Every Monday, I will post something about mission, missions, missional, or missiology.
Here is the first-- a guest blog from a missionary living in a Muslim country. He cannot use his name because, well, many people in the world are not excited about what he is doing. So, we will call him Bob.
Feel free to interact with him in the comments.
Ed
"Bob" wrote:
For a little more than a decade my family and I have been living in Asia. Our desire has been to “model and multiply missions and ministry among Muslims.” By that, we mean that we want to be directly involved in praying for and sharing the gospel with Muslims, seeing them discipled and brought into the fellowship of the saints. And we want to be teaching and encouraging others to do the same thing.
Often people ask us why we do it. Why have we left our families, our culture and our homes to live in the third world with Muslims? Why are we not back in America where life is “easier,” our boys can get a “good” education, where it is “safe” and we can care for our ageing parents? Honestly, sometimes I ask myself the same question.
Perhaps you have heard the following complaints, “Mission work is expensive and dangerous. Besides, most people don’t want to hear the gospel anyway, otherwise why would missionaries have to go into these places undercover.” Today many people are accusing mission boards of being reckless for sending people to share their faith in a dangerous, hostile world.
And it is not just foreign work that is so dangerous. Papers carry the story of a student being killed for her faith in a Colorado school. I have had a gun pulled on me in Louisiana when inviting someone to a church function. If people are not interested, why bother? Why not just join with people like Hasan (not his real name) who recently said, “I pray that there are no Bridge People in heaven—they are just evil, hateful people who deserve to go to Hell.”
So, how can we answer these questions? What is the point of communicating the Gospel with non-Christians? I have a brother who is an atheist. He told me once that he was sure I was too smart to believe in the gospel so I must be doing this for the money. Now, we have been extremely blessed by the generosity of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, but we took a fifty percent salary reduction to come here, so I couldn’t be that smart if money was my motivation!
Johannes Bavinck, in An Introduction to the Science of Missions defined the aim of missions as "To glorify God, establish the kingdom, and convert the heathen." In practice, this process is generally accomplished in reverse order. We share the gospel with those who have not heard it in a way they can understand. Then we gather them into congregations where they can be discipled and join others in worship. Those congregations become a part of the Universal body of Christ, reflecting God’s glory throughout eternity.
Bavink was not the first missiologist to make this correlation between evangelism and the glory of God. In John 15:8, Jesus said “This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
If you are a Christian you know the greatest joy available to human kind—a personal relationship with the Almighty Creator. We do not share our faith to “stem the Islamic tide” or “defeat the postmodern agenda.” We share our faith with others out of a sense of love for God and those who are separated from Him. We share out of a concern for His glory.
Comments (9)
"Bob"
Thank you for your dedication and commitment to spreading the gospel and taking part in God's unfolding plan to make His glory known among the nations.
My prayer is that your work will be fruitful and that your example will inspire many of us in America to either answer the call to global missions or take seriously our call as missionaries in our local contexts.
God be with you in your work.
Posted by Caleb Land | July 30, 2007 9:19 AM
Posted on July 30, 2007 09:19
Bob - Share with us what you are finding in your mission field in terms of Muslim openness to the gospel. What evidence of the Spirit's movement are you seeing? How are you going about the work of evangelism in your context? What advice would you give to North American churches with significant Muslim populations in their own communities?
The Lord bless you indeed.
Robby
Posted by Robby Partain | July 30, 2007 11:32 AM
Posted on July 30, 2007 11:32
Caleb Land,
Thanks for your prayers! I also pray that more people in America will take the call to reach their local context seriously.
I was saved out of a non Christian background and my father died an athiest. I often think of how much effort is put into developing strategies to reach the 10-40 window, but how little is done to reach secular Americans in a contextually appropriate way.
Where we live there is a traditional church that is wonderful, but completely out of touch with the Muslims all around them. They speak a different dialect and live in different worlds. So we enter into the churches and try to help our brothers and sisters bridge the gap. My wife and I hope and pray that someone will make the same effort to learn the language and culture of our families in the US.
Posted by "Bob" | July 30, 2007 12:18 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 12:18
Hey Robby,
We have seen an amazing response. We have lived in two countries and have related to the work in 8 others. I am firmly convinced that wherever the gospel is presented in a way that people can understand it, someone will respond. Most of the unreached people groups are unreached not because they are resistant, but because we are.
That does not mean everyone, or even most people will always respond, but some will.
We have seen some amazing works of the Spirit in terms of healing and spiritual warfare, but honestly the most amazing miracle is seeing someone move from darkness to light.
Many methods have been used, but the most effectve in our area has been the use of stories. When I first started learning about the use of Bible storying I heard people say it could take as long as 2 years to get to the story of Jesus, but we are seeing people respond much sooner--sometimes a month, sometimes a week and sometimes in a matter of hours.
Posted by "Bob" | July 30, 2007 12:27 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 12:27
Bob - Thank you for your response. Storying is understood by North American churches as a "foreign" missions technique, but it is something we need to learn how to use in our context, too. In fact, mission categories like "foreign" and "domestic" don't make a lot of sense in light of immigration, cultural change, etc. There is much we need to learn from international missionaries in our practice of North American missions.
Yes, we the church are often the resistant ones. May that change dramatically! And may you continue to reap a harvest of souls.
Thanks for the dialogue.
Robby
Posted by Robby Partain | July 30, 2007 1:50 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 13:50
Bob,
Thank you sir for your ministry in such a dangerous area. I firmly believe that Heb. 11:38 speaks of people like you.
Regarding methods to witness to Muslims, I was curious about what you felt about the CAMEL method. The first I heard of it was in my Missiology class a few years ago & there seems to be much doubt about it from some, but I really don't know what to think about it. I dobt that I personally would buy into it lock, stock, & barrel - but I also see how some of its principles could be useful.
As someone witnessing to Muslims daily, what do you think of it?
Posted by John | July 30, 2007 2:39 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 14:39
Robby,
I agree--the distinction between home and foreign needs to be erased. I spent 10 years as a home missionay before going overseas. One of the biggest surprises for me was how little the issues changed.
Blessings,
Bob
Posted by "Bob" | July 30, 2007 5:39 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 17:39
John,
The Camel method sure is a hot topic right now!
I am amazed at how much heat it is generating in the blogosphere.
In the training we do for people we have reduced the original book down to two pages. One thing that Kevin says repeatedly that is often lost in the discussion is that the Camel is not a way to share the gospel--it is a way to start a conversation that can lead to a chance to share the gospel.
What we have taken from the Camel method is simply to say something like, "Hey, I have read parts of your book and I see it says some pretty amazing things about Jesus." After a brief discussion on that point we say, "You know, your book doesn't say a lot about Jesus, but the Gospels do. Would you like to read a copy?" Or we show the Jesus film.
Actually, the Camel as we use it is mostly a tool to encourage Christians that they can actually speak to Muslims. Most of them are terrified! So we show them how to start a conversation on spiritual matters. When they go out and try for the most part they forget all about the Camel and just share the gospel--but learning the Camel gave them the courage to go out.
Bob
Posted by "Bob" | July 30, 2007 5:50 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 17:50
Bob,
That seemed to be the consensus of my Missiology class & I think its spot on.
Posted by John | July 30, 2007 7:37 PM
Posted on July 30, 2007 19:37