I’ve just had my perspective pretty much changed on what it is that churches should be doing. It’s salutary to “stand corrected” and to have to rethink one’s ideas. Well, I’m a fairly new Christian (in the “born-again” sense) so that’s to be expected, I can hear you say.
True, but maybe a lot of long-time Christians are in need of a rethink too, because we all tend to slip into patterns of thinking that come to us from the basic assumptions of our church or our teachers. I suspect that established churches in westen countries tend to be focused around their assets (the Church building, the Sunday-School building, the Hall…), and their good works (the soup kitchen, the food parcels, the fundraising, relieving poverty…), and the energy and money required to keep the whole thing afloat.
The value of humanitarian works is not to be denied, and I have to admit I’ve been very enthusiastic about good works of this nature in the past. After all, what could be more logical than supplying a community need and using that as an outreach tool? Or so I thought. After all, this is how overseas missionary work was conducted in the 19th and 20th centuries. So that’s fine, isn’t it?
Well, I’m not so sure, now. One of the most startling things that jumped out at me from the pages of K P Yohannan’s “Revolution in World Missions” is the basic, basic fact that saving souls is more important than all the good works you can think of.
K P has a special calling, because he not only has a huge depth of knowledge on the history and cultures of Asian countries as a native-born, but because God plucked him out of India, where he was already a missionary, and translocated him into the western world – Texas, USA to be precise. K P can see into both worlds, with the wisdom of that encompassing overview, and it is a privilege to read his book and learn from his insights.
I have to say that reading “Revolution in World Missions” made me feel like I had been transported back into the days of the early Christian Church. There is the same focus and clarity of vision, the same “non-worldliness”, the same priority for saving souls from the devil. And, let’s face it, if we accept the Bible as God’s word, we have to accept that any human being who has not committed his soul to Jesus Christ is part of the devil’s real estate.
While K P does not denounce humanitarian aid – and his own mission is doing good works as well as winning souls for Christ – he DOES denounce the tendency for such aid to get out of balance. He sees this as a trick of the devil to deflect the power of the Gospel, and I have to say I think he is right. To back up his thesis, he has some great statistics that show how ineffective some of the 19th/20th century humanitarian missionary efforts were in actually saving souls. He cites Thailand, China and parts of India as cases in point. I have seen exactly the same thing happen to outreach programs here in New Zealand.
I’d like to quote one of the most striking passages in K P’s book:
“To keep Christian missions off balance, Satan has woven a masterful web of deceit and lies. He has invented a whole system of appealing half-truths to confuse the Church and ensure that millions go to hell without ever receiving the Gospel. Here are a few of his more common inventions: …
3) They will not listen to the Gospel unless we offer them something else first. I have sat on the streets of Bombay with beggars – poor men who very soon would die. In sharing the Gospel with many of them, I told them I had no material goods to give them, but I came to offer eternal life. … What a joy it was to see some of them opening their hearts after hearing of the forgiveness of sin they can find in Jesus! That is exactly what the Bible teaches in Rom 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Substituting a bowl of rice for the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will never save a soul and will rarely change the attitude of a man’s heart. We will not even begin to make a dent in the kingdom of darkess until we lift up Christ with all the authority, power and revelation that is given to us in the Bible.”
We shouldn’t need to be told that the salt and flavor of Christ’s mission has been watered down over the centuries since he trod on earth. I am sure that “Feed my sheep!” does not mean set up soup kitchens and hospitals, and if you have the time and money left, THEN do a bit of preaching. That was certainly not how the Apostles and Paul interpreted it, and they were a whole lot closer to the Lord than we are.
I recently had it put to me that growing Christians must evidence a hunger for change, and that growing involves the processes of failure, correction, overcoming blind spots, and overcoming strongholds. Takes a bit of digesting to pick this up and apply it to ourselves, but I suspect that’s just what’s needed here.
If you haven’t read it, “Revolution in World Missions” is a free 240 page book that I cannot recommend too highly. Click on the title to order your free copy…
Blessings,
Patricia – http://patriciahowitt.com/
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[...] conviction. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 “Paul knew he was clothed with power and authority. How does Saving Souls or Feeding Bodies? – craigs-journey.damascus-road.info 03/30/2009 I’ve just had my perspective pretty much changed [...]