More thoughts on missions (Mariental Part 4)

When all was said and done they had gathered salvation cards from about 4% of the 13,000 people who live in Mariental. Then on top of that were the multitude of people who were prayed for or preached to in their homes. In one weekend, hundreds of seeds were sown for the gospel, but what now? A “Jesus Film” team will be spending the next two weeks there, but is that sufficient?

This always seems to be the looming question when it comes to short-term missions. It’s easy enough to descend on a place for a weekend or a 2 week missions trip, collect hundreds of professions of faith, and leave with promises to pray for the new believers. But making disciples has never been a short-term commitment. Jesus shared his life for 3 years with his disciples before they were released to unleash the gospel on the world. Paul stayed in one place for months or even years at a time if he could before moving on to the next city. Making disciples means walking a road with people. It’s not just about “baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” but also includes “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20) This has always been my issue with short-term missions.

But on the other hand, Jesus, Paul, the disciples, they all left. They equipped new believers to carry on the mission in their own community. Missions isn’t meant to be a long-term commitment either. How often do missionaries today settle in a particular community rather than equipping the local believers to fulfill the mission that God has called them to? Maybe we have a sovereignty complex thinking that we’re the ones that make people into good little Christians. But it is “He who began a good work in you [who] is faithful to complete it.” (Phil 1:6) This is my issue with long-term missions.

So do we abandon missions all together? By no means! Part of that mission was to make disciples of “all nations.” We absolutely must take the gospel to those who have never heard. But we must also release new believers to take part in that mission. If short-term missions releases them without equipping them, and long-term missions never releases them, then we must find somewhere in between that equips local believers and releases them in their own communities. In other words, missionaries should be working themselves out of a job by training and equipping local believers to make disciples.

By release I do not mean abandon. Jesus returned to the Father, but sent the Holy Spirit. Paul sent letters back to the churches he had planted to rebuke and correct them as well as encourage them. He also returned to many of those places reconnecting with old friends. In this age of technology and transportation it makes such connections even simpler. Making disciples of all nations has never seemed more plausible. But we may need a major paradigm shift in the way we think about missions. What do you think?