The Missionary Position

Since watching the movie Rambo, earlier this year, I have been looking at and studying missionaries; why they choose to go to dangerous places, what inspires them and makes them tick, strategies they use to share the Gospel, and so on.

I realize that I may not be a missionary in the traditional meaning of the word, but would say that I am an urban missionary. Dictionary.com defines the word “missionary” as, “a person who is sent on a mission who is prompted by the desire to persuade or convert others.” Amen, this perfectly describes my hearts desire!

Over the past months I have been looking at stories of the “traditional” missionary; one who is sent to far away places; and seeing how they won people to Christ. One book I have read is “In the Presence of My Enemies“ the extraordinary autobiography by Gracia Barnham. The book is about one year in the lives of Gracia and her husband Martin, American missionaries who were kidnapped by the Islamic extremist group, Abu Sayyaf, back in 2001. I was both challenged and inspired by the Barnham’s missionary heart and mindset. They may have found themselves in a nightmare scenario, yet they still had the belief and conviction that they were on a mission from God throughout their one year ordeal.

If we are honest, we in the Western World are now living in what’s called a post-Christian society, a society in which we have lost the culture war. There was a time, long ago it seems, when the multitudes believed in God, at least in one way or another. However, we now live in a society that either doesn’t want to know or is totally ignorant of the God of the Bible. We are now in an age similar, spiritually speaking, to the times of the early church.

A few years back I was exposed to this reality first hand. I was talking to a woman in her early 20′s who didn’t know that the movie The Passion of the Christ was, according to Christian tradition, a true story; in fact before seeing the movie she didn’t know who Jesus was or what he claimed to be. I was further shocked when she revealed that she didn’t even know what the Holy Bible was!

As a preacher I have had the opportunity to share the Gospel message with many people over the past few years, both in person and on the internet. And one thing is abundantly clear to me; we are indeed living in a post-Christian society. More and more I find that the conversations I have with people are less about the deep things of the Christian faith and more about the basics. It’s amazing that in a few short years we have advanced, yet regressed, so much as a society. We now have more laws in place to protect people, even the guilty, and advancements in medicines and technology have kept us all on our toes. And yet, for every step forward we take as a society, it seems the church takes two steps back in regards to the advancement of the Gospel.

As far back as I can remember I was taught biblical truths, predominately in my home (my family was far from Christian, but I have fond memories of my mother reading Bible stories to me at an early age) and at school (I come from the UK and the “get God out of schools” argument hadn’t reached the UK back when I was a child). And it is in the home and school that children here in North America are now least likely to hear reference to the same core truths that I and countless others were exposed to.

In this sense, we have regressed to the point where children are now growing up knowing nothing about the God and His Word that our forefathers valued so highly. George Gallup in 1997, only eleven years ago said, “More than 44% of American adults 18 and over are unchurched; 120 million Americans have no substantial Christian memory.”

“97% of the world has heard of coke-a-cola; 72% of the world has seen a can of coke-a-cola; 51% of the world has tasted a can of coke-a-cola; Coke has only been around 80 years (1984). If God had given the task of world evangelization to the Coke company it would probably be done by now. “ Source Unknown

So we find ourselves at a very interesting time in history. The need for sharing the Gospel to the “unreached” is now not only needed in places like Africa but on our own soil, to the world next door! While a large percentage of western Christians have busied themselves with “playing church” many countless numbers of people slip through the cracks of this world.

According to many Christian leaders, North America is now the largest mission field in the English-speaking world. It seems that many Christians and churches have become more concerned with meeting budgets and finances, personal needs (and wants), and worship/gender issues, rather than sharing the life saving Gospel with a lost, hurting, and dying world. In short, the western church in general is somewhat guilty of become so inward focused that it has all but forgotten to do the one thing the church is supposed to do… share the Gospel.

I find it quite ironic that not so long ago we sent our missionaries out to those we considered the unreached peoples of the world, yet these same people, including Africans, Filipinos, and Koreans, are now seeing our lack of enthusiasm and apathetic “churchianity” and are sending their missionaries to us.

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
November, 2008

Picture by Kristal Lindo