Myths, Monsters and Ecosystems
Dear brothers and sisters,
Beware the self-made minitours and monsters of mission and evangelism. The church worships God the Father through God the Son in the power of God the Holy Spirit, but it is impossible to read the New Testament and not be moved by its imperatives: go, therefore, and make disciples – Matthew 28:19; we are ambassadors for Christ…be reconciled to God – 2 Corinthians 5:20; the time has come…the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel – Mark 1:15.
The trouble is that just about everything is stacked against us. The flesh, the world and the devil cause us grief every day; the hardship of living in a broken world is complex and often so very tiring; the reality of making disciples feels so hard to do: where do we start? How do we do it? What do I say? And in response we often fall back on myths and monsters. When the church thinks about evangelising the lost, we might say something like “if we just grow people in the faith then they will just naturally begin evangelising their neighbours”. But that is a myth. It’s the maturity myth, that if people are taught and discipled into maturity they will naturally live maturely and preach the gospel. So, let me ask you: how’s your evangelistic life going? How’s mine going for that matter?
Then there’s the homogeneous myth – the myth that says we’re all the same, that everyone in the church is on mission all the time: we’re all missionaries! Yes and no. We are all ambassadors, we’re all key components of the church, but we’re all different with different gifts. To parrot Paul, can the eye say to the foot we have no need of you? Surely not. Surely, we are not all called to fulfil the same role in church. Or what about the myth that says all we need to do is add a course – let’s say (the excellent) Christianity Explored course – just add that and then we’ll see conversions. But I suspect a lot of us are long enough in the tooth to know this isn’t the case. Another expression of this myth is “the silver bullet” – if we could just find that extra thing, that buzzword, that special ingredient THEN everything will start to click, and our churches will grow. But that’s just a monstrous lie isn’t it. We can say to ourselves “Well, resources are limited, what can we do?” But that excuse won’t stand up under too much scrutiny, for we have a king with unlimited resources.
I think many of the myths and even some of the monsters we encounter as we flagellate ourselves over our poor evangelism and feelings of guilt that we should be doing more, can be conquered by a greater and healthier vision of Christ and his bride, the church.
Church is a precious, living thing. A living vine undergirded by necessary trellises; a living building built out of living stones; a body made up of many parts; a people brought together from disparate persons; a kingdom ruled by a royal law; and where Jesus Christ rules as Saviour King, blessings of union and grace and life flow in abundance.
So think of church as a living ecosystem; we are a community of faith, we are the people of God, and every local expression of the universal church is a microcosm in which new creation glory can be tasted. If we have a high view of the corporate and living church, then many of the myths and monsters of mission begin to seem less threatening. We don’t shoulder the burden of evangelising the lost, evangelising our town, evangelising our street or our family alone, no! It is the church that has been given this glorious mission, not you by yourself! It is the local church together, as one body, that is the vehicle for growth, mission and discipleship, not you or I by ourselves.
If we embrace our corporate identity, then burdens begin to fall. The best place for people to hear the gospel and to have a taste of heaven is in the local church. Being amongst God’s people. Tasting and seeing that the Lord is good whilst bumping against the ecosystem of the church. The best way to see conversions is through the local church. The best place for discipleship is in the church. We don’t need everyone to be good at everything; we just need to allow the whole church to evangelise and disciple. And so what we want is to build confidence in the church itself. I might not know how to evangelise, but I know my church has various moments where people are called to repentance, and I know if they come on a Sunday they will be welcomed, and if they come to Life Course they’ll be fed, watered and hear the gospel. I just need to love my neighbour enough to invite them to come with me. You could also mix your worlds; don’t just invite your neighbour or family member or colleague for a BBQ – invite some church people too. A BBQ with a bunch of people is an amazing way to evangelise, and it’s (usually!) fun and cheap to do.
There is no silver bullet. We’re not all the same. We don’t all have quite the same role to play as part of the church, and we don’t need to reach a preconceived notion of maturity before we begin spreading the gospel. These are myths that can easily turn into monsters that drain all our evangelistic joy. What we do have is the church of Jesus Christ. What an amazing living thing it is. And so invite people to church; mix your worlds and stop being crushed by fake responsibilities – because the evangelism of the part of the vineyard you find yourself in is not your task alone – it is the mission of the church as a whole, with all its parts playing their part to slay monsters and win the lost for Christ.
Yours in Christ Jesus, the king and head of the church,
Nathan.