This past September Ed Stetzer posted an insightful article titled “Five Reasons Missional Churches Don’t Do Global Missions and How to Fix It,” which challenges so-called missional churches to be more concerned with taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Here are the five reasons he thinks so many so-called missional churches are not committed to global missions:
1) In rediscovering God’s mission, many have only discovered its personal dimensions. In other words, when everyone is encouraged to be on mission they tend to apply that solely to their local context and thus, by default to the neglect of the rest of the world. They are so focused on their “Jerusalem” that they forget about “Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
2) In responding to God’s mission, many have wanted to be more mission-shaped and have therefore made everything “mission.” Making everything “mission” leads to a devaluation of frontier missions, taking the Gospel to those who do not have access to it. If everything is missional then global missions in just one more activity in a long list of missional activities.
3) In relating God’s mission, the message increasingly includes the hurting but less frequently includes the global lost. Although it is crucial that Christians help bring about justice, this should not be done devoid of the Gospel. Helping the poor should not replace proclaiming the Gospel.
4) In refocusing on God’s mission, many are focusing on being good news rather than telling good news. Embodying the Gospel must include communicating the Gospel, especially to people groups who do not have access to it.
5) In reiterating God’s mission, many lose the context of the church’s global mission and needed global presence. The desire to emphasize the local church and being committed to reaching their own community often can blind churches to the global nature of the church’s mission.
In order to fix these problems Stetzer recommends:
“First, recognize it is God’s mission, and we need to be passionate about the mission as He describes it. We don’t own mission and it is not ours to define. A church vision statement is fine, but God’s mission is better and bigger. Our first task is to submit to God’s mission.
Secondly, evangelicals have understated the call to serve the poor and the hurting and need a stronger engagement in social justice. This sounds counterintuitive if we are seeking to remedy the loss of concern for articulated evangelism. But social engagement entails relational engagement, and relational engagement entails opportunities to share the gospel. The successes and experiences in our communities should awaken hearts and minds to global needs. We just need to maintain the reason for social justice: the glory of God in the worship of Jesus.
Third, share God’s deep concern about His mission to the nations– that His name be praised from the lips of men and women from every corner of the globe. Feel the Great Commission in your bones. Ask God to turn your heart to those you cannot see. As Paul did, develop ways to “struggle personally” (Colossians 2:1) for those far away.
Fourthly, churches that are serious about joining God on his mission will obey his commands to disciple the nations. The end product of missional endeavors should be a thriving Christian ready to produce more thriving Christians.”
Stetzer concludes his article with the following words:
“It appears to me that many missional churches are missing the Great Commission in the name of being missional. That makes zero sense. It is a huge (but historically common) mistake. If we are truly interested in being missional– in joining God on His mission– our efforts should actually reflect His stated mission. We are bound to the Great Commandment as the fullest human expression of God’s love. But the Commandment is not hermetically sealed off from the Great Commission. Rather, the Great Commission provides the what of mission, while the Great Commandment provides part of the how. Answering the age-old question of “Who is my neighbor?” should result in the desire to “make disciples of all nations.”"
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