Am I generous with my time and
adventurous with my resources, willing to
risk all in order to help another?
I’m sitting in the staff room at a Christian camp, looking at a map of the 10/40 window. That’s an evangelical term for the least Christianized parts of the world, and we’re often exhorted to go and preach the gospel to the 3 billion non-Christians who live there (or to send money in order to accomplish the same). But something about this push seems suspect to me.
Maybe it’s the fact that so many prayer mailings, books and conferences look as though they’ve been designed to open our wallets instead of our hearts. Maybe it’s the idea that God has given us the responsibility of taking Him anywhere. If that were the case, I’d gladly buy God a ticket and accompany Him at least as far as Europe. (I hear Italy is beautiful this time of year.) But that’s not how God works.
I don’t bring God to others. Neither do I bring others to God. I can’t. If God is omnipresent, then He’s already there — everywhere — and He’s already working in the lives of each person He’s created — everyone.
Where does that leave us Christians?
First, we don’t spread the word of God with money. We pass on his love through our lives. Am I generous with my time and adventurous with my resources, willing to risk all in order to help another?
Second, there are no mercenary Christians. If I’m not willing to go, I have no business paying someone else to do it for me.
Third, God’s Church has ministers, not members. If my life fails to make a difference in somebody’s life, then it follows that I’m not a Christ-follower.
Read more of my writings for Barclay Press.
2 comments:
Hi Eric,
I'm a little confused. I can't tell if you don't agree with the idea of missions as a whole, or simply the way many churches and organizations promote it.
When you say God is omnipresent and already working you make a great point. Would it help to say "bring news of God"?
Do you really think of missionaries as mercenaries? Or are you talking more about the attitude of those who give to missionaries? Or both, maybe?
Dan,
Thanks for the question. Here's my attempt at a cogent response:
It seems that most ministries don't think it's realistic to expect Americans (not most of them, anyway) to actually go out as missionaries, so these organizations ask for financial and prayer support instead. This seems roughly equal to the Civil War-era practice of hiring someone to take your place if you were drafted (as if missionary service is an unbelievably burdensome and dangerous task that no right-thinking individual would be expected to want to do). If I'm not willing to go, that's fine as long as I don't pretend that sending money is just as good as actually going.
I believe that Christian service is a universal calling. If I'm not ministering through my vocation, if what I'm doing isn't in response to a sacred calling, then paying a regular tithe and sending money to the mission field isn't going to make up the difference.
I mostly wrote this essay for myself as I struggle with what it means to become the person God created me to be.
Post a Comment