"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them ..." - Matthew 28:18-20
If this new perspective I have on missions could be summed up in one word, it would be, discipleship. Jesus did not commission us to make converts, but to make disciples. Disciples are people who are mature in the word of God, people who are bearing fruit and are able to replicate what has happened in their lives, in other people. Disciples are able to endure hardships and not lose faith, they are able to rejoice in suffering and be humble in victory. Disciples are able to help other people break through, just as they themselves have broken through. Disciples are people of character, integrity and hope. They are submitted to the word of God as the final authority in their lives and go from glory to glory as they mature in Christ.
The way missions have previously been done is old. Not only is it outdated, but it is very difficult. In the past, a well-funded (or not so well funded) missionary would be sent from a church or organisation in Europe or America and come and set up a work in a foreign country, which they felt God has called them to. In the coming years, they then learn the culture, the language and try to earn the trust of the locals they are wanting to reach, slowly starting to influence these people with the gospel.
This model has birthed many success stories, but there are just too many stories of missionaries being burnt out, disillusioned and giving up out on the mission field, after years of ploughing into a community.The amount of success stories for missions in this manner are way too few compared to the people who have tried, and come back with stories that will break your heart.
I believe the reason for this, is that the aim of a missionary should never be to "go and stay", the great commission said to "go". Go to a place God has called you to, disciple local people, raise up leaders and then go again, allowing the local people to create an environment of sustainability and stability for their context. It is an extremely rare occurrence for a foreigner to be fully accepted by a culture, adopted, taken in and respected; least of all them wanting to become like the foreigner in their faith. We must raise up locals, they are the ones who can take their people into the future.
Their are a few glaring problems with this suggested model though. The first is that in order to make disciples, you must be a disciple. In order to teach you must have been taught and in order to train you must have been trained. Thus, having a calling as a missionary is not good enough, you must be trained and equipped so that you can effectively train and equip others. Some of you may be thinking, but this is obvious. Not as obvious as it would seem. Many missions organisations are so overwhelmed by the need in the world, that they will accept anyone with a contactable reference.
Their are a few glaring problems with this suggested model though. The first is that in order to make disciples, you must be a disciple. In order to teach you must have been taught and in order to train you must have been trained. Thus, having a calling as a missionary is not good enough, you must be trained and equipped so that you can effectively train and equip others. Some of you may be thinking, but this is obvious. Not as obvious as it would seem. Many missions organisations are so overwhelmed by the need in the world, that they will accept anyone with a contactable reference.
The harvest is so great that it has lead to many churches speeding up the development process of would-be missionaries and sending them off without the necessary skills and experience to be effective. In our eagerness we have set up generations of missionaries for failure. Not laying any emphasise on the 'disciples' part, nor the 'teaching them' aspect of missions, only 'go' and adding the 'stay'.
So, is having a 'calling' to be a missionary enough? No, we need to be disciples in order to make disciples. Discipleship is but a vehicle for a message though.Think of it like this: If the process of discipleship is like a 4 x 4 truck going into a dry country, the message would be the fresh drinking water that is being carried on the back of the truck. The truck itself is not going to have any effect on the health or well being of the people in that dry place, but what it carries will. The problem comes in when we use the vehicle of discipleship to carry a diluted or poisonous message. What people need who are desperate for water, is water that brings life. What good is the water if you choke or die from drinking it? No good.
Thus, it is no good 'going' and 'teaching' if what we are going to tell them and teach them doesn't produce life in them. If our message is not the gospel, if it's not good news, then there is no use in even leaving your front door; unless the news you carry is too good to be kept to yourself. (The content of this site focuses on the good news of God's unconditional love and grace, read other posts to see more on this)
Thus our focus for missions is to ground people and disciple them in the good news of God's unconditional love and grace. Then sending them to places where they are called and have them reproduce what God has done in and through them to the people in that place, until the people in that place are ready to do the same thing, and on and on it goes ... isn't that what were all called to do, aren't we all missionaries? When the bible says 'go', it may mean to 'go' to your children, 'go' out your front door or 'go' to your friends. Where we 'go' changes, but why we go never does. We go because we have a message, the good news of God's unconditional love and grace for the world, and we go because we're on a mission, to make disciples!
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