that came during the Christmas party. She I heard about your grief, I knew it was all real. also told us about the gathering at your home after ! e Bible, Jesus, heaven, all of it. ! at’s why we the burial and the memorial service. As she told us were weeping that New Year’s Eve; we had just what you had shared and how you and Louise had had our faith confi rmed.... responded to this tragedy, we began to weep. My “I have continued to follow Jesus, and I have come own hard heart melted as I cried.” to America to get an education in journalism so “! at means a lot to me. We all cried a lot that that I can start a Christian newspaper and radio Christmas,” I assured Baika. station in Mongolia.” “! at is not why we were crying though. We were I was fi lled with extreme joy and overwhelmed crying at our understanding through your grief.” with love as I realized how far out of His way God had gone to make sure we understood. It was all I was completely confused, “What... ?” worth it. God had redeemed even our deepest “Your grief over the death of your son was the most sorrow and turned it into glory and worshipers. As miraculous thing I have ever experienced,” Baika tears ran down my cheeks, all I could think was explained. “Jesus is worthy.” As he said this, the memory of several of the ! is thought was carved onto Jed’s headstone the believers in Erdenet saying something very similar, next time I visited Erdenet. when we were saying our goodbyes a year and Since that day other Mongolians have shared a half earlier, came rushing back to me. I had variations on Baika’s story, both old friends and quickly forgotten their statements about our grief strangers, in Mongolia and in the USA. I will being a miracle because it made no sense to me. I never understand like they do, but it is clear that had felt that my grief, which I couldn’t hide, was a something happened in the hearts of the Mongolian bad advertisement for the Kingdom. I had begged believers as they watched and heard about our God to allow us to grieve in private in the States grief. At the very point where we felt weakest and with family, and had been completely puzzled doubted God’s plan the most, the Father was doing f when He had made it clear to both of us that we His biggest miracle through us! were to stay in Erdenet during the worst months of mourning. I began to get a strange buzzing sensation as if I were about to open a door into a room fi lled with mystery. www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 11 Filling Up the FFLICTIONS A of Christ

JOHN PIPER

" e following is excerpted, by permission, from the Introduction to Filling Up the Affl ictions of Christ: " e Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton (Crossway Books: Wheaton, Illinois, 2009). A PDF of the entire book may be downloaded at http://www.desiringgod. org/ResourceLibrary/onlineBooks/ByTitle/4111_Filling_Up_the_Affl ictions_of_Christ/

God’s Painful Path to Reach All Peoples " is is both frightening and encouraging. It ore and more I am persuaded from frightens us because we know that we may very Scripture and from the history of mis- likely be called to suff er in some way in order to sions that God’s designn get thet breakthrough we long to see in a for the evangelization of the hard frontline missions situation. But M it also encourages us because we can world and the consummation of his purposes includes the suff er- know that our suff ering is not in vain ing of his ministers and mission- and that the very pain that tends to aries. To put it more plainly and dishearten us is the path to triumph, specifi cally, God designs that the even when we can’t see it. Many suff ering of his ambassadors is have gone before us on the Calvary one essential means in the trium- Road of suff ering and proved by their phant spread of the Good News perseverance that fruit follows the death among all the peoples of the world.d. of humble seeds. I am saying more than the obvi- Jesus came into the world to suff er ous fact that suff ering is a result off and die for the salvation of a countless faithful obedience in spreading thehe number of believers from all the peoples gospel. " at is true. Jesus said suff er- of the world. “" e Son of Man came not ing will result from this faithfulness.ess. to be served but to serve, and to give his “You will be hated by all for my name’sname’s life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). sake” (Luke 21:17). “If they persecutedcuted me,me, ththeyey “By your blood you ransomed people for will also persecute you” (John 15:20). I am saying God from every tribe and language and that this suff ering is part of God’s strategy for mak- people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). ing known to the world who Christ is, how he loves, Suff ering and death in the place of sinners was the and how much he is worth. way that Christ accomplished salvation. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “He was wounded Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. John is the author of for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). We preach that. It is the more than 30 books. Much of his preaching and teaching is heart of the gospel. available free at desiringGod.org.

12 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 WHEN WE SUFFER WITH HIM IN THE CAUSE OF MISSIONS,WE DISPLAY THE WAY CHRIST LOVED THE WORLD AND IN OUR OWN SUFFERINGS EXTEND HIS TO THE WORLD.

But this voluntary suff ering and death to save In his suff erings Paul is “fi lling up what is lacking in others is not only the content but it is also the Christ’s affl ictions for . . . the church.” What does method of our mission. We proclaim the Good that mean? It means that Paul’s suff erings fi ll up News of what he accomplished, and we join him Christ’s affl ictions not by adding anything to their in the Calvary method. We embrace his suff erings worth, but by extending them to the people they for us, and we spread the gospel by our suff ering were meant to save. with him. As Joseph Tson puts it in his own case: What is lacking in the affl ictions of Christ is not “I am an extension of Jesus Christ. When I was that they are defi cient in worth, as though they beaten in Romania, He suff ered in my body. It is could not suffi ciently cover the sins of all who not my suff ering: I only had the honor to share 1 believe. What is lacking is that the infi nite value of His suff erings.” Pastor Tson goes on to say that Christ’s affl ictions is not known and trusted in the Christ’s suff ering is for propitiation; our suff ering is world. " ese affl ictions and what they mean are still for propagation. In other words, when we suff er with hidden to most peoples. And God’s intention is that him in the cause of missions, we display the way the mystery be revealed to all the nations. So the Christ loved the world and in our own suff erings affl ictions of Christ are “lacking” in the sense that extend his to the world. " is is what it means to fi ll they are not seen and known and loved among the up the affl ictions of Christ (Colossians 1:24)…. nations. " ey must be carried by missionaries. And Filling Up the A! ictions of Christ2 those missionaries “complete” what is lacking in the affl ictions of Christ by extending them to others.... We would be warranted at this point to be concerned that this way of talking might connect May the Lord of the Nations our suff ering and Christ’s suff ering too closely—as Give Us His Passion though we were fellow redeemers. " ere is only one Redeemer. Only one death atones for sin—Christ’s When Paul shares in Christ’s suff erings with joy death. Only one act of voluntary suff ering takes and love, he delivers, as it were, those very suff erings away sin. Jesus did this “once for all when he off ered to the ones for whom Christ died. Paul’s missionary up himself” (Hebrews 7:27). “He has appeared suff ering is God’s design to complete the suff erings once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin of Christ, by making them more visible and by the sacrifi ce of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). “By personal and precious to those for whom he died. a single off ering [Christ] has perfected for all time So I say this very sobering word: God’s plan is that those who are being sanctifi ed” (Hebrews 10:14). his saving purpose for the nations will triumph When he shed his blood, he did it “once for all,” through the suff ering of his people, especially his having obtained “eternal redemption” (Hebrews frontline forces who break through the darkness of 9:12). “" ere is one God, and there is one mediator Satan’s blinding hold on an unreached people. " at between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” is what the lives of William Tyndale, John Paton, (1 Timothy 2:5). So there is no doubt that our and Adoniram Judson illustrate so dramatically. suff erings add nothing to the atoning worth and My prayer is that their stories here will awaken in suffi ciency of Christ’s suff erings. you a passion for Christ’s fame among the nations and sympathy for those who will perish for their sin However, there is one verse in the Bible that sounds f to many people as if our suff erings are part of without having heard the Good News of Christ. Christ’s redeeming suff erings. As it turns out, that End notes is not what it means. On the contrary, it is one of 1 Joseph Tson, “A Theology of Martyrdom” (an undated booklet of the most important verses explaining the thesis of The Romanian Missionary Society, Wheaton, IL), p. 4. this book—that missionary suff erings are a strategic 2 part of God’s plan to reach the nations. " e text is The following exposition of Colossians 1:24 depends heavily on Colossians 1:24 where Paul says, the thought and words of my book Desiring God: Meditations of a Now I rejoice in my su! erings for your sake, and in my " esh I am Christian Hedonist (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2003), pp. 267–270. # lling up what is lacking in Christ’s a$ ictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.

www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 13 The Other Side of the CROSS Suffering and the Glory of God

BOB SJOGREN

contemporary worship song includes these this context, he is talking with his disciples about lines for the believer to voice to Christ: not wanting to go to the cross. After opening his “Like a rose, trampled on the ground, you heart to them, he then addresses his heavenly Father Atook the fall and thought of me, above all.” directly. Knowing the slow, suff ocating death he was Excuse me? Did Christ think of me “above all” while about to experience, certainly he would be talking to he was on the cross? ! e Scriptures don’t point us in his Father about the primary reason as to why he was that direction. Did he think of us on the cross? Yes. going to the cross. Above all? No. Let’s get this straight! Now note what he does not say: “Save these kind, Just as there are two sides to a coin, so are there wonderful, worthy people from hell, for they don’t two sides to the cross. For generations, many in the deserve it.” In fact, he doesn’t even mention us. Kind Church have only known one side of the cross. It’s of humbling, isn’t it? And it defi nitely contradicts a side that can point to ease, safety and comfort. “Like a Rose.” So what does he say? “Father, glorify But it’s now time for the Church to grow up and thy name.” Christ’s primary focus was on his look at the other side of the cross—the one that Father’s glory. points us to suff ering. Why was he concerned about his Father’s glory? ! e fi rst side we are all familiar with: Christ died for Because of all the sin that had not been punished us. But there is a second side to the cross: Christ died and that had tarnished the reputation of God. Christ to magnify and vindicate the glory of his Father. ! is was fi rst and foremost concerned for his Father’s is the side with which we are unfamiliar. ! is is the glory. “Father, I’m going to the cross to show them side where we are weak and need to grow deep roots. how holy, righteous and just you really are.” ! is was primary. We were secondary. Why would Christ’s death be primarily for his Father’s glory? You begin to fi nd the answer by Two Di! erent Conclusions fi rst looking at Hebrews 10:1-4.1 ! e author here is ! is is where the other side of the cross is pointing. simply saying that the sacrifi cial system of the Old Christ’s death was focused on his Father’s glory; Testament never took away people’s sins. It was a he wanted to satisfy his Father’s righteousness and system that was to foreshadow a perfect sacrifi ce free us so that we could glorify God as well. Now found in the cross centuries later. Hence, the sins of depending upon which side of the cross we focus on, all of those in the Old Testament were never really we will have two diff erent conclusions about how the dealt with; they were just “hanging out there” left cross should govern how we live our lives. unpunished. People were thinking: “What kind of a If we are only focused on the familiar side of the God are you to allow sin to go unpunished? Are you cross, we look at the cross and say, “Christ suff ered no longer righteous? Are you no longer just? Do you and died for me.” We then look at Revelation not care about your glory any more?” 21:4 and see that in heaven, there will be no In John 12:27-28, we get a clear picture of how death, no more mourning, or crying, or pain. So Christ primarily viewed his death on the cross. In we conclude, “If that’s what God wants for me

Bob Sjogren is the president of UnveilinGLORY, whose mission is “to unveil God’s glory with the Church so believers of all ages passionately radiate His glory in all areas of their lives and become engaged in revealing it to all peoples of the world.”

14 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 in heaven, it must be what he wants for me here of Christ—are suff ering. Just ask our brothers and on earth now! Wow, it makes sense! Since Christ sisters in China, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, India, Indonesia suff ered for me, he must not want me to suff er. He and a multitude of other countries. Our brothers and did all the suff ering for me.” sisters in Christ are being beaten, tortured, raped, From this we can conclude that God wants us to persecuted and killed. Just go to " e Voice of the have a safe, soft, comfortable, happy life—no pain, Martyrs website and read up on what our brothers no crying, no mourning. Instead of living for God, and sisters are going through this very day. we believe God lives for us. So we think, “If Jesus lives Do we Americans get a “pass” on suff ering? Don’t for me, I’m going to be like Jesus. I’ll live for me too. jump to that conclusion too quickly. Most Christians I’ll just do it in a Christian context!” Suff ering? Why are “passing” on suff ering, not because it’s not would God want us to suff er? God’s will for their lives, but because they’ve only How does the other side of the cross view viewed one side of the cross. " ey are living a safe, soft, comfortable life because they think Jesus lives su! ering? It’s simple. primarily for them. If they were to view the other Since it is fi rst and foremost about the Father’s glory, side of the cross, they would fi nd that Jesus lives we then look at the cross and say, “Christ suff ered primarily for the glory of the Father and suff ering is and died for me so that I might gain favor with the to be a part of their lives, but not neceswsarily the Father and therefore be able to glorify him. So since kind of suff ering that would make it on " e Voice of Christ suff ered primarily for the Father’s glory, then the Martyrs’ website. he has given me an example. I should be willing to " is is the second category that helps answer the suff er for the Father’s glory as well.” question of why we’re not suff ering. Paul spoke Herein lies the key logic. Christ suff ered to reveal of diff erent levels of suff ering when he spoke the Father’s glory. And if Christ suff ered to reveal about all of the things that were happening in his the Father’s glory, then we should follow his life. In his list of suff ering he spoke of dishonor, example and be willing to suff er and reveal the bad reports, hunger, sleepless nights, emotional Father’s glory, too. distress, imprisonment, beatings, despairing of life, Does the Bible call us to su! er? and even death. I categorize those as “emotional suff ering, light physical suff ering” and “great physical Unequivocally yes. suff ering.” " ough few Americans are involved in Jesus fi rst foretells us that it is going to happen. He the great physical suff ering, many are experiencing spoke of sending us out like sheep in the midst of other suff ering on a regular basis. 2 wolves, about being hated, persecuted, whipped and Have you counseled other believers for hours on end, even killed.3 He told us that we are not greater than 4 still not seen victory, and are torn up over it? You our teacher. Since he was persecuted, we will be have experienced emotional suff ering. Have people persecuted. (Where did we get such a safe gospel?) at work lied about you, tearing down your reputation As the disciples saw suff ering take place in their because you are a believer? You have something in own lives, they wrote about it to each other. " e common with Jesus and Paul. You have suff ered, too. Lord made those letters become a part of the Holy But God wants suff ering as a part of our lives for Scriptures, which is the training manual for our a multitude of reasons , one of the primary ones lives today. being that suff ering reduces sin in our lives. Less sin In this manual, Paul says suff ering for Christ’s sake means we refl ect the glory of God better—and that is a special privilege given to us.5 Paul even wants to is what life is all about. 6 7 suff er and challenges us to join him in suff ering! Discover the other side of the cross. Make the glory Peter clearly tells us that Christ left us an example to 8 of your heavenly Father your highest priority, and suff er; therefore we should follow in his steps. He live out the reality of Romans 11:36: “For from him, then later tells us to expect it in our lives…and even and through him and to him are all things. To him 9 f calls us to rejoice in suff ering. be the glory forever. Amen.” Why Aren’t We Su! ering? 1 For the sake of brevity, look up the texts yourself! 2 Matthew 10:16-25 6 Philippians 3:10 Yes, the Bible clearly calls us to suff er. So then, why 3 7 aren’t we suff ering? Luke 21:16 2 Timothy 1:8 4 John 15:20 8 1 Peter 2:18-21 Answering that question falls into two categories. 5 Philippians 1:29 9 1 Peter 4:1, 12, 13 " e fi rst is found in the fact that we—the Body

www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 15 M Suff ering by Degree

DAVE DATEMA, GENERAL DIRECTOR, FRONTIER MISSION FELLOWSHIP

hat I’m about to talk about I’m suggesting that being physically If we faithfully endure the small suff er- does not normally “count” and mentally tortured is in some ways ings well, we are better prepared for the as suff ering, but I’m going similar to being pressured into ungodly larger ones. " e moral courage neces- toW include it anyway. While this issue of behavior. In both scenarios, Satan sary to stand up under peer pressure as a MF provides clarity to the realities and capitalizes on our fear of suff ering to teenager, if nurtured and grown, can one dimensions of physical suff ering, I want limit our witness. " e only diff erence is day provide the faith and hope needed to draw attention to another type of one of degree. Make no mistake, that is to endure higher forms of suff ering. suff ering usually not considered worthy one BIG diff erence, yet when looked at Yet, in a sense, we cannot really prepare enough to warrant serious consideration. from a utilitarian perspective, they both for suff ering. We can only prepare for Yet I feel it is the type of suff ering much have the same result: stopping Kingdom the next day of walking with the Lord, more common to the experience of the advance. Suff ering in this sense is a which is accomplished by taking full ad- average MF reader. I refer to the suf- universal phenomenon, and there is no vantage of this one. A life that is formed fering infl icted on believers not by an place it is not felt. Intimidation isn’t by the Word and the Spirit, shaped by intolerant environment but by a merely limited to the torture chamber. Its obedience and accountability in com- disbelieving one. Really. subtler forms abound in every society munity, and molded by faithfulness and Suff ering can be measured by degree, and culture. endurance, will not be ashamed when and I would argue that any kind of suf- So how do we prepare people to be the day of suff ering comes. fering, even the unworthy lesser types, willing to suff er? " e two types of Jesus suff ered. So will we. Let us f are attempts by Satan to thwart God’s suff ering contrasted here suggest an suff er well. Kingdom purposes, and have proven to answer: ability to endure low-level be very eff ective. If suff ering has to do suff ering will inform and prepare one for with enduring pain, distress, loss, injury, the high-level kinds. In his 1966 classic, etc., then there is a wide spectrum with- Dedication and Leadership, Douglas in which it can be experienced. Hyde details the ways and means the Obviously, the loss of life or limb has Communist Party utilized to prepare a tendency to curb evangelistic fervor! workers willing to endure hardship and Yet consider a lesser form. Young suff ering. He says, believers (in any country) face a tidal Quite deliberately, and with good reason, the Party wave of peer pressure to adopt and sends its new members, whenever possible, into practice un-biblical cultural norms. some form of public activity before instruction Anyone who puts up a serious fi ght is begins. More speci! cally, it is designed to commit sure to encounter a certain amount of the recruit publicly to Communism. Quite often distress. (For some college students, not this will take the form of being sent out to stand at drinking in excess is committing social the side of the street or in some public place selling suicide.) At the very least, there is often Communist papers, periodicals or pamphlets. a loss of social status and self-esteem. This may appear to be a very simple, somewhat Because this “suff ering” is so very real, low-grade form of activity. It is in fact of profound the majority of young believers simply psychological signi! cance.... Humble as the task opt for a cloaked expression of faith and may appear, to engage in it requires for many a muted witness, or they lose their faith people a certain degree of moral courage….It altogether. Can you imagine how many requires another act of moral courage to remain people Satan has sidelined from eff ective in a ! ght for which, he by now realizes, he is not witness through this one lesser form of fully equipped. And moral courage is not a bad suff ering?! starting-point for future action.

www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 19 T I P   F M M: From Edinburgh 1980 to Tokyo 2010

DAVID TAYLOR

lthough it is diffi cult to pinpoint exact mission agencies as well as local churches, than any moments or fi xed dates when historical other mission mobilization eff ort in history. Here movements begin, it is probably roughly at this second Edinburgh consultation, the frontier Aaccurate to say that the modern “frontier mission mission movement fi nally leaped beyond the realm movement” began to gather signifi cant momentum of missiologists and researchers and into the realm of around 40 years ago, in the early 1970s. It is around mission sending agencies that had the capacity to act this time that the fi rst lists of unreached peoples on the facts unearthed by strategists such as Barrett began to be compiled, building on the research and Winter. conducted by Wycliff e Bible Translators in their # e result of all this research and mobilization has pursuit of identifying the world’s “Bibleless” peoples. been nothing short of stellar. # e last 40 years have David Barrett’s comprehensive study of church seen more Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus come to growth among all the peoples in Africa (introduced know Christ than in all previous centuries combined. at the world’s fi rst frontier mission consultation held Dozens of church-planting movements have been in 1972) became a model for research around the initiated among the world’s major unreached mega- world. He later expanded his research to include peoples (those over one million in population), where a global list of 13,000 “ethno-linguistic” peoples, just two decades before the ground had remained which became the foundation for many people group untilled for literally centuries. databases over the next two decades. # e fi rst major breakthrough in the Muslim bloc # e fi rst estimates of the number of unreached came in South Asia, where at least half a million peoples were prepared for the 1974 Lausanne Muslim-background believers have come to faith. Congress on World Evangelization by Ralph Winter # is breakthrough proved the eff ectiveness of and his colleagues at the Fuller Seminary School an “insider approach” for winning high-identity of World Mission. Leading up to this conference, Muslims and became a model for many church- the fi rst global survey of unreached peoples was also planting movements around the world. Next door to conducted, involving 2,200 questionnaires sent out South Asia, in Iran, a strong underground church around the world to mission organizations and fi eld movement continues to emerge with thousands offi ces. Six years later, the Edinburgh conference of house fellowships multiplying throughout the in 1980, following up on the fi rst Edinburgh country. Surveys in the country indicate that gathering of 1910, gave a signifi cant boost to the Christian satellite broadcasting in Farsi, which began frontier mission movement. Out of Edinburgh in the year 2000, is being viewed by well over half 1980 came the Adopt-A-People Campaign (the the population. Equally impressive are the results fi rst inter-mission cooperative eff ort to reach all of radio and satellite broadcasting throughout the peoples) and the AD2000 Movement (the fi rst Arab world. One ministry, SAT7, has a regular global network focused on frontier mission). # ese audience of 8.5 million people. In North Africa, initiatives resulted in more attention given to the Berbers are responding to the gospel in massive unreached peoples around the world, both among numbers, with one movement among the Kabyle David Taylor is a member of the planning committee of encompassing several hundred thousand believers. the Tokyo 2010 Global Mission Consultation. He is the In the Buddhist world, two signifi cant break- throughs occurred among the Khmer and the senior editor of the Global Mission Database.

22 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 Mongolians. In Cambodia the church exploded With this possibility in mind, what might a global from just a handful of believers 20 years ago to gathering of mission leaders seek to accomplish over 400,000 today. In Mongolia, the church grew in terms of joint planning and cooperation in this from a few isolated believers to over 50,000 in 200 coming global decade of harvest? Here are a few established fellowships in the same period. areas and issues of interest to mission leaders around Among Hindus, we now have extensive data on the the world: status of Christianity in almost every caste group in 1. The need for ! eld-based infrastructure: How can major South Asia, giving us a clearer picture on the unfi n- international missions work more closely together on the ished task in this complex region than we have ever ! eld—regionally, nationally and among related peoples—to possessed. Surveys show increasing progress being ensure the full engagement of all peoples in the next ten years? made in the middle- and upper-caste groups. Geo- Will Ralph Winter’s proposal for a “Global CoMission” become graphically, the latest research reveals a signifi cant a reality (a forum for bringing together international missions Christian presence in over 200,000 villages in India. to take on the remaining un! nished task as a joint project with Additionally, mission researcher David Barrett esti- de! nitive results)? mates there are probably 10 million Hindu devotees 2. The need for greater knowledge stewardship: How can we learn to Jesus (believers that are exclusively devoted to from what God is doing and better disseminate the results of Jesus but who choose to remain within the Hindu research to mission leadership at every level where decisions cultural tradition to increase the impact of their wit- have to be made—from the people group level to the global ness). Missiologist Ralph Winter predicted that such level? (For example, over 100 active church-planting movements believers will one day outnumber traditional Chris- among frontier people groups are now known in the 10/40 Win- tians in South Asia. dow region. But due to the speed with which these have taken In the last decade, missionary deployment among place, no comprehensive survey and study of these movements unreached peoples has increased at a rapid pace, has yet taken place. A global forum for frontier mission research eff ectively doubling the number of missionaries and strategy is needed to facilitate this.) among the least-reached. In 1980, the ratio of 3. The need for better resource sharing: Here is an area which has missionaries to Muslims was one per million. It is seen remarkable progress in the last decade. Mission organiza- now only one per hundred-thousand. Most of these tions are developing a Kingdom mindset with the resources missionaries are non-Western, many of which are and tools God has given them, making them available to the from nearby or related peoples. Although much work entire Body of Christ. But much more can be done to enhance remains to be done, the signifi cance of an increasing this in multiple areas, from international development, to new number of believers among the world’s non- technologies, to evangelism and discipleship materials and Christian peoples cannot be underestimated. What programs, to personnel sharing, etc. this means is that the cultural distances dividing unreached peoples from the gospel are shrinking. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg of the Momentum is gaining. For the fi rst time in history, many areas which can be enhanced through global the very real possibility of reaching all peoples with mission interaction and cooperation. Only the Lord the gospel in one generation is well within sight. knows fully what will proceed from the various strategic world-level gatherings planned for next Vision 2020: What Might We Do Together in year. But one thing is for sure: all of this activity the Next Ten Years? reveals something very signifi cant. " e Holy Spirit " e success of the frontier mission movement is moving, and He is uniting His Church around demonstrates how pleased God is when we work a common vision in a way that we have never seen together in the joint mission he has given us all. He before in history. As disciples of the One who blesses and honors cooperative eff orts, and causes gave his life to see this day, these are truly the most exciting times to be alive and engaged in this them to produce lasting fruit. At Tokyo 2010, f mission leaders will gather to assess where we are in incredible story. the midst of this incredible momentum, and how to build on this progress. AATTENTIONTTENTION MMISSIONISSION LLEADERSEADERS! Although we can’t predict the future, if world conditions remain stable, it is certainly probable Come join us for this historic gathering. that the next ten years could see disciple-making ! ere is still time to register for Tokyo movements launched in every people group on earth. 2010. May 11-14, 2010. Register today at " is would mark an incredible milestone in the www.tokyo2010.org/register history of the Great Commission. www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 23 F  F A Report from Ethne 2009

DAVID TAYLOR

hat happens when you bring 350 global Parks brothers are an amazing team. Sons of the mission strategists from around the legendary director of the Southern Baptist Foreign world to collaborate on matters relating Mission Board during the 1980s and 1990s, they toW reaching the world’s least-reached people groups? have taken up the baton for unreached peoples and ! e Holy Spirit begins to move! With such a group, are running with it all over the world. ! eir father you hardly need an agenda. Just get them in a room Keith is one of the unsung heroes of the frontier together and watch the sovereign hand of God at mission movement. Among many signifi cant ac- work, as He supernaturally networks the Body of complishments, it was Keith who arranged for David Christ together for action. Barrett’s people group database to fi nd a home at the In November 2009 such a gathering was organized Board’s headquarters in Richmond—a move which by the Ethne to Ethne network in Bogota, would eventually guide Southern Baptist mission Colombia. Ethne to Ethne is a global forum of strategy for the next three decades. As a result, today unreached people-focused strategy groups and Southern Baptists have taken a leading role in fulfi ll- mission networks, which meet together every three ing the Great Commission among the vast majority years in diff erent parts of the world. ! e last meeting of the world’s least-reached mega-peoples. was held in Indonesia in 2006, and the next meeting Kent and Stan Parks are now following in in 2012 will be held in India, giving each gathering their father’s footsteps. In 1989 they watched a unique fl avor and allowing for greater local as their father helped organize the fi rst Global participation from the host region. Consultation on World Evangelization held in Singapore, which led to the formal launching of the AD2000 Movement. When the movement was disbanded as scheduled in the year 2000, many felt the need to sustain the momentum that had developed from ten years of global mobilization to see a “church for every people.” From out of this shared desire and concern came the Ethne to Ethne network, which Kent and Stan Parks have served STAN, KEITH, AND KENT PARKS and championed from its conception to the present. Getting Organized Although sponsored by an eclectic group, represent- ing various organizations from almost every conti- What many deemed most valuable about the nent, two of the key leaders behind the network and AD2000 Movement were the various global task tri-annual gathering are Kent and Stan Parks. ! e forces that brought together leaders around common interests and vision. Ethne to Ethne (E2E) has David Taylor is a member of the planning committee of replaced these with strategy groups, which have the Tokyo 2010 Global Mission Consultation. He is the continued to develop, strengthen and multiply over the last few years in such areas as research, prayer, senior editor of the Global Mission Database.

24 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 BECAUSE SO MANY BREAKTHROUGHS ARE NOW TAKING PLACE AMONG MAJOR UNREACHED PEOPLES, ONE DILEMMA IS HOW TO DOCUMENT THE BREAKTHROUGHS SO THAT OTHERS CAN LEARN FROM WHAT IS HAPPENING.

training, missionary care, and crisis response. ! us events, and they are door-openers for His kingdom. E2E has become a signifi cant international forum ! us, having the ability to respond quickly with aid, for nurturing such groups into formation, and then in partnership with church-planting agencies which enhancing their capacity to collaborate on a global make a long-term commitment to aff ected areas, is level. Even more signifi cantly, E2E has the ability proving to be an eff ective strategy for demonstrating to create synergy between various strategy groups the love of Christ in both word and deed amidst that are in need of one another in some related area some of the most diffi cult regions in the world for (e.g., those involved in pre-fi eld training may need missionary work. the input of researchers doing studies on missionary In one way or another, every strategy group in attrition, etc.). Ethne is seeking to contribute to the goal of seeing ! e Frontier Mission Crisis Response group is movements to Christ among all the world’s least- perhaps the most unique and concrete development reached peoples. At the synergistic core of this global to come out of collaboration is the Church Planting Movement the E2E net- (CPM) Strategy Group. Represented in this work. Due to the group are leaders involved in, or connected practical hands-on in some way to, dozens of movements among nature of crisis unreached peoples that are OF CHURCH!PLANTING response, coop- bringing millions to faith in erating agencies 4400BREAKTHROUGHS AMONG Christ, and seeing hundreds have been able to MUSLIM PEOPLE GROUPS FOLLOWED SOME KIND of thousands of churches work together to planted in a relatively short more eff ectively OF NATURAL DISASTER. period of time. Because so respond to various many breakthroughs are natural disasters in taking place now among the last year and a major unreached peoples, half. Unquestionably, this is one one of the of the most important develop- OF MAJOR CRISES dilemmas ments in global mission strategy 8800"INCLUDING EARTHQUAKES, faced by this to emerge in the last decade. group is how to WARS AND FAMINES# IN THE LAST 20 YEARS HAVE A recent study among Muslim document the people groups by the Fruitful TAKEN PLACE IN THE 10/40 WINDOW REGION. breakthroughs Practices research group revealed so that others that 40% of church-planting breakthroughs among can learn from Muslim people groups followed some kind of natural what is happening. As a result, a special research disaster. Breakthroughs following the Sumatra group has been proposed to identify, validate and tsunami of 2002 continue to bear fruit even today describe in-depth every known church-planting from Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia. ! e same can movement. be said for Northern India following the Kashmir Interestingly, the Latin Americans at the Ethne earthquake. In both of these cases, missionaries 2009 gathering had a diffi cult time grasping the labored for years without seeing results until these concept of church-planting movements as they are disasters hit. developing in frontier mission areas today. ! at’s In another study of major crises, including probably because church planting in Latin America earthquakes, wars and famines, it was discovered has generally followed a traditional model that was that 80% of such occurrences in the last 20 years based on buildings and professional clergy. But have taken place in the 10/40 Window region, where most church-planting movements today are house- the vast majority of the world’s unreached peoples church based and lay-led, which is why they are able reside. Mission strategists are beginning to realize to grow so fast. It is as if the Holy Spirit has taken that this is no accident! God is sovereign over these the Chinese model and blown it all over the 10/40 Window region! For this reason, COMIBAM, www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 25 the express purpose of bringing down strongholds of darkness, and seeing the “strong man” bound (Mark 3:27). Another report from South Asia revealed that a church-planting movement in a particular region of a Muslim group only began when indigenous leaders gathered together to pray against the powers and principalities over those areas. For this reason the Prayer Strategy Group is seeking to raise up prayer initiatives for all of the 6,000+ least-reached peoples documented by the U.S. Center for World Mission’s Joshua Project research team. Additionally, MOISES LOPEZ the U.S. Center’s Global Prayer Digest has become an important “fuel source” and outlet for this prayer which is the major mission movement in Latin initiative (the GPD is translated into multiple America (and a co-sponsor of the Ethne meeting languages, including Spanish, Korean and Chinese). in Bogota), is seeking to invite CPM trainers to Along with the GPD, the Prayer Strategy Group teach Latin agencies, leaders, professors and pre- networks with intercessory groups around the world fi eld candidates about what God is doing through that bring unreached people prayer updates to over these movements. Also, at the upcoming Global two million intercessors. Mission Consultation in Tokyo (May 11-14, 2010, Welcome to the Family see pages 22-23 of this issue of Mission Frontiers), the CPM Strategy Group will lead a special track As important as all this is, there is something to dialogue with mission leaders from around the perhaps more important about Ethne, which may world concerning CPM principles and methodology. not be evident on a surface evaluation. As a global Special emphasis will be given to network, Ethne seeks to build show how God uses CPMs to relationships of trust between fulfi ll the Great Commission leaders. Kent Parks describes mandate of making disciples of it this way: “If the Great all peoples. Indeed, what CPM Commission was just about strategies reveal is that you fi nishing a task, we could Prayer don’t have to sacrifi ce quality and Strategic Holistic Gospel accomplish it readily enough. Movements for quantity. Quite the opposite, Harvest Initiative But God wants us to become a when lay people are engaged family while fi nishing that task in evangelism and together.” " is statement church-planting, really drives to the they become heart of what Frontier Crisis Ethnoarts Ethnê discipled Response Ethne is all much more about—it’s eff ectively, both a and leadership relational is multiplied and task-oriented exponentially. network, and keeping that Student Mission Member Care balance is a high priority. For " e role of prayer in these Mobilization this reason, much time is spent in movements is something that prayer and worship, and seeking continues to be highlighted after God together at every through E2E. A researcher Ethne-related gathering. commented in Bogota that Page 13 one such movement in How does Ethne to Ethne Northern India began only coordinate with various after a team of intercessors frontier mission-related events came to a strategic city and prayed intensively and networks such as Tokyo 2010 and the Global against the ancient spiritual strongholds of that Network of Mission Structures (GNMS)? E2E area. " is is not an isolated incident. Many of the seeks to be a servant to all such collaborative breakthroughs witnessed throughout the 10/40 eff orts, and they are strategically positioned to Window followed prayer initiatives organized with do so in a major way. " e GNMS and Tokyo

26 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 THE CPM GROUP MADE A COMMITMENT TO FOCUS ON FIVE OF THE LARGEST LEAST!REACHED PEOPLES THAT LACK A CPM AND WORK TOGETHER TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS GAP.

2010 represent international mission agencies For Kent’s part, as director of a mission agency called and mission agency associations from around the Mission to Unreached Peoples (an organization world that can benefi t from the strategy groups which came out of the Edinburgh 1980 meeting), sponsored by the E2E network. ! us at Tokyo he has set a goal of engaging several hundred least- 2010, E2E will play an important role in seeking reached people groups and population segments in to serve these agencies and mission associations the next ten years with CPM strategies. with the various areas of expertise represented by Clearly, the torch has been passed, and its fi re is the network. lighting torches around the world for the glory How can E2E be enhanced? “More and better of God! E2E is a story of how a few people can collaboration to get things done” is Kent Parks’ make a big diff erence when they work together, not answer. Reaching the least-reached, hand in hand, caring who gets the credit. Beyond what they have by all and every means is the driving force behind accomplished as a network, they have also become Ethne. Kent would like to see E2E participants take a model for what global mission collaboration on small projects together, and as they see success, should look like in the twenty-fi rst century: hearts he believes momentum will build. ! e CPM group, united by the love of Christ, centered on His for example, made a commitment to focus on fi ve of mission, and ignited by His passion for all the f the largest least-reached peoples that lack a CPM peoples of the earth. and work together to do something about this gap.

www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 27 W A T P Discoveries in the Atlas of Global Christianity

DARRELL DORR

rom May 2008 to June 2009 Odd Curiosities or I had the privilege of work- Treasured Family? ing with the international As I rolled up my sleeves and began my Fteam that produced the Atlas of work as an Associate Editor, I expected Global Christianity. Editors Todd that I would gain new insights in the Johnson and Kenneth Ross assem- process of editing. But what I did not bled this team and did a remarkable expect was how the Atlas would af- job of shepherding the Atlas to fect my heart as well as my head. ! is completion by the autumn of 2009. personal impact was due, in part, to As this issue of Mission Frontiers the convergence of my work on the goes to press, the Atlas is in the Atlas with a sermon series at my home hands of a printer in Edinburgh and church, a sermon series on the fi rst should be available to the public three chapters of Ephesians, where the by January 2010. But why should apostle Paul elaborates the “grand plan you—and your church or mission of God” in which (emphases mine) . . . agency—sit up and take notice of His intent was that now, through the church, the this 400-page collection of maps, tables and essays? manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and ! ough it is widely known that Christianity’s center authorities in the heavenly realms . . . . And I pray that you, being of gravity has shifted to the non-Western world, rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Atlas of Global Christianity helps you and the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is your colleagues to better understand the the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses contours and textures of that shift— knowledge—that you may be ! lled to the measure region by region—over the past of all the fullness of God . . . until we all reach unity 100 years, since the seminal 1910 in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of Edinburgh World Missionary God and become mature, attaining to the whole Conference. And the Atlas measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 3:10, of Global Christianity appears 3:17-19, 4:13, New International Version). on the scene just in time to inform the array of global mission ! ese truths from Ephesians were consultations in 2010—in Tokyo, rattling around in my mind and heart Edinburgh, Cape Town, Boston and while I edited essays from scholars other cities—that will commemorate representing Orthodox, Catholic, Pen- Edinburgh 1910 and launch new forms of tecostal, Anglican, West African, Southeast cooperation in world mission into the twenty- Asian, Central American, East European and fi rst century. many other streams of Christianity. As I read and re-read about streams of Christian vitality that are very diff erent from my familiar stream of American Darrell Dorr is a Contributing evangelical Protestant Christianity, I asked myself, Editor of Mission Frontiers and “Who are these people? Am I—and are most of the readers of this Atlas—likely to look on these people an Associate Editor of the Atlas of as odd curiosities, almost like animals in some kind Global Christianity. of theological and sociological zoo? Or—as these

28 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 great texts of Ephe- where missionaries sians affi rm—are are and aren’t, and we prepared to view the representations these very diff erent of missionaries people as treasured received by people family through whom group, revealing we can apprehend the great need for the manifold wisdom pioneers among of God, with whom peoples such as the we can grasp the love of God, and with whom we Northern Luri of Iran, the Lampungese of Indone- can enter into the “fullness of Christ” for which we sia, the Bagri of India, the Daza of Chad, and the were created? Do I really believe these truths from Zaghawa of Sudan. Ephesians, and do my perspectives on the global Note, too, the portrayals of the extent of personal Church—and my behaviors—refl ect what I say I contact between Christians and non-Christians, in- believe?” cluding the assertion, “Buddhists, Hindus and Mus- Great Maps and Tables, But Don’t Miss the lims have relatively little contact with Christians. Essays! In each case, over 86% of these religionists globally do not personally know a Christian.” Contrast It’s to be expected that maps, tables and other graph- these pages with those explaining a “Responsiveness ics will attract lots of attention in the Atlas. But Index” for diff erent countries and regions, with the don’t miss the sterling collection of two-page essays index revealing that the world’s least-evangelized interspersed amidst the series of two-page and four- sectors have shown the highest average responsive- page map spreads, for the essays bring additional ness to Biblical witness. Go fi gure! depth and nuance. My favorite essays include: • Moonjang Lee on the future of global Christianity An Embarrassment of Riches in 2010 • Andrew Walls on Christianity across 20 centuries (a masterful ! e Atlas of Global Christianity is part of an embar- overview) rassment of riches in 2010, the fi rst installment in • J.N.K. Mugambi on Christianity in Africa (look out—this critique a series of great reference tools that will also soon has bite!) include Patrick Johnstone’s ! e Future of the World- • Ogbu Kalu on Western Africa (full of color and verve) wide Church and Jason Mandryk’s new edition of the • Mark Noll on Christianity in Northern America (a terri! c synthesis) much-loved Operation World handbook. Inevitably • Lamin Sanneh on the multi-cultural tapestry of world Christianity the Atlas will be compared and contrasted with • Dana Robert on the 100-year patterns in missionary sending these other two books, even though the Atlas is a larger and more expensive tool, includes an elec- • Jonathan Bonk on Christian ! nance (vignettes of sacri! ce and tronic “presentation assistant”, and is written for a stewardship) wider audience than the evangelical mission com- Repercussions for Frontier Mission munity. Indeed, I expect that some evangelicals will approach the Atlas with ambivalence: admiration for As you might expect, I’m especially grateful for those its scope and breadth and yet unease at its insistence parts of the Atlas that shed light on the challenges at pressing beyond the social bounds of evangelical- of frontier mission in particular. Most ism. Yet I am honored to be part of this material can be found in Part Proportions of religions, 1910 & 2010 of an editorial team that married

IV (Peoples, languages and cities) and 1910 2010 evangelical conviction to ecumeni- Part V (Christian mission). cal perspective. Enjoy the feast of f For example, there is much benefi t 400 pages! in such tables as “Global peoples • To catch glimpses of the Atlas of Global with the most Muslims” and “Global Christianity, go to http://bit.ly/UIkMo languages with the most Buddhists.” • If you live in the USA, you can order copies of the Delineation of the religious demo- Atlas from Columbia University Press at graphics of major cities in each world http://bit.ly/8LPrdh region is fascinating and useful; soak • Readers outside the USA may order copies of the for awhile in the tallies of cities to al- Atlas at http://bit.ly/71Hhm4 low your mind and heart to be moved. I like the missionary scatterplot = 1% of population = All other religions diagrams that reveal, region by region, www.missionfrontiers.org Mission Frontiers January-February 2010 29 R L R We Can Do It!

GLENN SCHWARTZ, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD MISSION ASSOCIATES

bout a year ago I was asked November. Another group in Kampala to meet others who are like-minded. to speak in a small church in decided to buy a car for their pastor ! is conference is being organized Kampala, Uganda. I had been “after learning that they can do it.” and paid for by people in East Africa, there for other meetings and was asked and they could not be more excited or A Notice the sense of freedom and to preach on a Sunday morning. Nor- proud to have the privilege. As one of release in that last statement “after mally I decline such invitations, believ- them told me recently, “Africa has seen learning that they can do it.” It re- ing that it is the privilege of a pastor the light.” minds one of the Macedonian church to preach to his own people. But this in II Corinthians 8:2 about whom the My prayer is that the day will come pastor prevailed upon me, so I prepared Apostle Paul said, “Out of the most when people all over Africa and in a simple message challenging the con- severe trial, their overfl owing joy and many other places in the world will gregation to be all they can be for God. their extreme poverty welled up in come to the realization that with God’s I reminded them that there is a big rich generosity.” Paul goes on to say help, “We can do it.” Let’s encourage world out there waiting for their wit- in verse four that “they begged for the that to happen and, most importantly, ness. ! is was a congregation of forty privilege of giving.” let’s not do anything to prevent it from people meeting in a very modest build- happening. ! e challenge for western- ing big enough for perhaps thirty. What if they had never learned that ers (like me) is to move out of the way they were not only free to give some- Little did I know how God would use so others can do what God is calling thing back to God but able to do so! what I said on that occasion. It was them to do with the resources He has f not long before I heard that this con- It is sad that believers in Africa have put within their own arm’s reach. gregation caught the vision of using often been given the impression local resources to do God’s work. First, that they cannot support their own they began to pay their pastor a decent churches, outreach ministries, or para- salary so that he could aff ord a better church organizations. ! ink about Flexibility house. Second, they began a children’s how much joy has been robbed from with ministry in which they provided a them in the process! Accountability home for twenty street children. ! ird, My current ministry includes a signifi - Doyouhave... the congregation has encouraged their cant exchange of e-mails with church aGodgivenvisionforadifferent pastor to take the self-reliance mes- and mission leaders regarding the ben- kindofmission? sage “on the road” to other countries. efi ts of mobilizing local resources. ! is anentrepreneurialapproachto He and some other pastor colleagues reachingtheworldforChrist? has resulted in a gathering of church have already gone to Kenya, Burundi auniquesituationrequiring leaders in Nairobi in November 2009 flexibility from your sending agency? and various places inside Uganda— for those who have been teaching and Secondcareer?Tentmaker?Teacher? and they have invitations pending for writing about issues of sustainability. Careermissionary?Onetotwoyears? Tanzania, Zambia, Congo and Sierra ! ose registered to attend come from Ifso,considerpartneringwith Leone. ! is is all being done with local Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and as far support within Uganda! G o Ye Fellowship away as Nepal. ! ese are leaders who 76yrsreachingtheworldforChrist After this pastor spoke in western have discovered the joy of giving to LocatedonUSCWMcampus(SoCal) Kenya, people there decided to buy a God and have passed the excitement Fullservicesendingagency(501c3) Lowadmincosts car for their bishop. Following his visit along to their people. ! ey eagerly Morethananorganization,wearea to war-torn northern Uganda, he re- anticipate attending this conference so fellowship,andwewouldlovetopray ported, “! e people received the Good they can share what God is doing in foryouasyouconsideryournextstep News of self-reliance with happiness.” their midst. Some wanted to send in inGod’skingdomadvance. One church from there is sending their accommodation fees for the con- goyefellowship.org their pastor to a self-reliance confer- ference several months ahead of time, [email protected],orcall6263982305 ence being planned for Nairobi in early such was their anticipation of wanting (DonorsupportedUSCitizensonly)

30 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111 F R Communicating the Gospel from Within

GREG H. PARSONS, GENERAL DIRECTOR, U.S. CENTER FOR WORLD MISSION

basic premise in eff ective hearers can make this two-step process demonstrates. He was talking about communication is that the diffi cult. I am suggesting that new how people come to Christ in the fi rst intended message makes sense believers should have the freedom to place, not what the church might look Ato the hearer. When it comes to areas formulate their own Biblical theology. like after that process starts in any given of theology, we tend to focus on what We don’t hand them a ready-made people group. In Understanding Church we say more than what will be heard. church or theology in a box. Growth, he talked about the need to One of the biggest problems is when a It is interesting that as McGavran grew apply common sense, because “the messenger does not realize how major older, he was less and less interested creation of narrow Churches, selfi shly cultural diff erences are creating distance centered on the salvation of their own in “Church Growth.” He saw many 2 between him and those who hear. of his followers spread their version of kith and kin only, is never the goal.” " at is why people like Donald his theories, applying them to existing As we consider how to apply McGavran talked about this issue churches. Toward the end of his life, McGavran’s thinking today, a natural in the book ! e Bridges of God more he told Vern Middleton (his student extension is that we encourage new than 50 years ago: people like to become and later biographer) that he no longer believers to decide how they will Christians without crossing racial, wanted to use the phrase Church live out their faith in obedience to linguistic or class barriers, or, to put Growth. Rather he wanted to talk about the Scriptures. If a people group is another way, people like to come to Christ Evangelism. unreached, then (naturally) the fi rst with others that are like them. " at was, in his mind, a way to talk person from that culture will likely hear Of course, others said it in diff erent about both the process of sharing the Biblical truth in a manner diff erent ways before McGavran, but the basic gospel and discipling or mentoring from the way he or she may prefer to approach when reaching a group that is someone. In his thinking, church communicate Biblical truth. Often unreached is: growth never means “merely” having new believers inherit some “Christian” 1. A believer needs to cross cultural barriers people make decisions. During in baggage from the culture of the cross- between where the church has taken root and his fi eld experience in the 1930s and cultural messenger. Sometimes they where it hasn’t. 1940s in India, when he was studying can get over that, and sometimes others “mass movements to Christ” with J. they lead to Christ pioneer a new way 2. As the gospel takes root and begins to grow, the of sharing that fi ts the host culture. new believers study the Word to ! gure out how Waskom Pickett, McGavran changed best to spread truth within their culture/people. the terminology. He noted in ! e Giving new believers latitude in Bridges of God, “We do not use the term Biblical obedience seems to fi t the " e less we assume about how gospel ‘mass movements.’ " is unfortunate parable of the yeast, which we can truth must be communicated, the more term implies unthinking acceptance of summarize as 1) Get a small amount 1 new believers are free to think of their Christ by great masses.” " at is not of yeast in the dough and 2) It will own ways of communicating truth. In what the “people movements” he and permeate inside the dough. its simplest form, some have described Pickett researched were all about. We should not try to force the yeast to this as a two-step process: 1) Focus One of the underlying concepts do its work. We need not over-analyze on the Word; and 2) Let it speak and became known as the Homogeneous what should happen next. We trust not our cultural “Christianity” or our Unit Principle. He argued that people in the Holy Spirit and focus on the theological formulations (the way we are homogeneous in their language or message of the Word. It will fl ow from f state Biblical truth). culture. Some have reacted to the there in God’s timing. I’m not suggesting that we change principle over the years, believing it 1 The Bridges of God, 1955, World our theology, and I realize that in to be less than ideal for the Church Dominion Press, p. 14. many situations, the quality of Bible to be “race-based.” But that was not 2 Understanding Church Growth, 1970, translation and the background of the what McGavran was suggesting, as Eerdmans, pp. 242-243. much of the Church Growth literature

34 January-February 2010 Mission Frontiers USCWM • 1605 E. Elizabeth St. • Pasadena, CA 91104 • 626-797-1111