FR 
EN 
Cross Over to the Other Side
For Christians, the word ‘cross’ symbolises the centrepiece of our faith. However, it is also a verb which denotes an action, a definite and deliberate
Allan is Tilsley College Principal. He and his wife, Jacqui, served in Tanzania, East Africa for seventeen years at Moshi Christian Children’s Centre and Berea Bible College. Allan is an elder at Greenview Church and is leading a small team exploring church planting in Darnley – a southwest suburb of Glasgow. Jacqui and Allan have three grown children and six grandchildren.
When was the last time you heard of someone called of God ‘to preach the gospel’?
Global mission has long since been re-categorised as being from everywhere to everywhere, rather than from the West to the rest. Yet still, from our side of the globe at least, mission activity from the Western hemisphere in the early 21st century is more usually characterised by social engagement in the fields of medical interventions, social justice, education, leadership development or even micro-finance projects.
What about the gospel?
There is no question about the wide acceptability of social enterprise in the world today, marked as it is with overwhelming suffering, injustice, ignorance, exploitation and poverty. Everyone ‘from secularists to Islamists’ welcome such ministry, but when the gospel of the crucified Saviour, Jesus, is proclaimed then attitudes quickly change.
How is Christian mission enterprise to be shaped and accomplished in Jesus’ name? Is the gospel a social gospel?
Certainly, Jesus’ own ministry is summarised by biblical authors in phrases like ‘he went about…teaching… and proclaiming’ (see Mat 4:23, 9:35), and ‘he went around doing good and healing…’ (Acts 10:38). The apostle Paul’s ministry is best known for his gospel preaching and his clear doctrinal teaching, yet neither did he overlook or neglect the social needs and concerns of those whose lives crossed his path (e.g. see Acts 28:7-9). Some have read Paul’s teaching on justification by faith alone to exclude ‘works’ as having no place in Christian faith, but surely this is misconstrued. Paul’s own message of ‘the gospel of God’ for which he was set apart incorporates ethical and moral teaching that would point his readers towards living out the gospel ‘in view of God’s mercy’ (see Rom 1.1; 12.1) and ‘working out’ one’s salvation while looking to the interests of others (Phil 2.4-13).
Evangelical Christians reacted strongly against the lines of the gospel being redrawn in the mid-60s, under the influence of liberal theologians in the Word Council of Churches (WCC). The Christian church at large was facing considerable uncertainty about the truth claims of the Bible in light of pluralism, materialism and globalisation. As a result, ‘mission’ was being redefined. ‘Spiritual’ ministry was under threat as a somewhat inadequate response in the face of rising media presentations about the massive needs of an exploding global population confronted by natural and manmade crises of all sorts. ‘You can’t just preach to a man who has an empty stomach,’ was the response of many. Others were afraid of seeing evangelism and ‘traditional missionary work’ being excluded from their agenda – they could not remain silent despite the calls from the liberal wing ‘to do good works while keeping their mouths shut’.
…it is a call to remember the centrality of the gospel as a spoken message, proclaimed so that it might bring people into fellowship with God through faith in the cross-work of the Lord Jesus Christ
Prominent evangelicals, like John Stott, sought to offer a balanced theology to explain the relation of evangelism and social action, seeing them as two sides of one coin. ‘Neither is a means to the other, or even a manifestation of the other. For each is an end in itself.’ His conclusion was expressed in the saying: ‘Mission describes… everything that the church is sent into the world to do.’ This approach to making the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ known has been the holistic guidepost for evangelicals in mission since. Unquestionably, it has been a mission approach that has brought Christian blessing, transformation, increasing self-sufficiency/prosperity and even spiritual growth and development across the globe.
Holistic approaches to mission enterprise are to be valued.
However, there is a subtle danger inherent in the ‘roundedness’ of this Christian ministry strategy. In the midst of good works and social engagement we might be tempted to downplay, to re-construct or even omit the gospel of salvation from sin and its terrible consequences. Stan Guthrie reminds us of the pressure to compromise gospel truth:
‘While advocates of holistic mission usually stress that evangelism and acts of compassion must work side by side, in practice this is not always possible.’
Renowned missiologist, David Hesselgrave, shares our concern:
‘Unless this… understanding of mission is successfully challenged, the likelihood of retaining the biblical priority of world evangelization in the face of unprecedented needs of every kind will become increasingly difficult.’
Challenging holistic mission as the current mission paradigm is not a call to a moratorium on social engagement by evangelicals by any means. However, it is a call to remember the centrality of the gospel as a spoken message, proclaimed so that it might bring people into fellowship with God through faith in the cross-work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only by His risen life that we can know fullness of life, wholeness and well-being, and not for this life only, but more importantly, for the life to come.
References:
Stan Guthrie, Missions in the Third Millennium (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2000), p.123ff
John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World (Inter-Varsity Press, 1975)
For Christians, the word ‘cross’ symbolises the centrepiece of our faith. However, it is also a verb which denotes an action, a definite and deliberate
“Why not try to paint a picture based on your favourite hymn?” There are many hymns I love, so it’s always hard to choose a
I was raised in a Christian family and was 12 when the Lord called my parents to missionary service. Seeing other countries and cultures was
“You’re not Irish!” he said with a derogatory smile on his face. I was confused, because I thought I was. Some might quip that it
What playlist have you planned to use this summer and what’s it called? Nowadays many of us use playlists on our phones or tablets to
Some words can provoke a reaction. I have sometimes spiced up a conversation with friends by dropping in a word that I know will be
What do you think is the greatest challenge for missionaries? Apparently it’s not necessarily the uncomfortable climate, the unfamiliar diet, the difficulties of language, the
Interesting times we live in! Even if you were alive for the last global pandemic, none of us have experienced anything like this before. The
In this blog, let us think about how our strategies in mission compare with the early church in Acts. Here are two passages from Acts which
Standing one evening with my grandson, who was three years old at the time, we were gazing into the dark night sky. Trying to be
God’s call to us was progressive, slow and measured. Probably, in my case, it started when I was born to missionary parents who came from
Coronavirus: the word on everyone’s lips and the fear in (almost) everyone’s hearts. Response to the pandemic has been mixed. We cannot fail to be
With every job description comes information about the task at hand: what have I to do? Who do I report to? What resources are available
What does it mean to waste life? This is a burning question that all human beings need to face as individuals. Many are wasting the
Being a missionary is not an occupation that many young people would consider these days. When I started as a missionary, there was no salary,
It was toward the end of 1989 when the Lord stopped me in my tracks. For years I had heard the gospel through a Christian
In Acts 8:26-35, we eavesdrop as Philip shares the Message of Jesus with a fellow-traveller. 1) Listening to God (8:26, 29) Philip was a person open
In my first blog I mentioned how important Christian camps have been to us as a family and especially to our two boys Josiah and Joseph.
What should our strategy for mission be?That’s a question many books and articles seek to grapple with. But whilst a lot of these strategies are
These were the remarkable words that Jesus said to his disciples. They’d seen that the crowd who were there to listen to Jesus were in
If you would like to receive information about our next events feel free to sign up to our mailing list.
© Copyright 2019 GLO Europe. All Rights Reserved | GLO-Europe is a charitable Trust based at 78 Muir Street, Motherwell, ML1 1BN.