Revolution in World Missions

Chapter 8, A New Day in Missions Several hundred dedicated believers now were supporting Native missionaries. But despite this aura of success, many things broke my heart, especially the condition of American Christians. What happened to the zeal for missions and outreach that made this nation so great? Night after night, I stood before audiences, trying my best to communicate the global realities of our planet. But somehow I was not getting through. I could see their unfulfilled destiny so clearly. Why couldn't they? Here were people of great privilege, a nation more able, more affluent, and more free to act on the Great Commission than any other in all of history. Yet my audiences did not seem to comprehend this. Even more confusing to me was the fact that in personal dealings, I found my hosts to be basically fair, often generous, and spiritually gifted. Like the church in the first century Corinth, they appeared to excel in every spiritual blessing. Why then, I asked the Lord, was I failing to get through? If the Native missionary movement was really the will of God, and I knew it was, then why were the people so slow to respond? Something obviously had gone wrong. Satan had sprung a trap, or perhaps many traps, on the minds of Western Christians. Plainly, they had lost the gospel mandate, abdicating the heritage of missionary outreach, the call of God that still rests on this nation. In my prayers, I began to seek a message from God that would bring a change in lifestyle to the American church. It came over a period of weeks, and that message came loud and clear. Unless there is repentance among Christians, individually and in concert as a community of believers, an awesome judgment will fall on America. I was certain then, and still am today, that God's loving hand of grace and forgiveness remains extended to His people. Two reasons, it appeared to me, were the cause for the current malaise that has fastened like cancer on American believers. The first is historical. The second is unconfessed sins related to three basic iniquities—pride, unbelief, and worldliness. Historically, the Western church lost its grip on the challenge for world missions at the end of World War II. Ever since that time, its moral mandate and vision for global outreach have continued to fade. Many average North American believers can hardly pronounce the word missionary without having cartoon caricatures of ridiculous little men in pith helmets pop into mind—images of cannibals with spears and huge black pots of boiling water. Despite a valiant rearguard action by many outstanding evangelical leaders and missions, it has been impossible for the Western missionary movement to keep up with exploding populations and the new political realities of nationalism in the Two-Thirds world. Most Christians in North America still conceive of missions in terms of blond-haired, blue-eyed white people going to the dark-skinned Two-Thirds world nations. In reality, all of that changed at the end of World War II when the Western powers lost political and military control of their former colonies. When I stand before North American audiences in churches and mission conferences, people are astonished to hear the real facts of missions today. The frontline work of missions in Asia has been taken over almost completely by indigenous missionaries. And the results are outstanding. Believers are shocked to learn that Native missionaries are starting hundreds of new churches every week in the Two-Thirds world. That thousands of people a day are being converted to Christ. And that tens of thousands of well-qualified, spiritually able men and women now are ready to start more mission work if we can raise their support. In India, which no longer permits Western missionary evangelists, more church growth and outreach are happening now than at any point in our history. China is another good example of the new realities. When the Communists drove Western missionaries out and closed the churches in 1950, it seemed that Christianity was dead. In fact, most of the known leaders were imprisoned, and a whole generation of Chinese pastors was killed or disappeared in Communist prisons and torture chambers. But today, communication is open again with China, and over 500,000 underground churches reportedly have sprung up during the Communist persecution. Estimates of the number of Christians today in China vary widely, but responsible authorities place it around 50 million, compared to 1 million when Western missionaries were driven out. Again, all this has happened under the spiritual direction of the indigenous church movement. From a historical perspective, it is not difficult to trace how Western thinking has been confused by the march of history. In the early 1950s, the destruction of the colonial missionary establishment was big news. As the doors of China, India, Myanmar, North Korea, North Vietnam, and many other newly independent nations slammed shut on Western missionaries, it was natural for the traditional churches and denominational missions to assume that their day had ended. That, of course, was in itself untrue, as evidenced by the growth of evangelical missions in the same period. But many became convinced then that the age of missions had ended forever. Except for the annual missions appeal in most churches, many North American believers lost hope of seeing the Great Commission of Christ fulfilled on a global scale. Although it was rarely stated, the implication was this. If North American or Western European-based mission boards were not leading the way, then it could not happen. Mission monies once used to proclaim the gospel were more and more sidetracked into the charitable social programs toward which the new governments of the former colonies were more sympathetic. A convenient theology of missions developed that today sometimes equates social and political action with evangelism. Many of the Western missionaries who did stay on in Asia also were deeply affected by the rise of nationalism. They began a steady retreat from evangelism and discipleship, concentrating for the most part on broadcasting, education, medical, publishing, relief, and social work. Missionaries, when home in the West, continued to give the impression that indigenization meant not only the pullout of Western personnel, but also the pullout of financial and other assistance. The debate among Western leaders about the future of missions has in the meantime raged on, producing whole libraries of books and some valuable research. Regrettably, however, the overall result on the average Christian has been extremely negative. Believers today have no idea that a new day in missions has dawned or that their support of missions is more desperately needed than ever before. True, in many cases, it no longer is possible for political reasons for Western missionaries to go overseas, but American believers still have a vital role in helping us in the two-thirds world finish the task. I praise God for the pioneer work done by Hudson Taylor and others like him, who were sent by believers at home in the past. Now, in countries like India, we need instead to send financial and technical support to Native evangelists and Bible teachers. Imagine the implications of being involved in the work of the Great Commission, of getting your church and family to join with you in supporting Native missions. Picture this very possible scene. You finish your life on this earth. You arrive in heaven. There, enthroned in all his glory, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The other saints and martyrs you have read about are there, Abraham, Moses, Peter, and Paul, plus great leaders from more recent times. Your family and loved ones who obeyed the gospel are also there. They are all welcoming you into heaven. You walk around in bliss, filled with joy and praise. All the promises of the Bible are true. The streets really are gold, and the glory of God shines brightly, replacing the sun, moon, and stars. It is beyond the power of any man to describe. Then, scores of strangers whom you don't recognize start to gather around with happy smiles and outstretched arms. They embrace you with affection and gratitude. Thank you, thank you, thank you, they repeat in a chorus. With great surprise, you ask, what did I do? I've never seen you before. They tell you the story of how they came to be in heaven, all because your love and concern reached out to them while they were on earth. You see that these persons come from every tongue and tribe, just as the Bible says, from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand, and the Philippines. But what exactly did I do, you ask? Then, like a replay of a videotape, your mind goes back to a day in your life on earth when a local mission coordinator came to your church. He told you about the lost millions of Asia, about the 400 million who have never heard the gospel in India alone. He told you about the desperately poor native missionaries and challenged you to support them. As a result of your support, the crowd of Asians continues, one of our own, a native evangelist, came to us and preached the gospel of the kingdom. He lives simply, just like us, speaking our language and dressed in our clothing. We were able to accept his message easily. We learned for the first time about the love of Jesus, who died on the cross for us, and how his blood redeemed us from sin, Satan, and death. As the crowd finishes, several whole families come up to you. You can see the tenderness and gratefulness on their faces as well. They join the others, taking you in their arms and thanking you again. How can we ever express our appreciation for the love and kindness you showed by supporting us on the earth as we struggled in the service of the Lord? Often we went without food. Our children cried for milk, but we had none to give. Unknown and forsaken by our own people, we sought to witness to our own people who had never heard the gospel. Now they are here in eternity with us. In the middle of our suffering, you came into our lives with your prayers and financial support. Your help relieved us so much, making it possible for us to carry on the work of the Lord. We never had a chance to see you face to face in the world. Now we can see you here and spend all eternity rejoicing with you over the victories of the Lord. Now Jesus himself appears. You bow as he quotes the familiar scripture verses to you. For I was hungry and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. Verily I say to you, inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me. Matthew 25, 35 through 36 and 40. Is this just a fanciful story or will it be reality for many thousands of North American Christians? I believe it could happen as Christians arrive in heaven and see how they have laid up treasures where moth and rust cannot corrupt. Every time I stand before an audience, I try early in my message to ask two very important questions that every Christian needs to ask himself. Why do you think God has allowed you to be born in North America or Europe rather than among the poor masses of Africa and Asia and to be blessed with such material and spiritual abundance? In light of the super abundance you enjoy here, what do you think is your minimal responsibility to the untold millions of lost and suffering in the two-thirds world? You have been born among the privileged elite of this world. You have so much while others have so little. Think a moment about the vast difference between your country and the nations without a Christian heritage. One-fourth of the world's population lives on an income of less than $1 a day, most of them in Asia. The gross national income per person in South Asia is only $460 a year. Americans earn an average of 77 times more, and Christian Americans, because they tend to live in the upper half of the economy, earn even more. In most countries where Gospel for Asia is serving the native missionary movement, a good wage is $1 to $3 a day. While much of the world is concerned mainly about where its next meal is coming from, affluent North Americans spend most of their wages and waking moments planning unnecessary purchases. People in the United States, Canada, and Europe enjoy freedom of choice, political freedoms of speech, press and assembly, freedom to worship and organize religious ministries, freedom to choose where and how to live, and freedom to organize themselves to correct injustices and problems both at home and abroad are accepted as normal. Leisure time and disposable income, although not written into law, free citizens of the Western world from the basic wants that make living so difficult in many other parts of the world. A large number of service networks and communications, education, finance, mass media, and transportation are available that make it easy to effect change. Not having these services available is an enormous handicap to people in most other parts of the world. Finally, few domestic needs exist. Although unemployment is a serious problem in some areas, it is many times higher in nearly every country of the two-thirds world. How many of us can comprehend the suffering of the millions of homeless and starving people in nations like Bangladesh? Overseas, the problems are on a grand scale. Some nations struggle to help themselves but still fail woefully. This list illustrates the many advantages of living in the Western world where benefits have come largely because of a Christian heritage.