This past Sunday, we had a guest preacher at our church who is heavily involved in foreign missions work (our longtime pastor recently retired and our new pastor is in the process of moving here from the Northeast). For the sake of brevity, we will call him “Luke.”
In between morning and afternoon worship services, Luke gave a brief presentation on his work throughout Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia, and Pakistan. And, as usual, it got me thinking.
Much of the church in our social media-era looks the same: well-groomed pastors wearing fashionable clothes and expensive shoes. Guys like Furtick, Lentz, and Judah Smith pop on stage in a $2,000 sweater and some Balenciaga sneakers and we’re all supposed to swoon over the 645th consecutive “talk” on how God was neither Republican or Democrat. “This.” “THAT WAS A WORD.” “Fire emoji, fire emoji, fire emoji.” I’m convinced that if I had the right outfit and the right tone/inflection, I could go up on any megachurch stage, give an inspiring monologue about absolutely nothing, and have the entire audience clapping like seals, even if everything I said blatantly contradicted Scripture and Christian tradition.
The watching world laughs, and understandably so.
But there is an entirely different side to the church that most casual attendees (or “CEOs,” Christmas & Easter Only) never see, and that’s the pastor, called by God to preach the gospel and shepherd His people, trying to provide for a wife and handful of children while living dangerously close to the poverty line, without complaint, week after week, year after year. Many of these men and their families spend years living in dangerous foreign countries, far from home, in the midst of contagious diseases like tuberculosis, preaching to the lost and planting churches.
As I listened to Luke talk this past Sunday about seeing countless Ethiopians come to Christ in the midst of Muslim persecution, often from their own family members, I couldn’t help but consider the stark contrast between the polished Christianity of social media and the men and women pounding the dirt and pavement to serve Christ.
Disclaimer: I’m certainly not saying you need to do international missions to fulfill the Great Commission. America, has plenty of its own issues that need the gospel, too, including people who live next door to us, now. But even more than that; the people within our own homes. Our own families! Luke actually pointed out that by training and discipling foreign pastors, they were essentially training the missionaries who might one day come to the United States and evangelize our grandchildren. News flash, modern America needs missionaries just as much as Africa does, and perhaps more; we are now known around the world, at least in some places, as being a central hub for degeneracy and sinful living. It’s not crazy to think that in the year 2100, we will be the hotspot for international missionaries to come and fulfill the Great Commission amidst a wicked culture completely hostile to the gospel. Now, Lord willing, that will not include my grandchildren or yours. But how crazy is that to think about? There are endless opportunities to subvert evil in this world. For the sake of time, I’m simply going to address international missions on this post, but I intend to highlight other opportunities in future posts.
Luke told us that the people he serves, who live primarily in refugee camps and slums, have two main requests from the Western missionaries. The first is prayer. The second is Bibles.
As we go forward in the 21st century as a church, I believe the flashy, hipster, trendy churches will continue to decline. What’s the point in waking up early on a Sunday just to hear the same thing I can hear on a TED talk? You’re perfect the way you are, Jesus loves you no matter what and doesn’t care how you live, God is unconditional love and just wants you to find your purpose. People are craving direct speech, firm doctrine, and unchanging truth. In short, the gospel, which saves.
Which brings me to my next point: missions of the future will look much more like unconventional warfare as we know it today.
Unconventional warfare is defined by *the internet* as:
military and quasi-military operations other than conventional warfare and may use covert forces or actions such as subversion, sabotage, espionage, propaganda, or guerrilla warfare
America is known for its love of sending fit, intelligent, capable young men to sow disorder within enemy governments, foment institutional distrust, and ultimately, break strongholds of tyranny and/or terror across the world (yes, I understand the irony in that statement, but play along for the sake of the metaphor). We deploy small, well-trained, agile strike forces who can manipulate and exploit human intelligence networks in order to infiltrate, recruit, influence, train, and employ the local population to accomplish strategic objectives, men and women capable of living off the local infrastructure, adapting to local customs and traditions, and operating far from traditional centers of logistical support in order to create organic units from the ground up.
The spiritual battlefield will soon require similar efforts.
We need courageous, capable young men, armed with the gospel and the Spirit of God, to deploy abroad, scatter Christ’s enemies, plant churches, disciple, and further God’s Kingdom in semi-hostile and hostile territory.
Without much fanfare, there are thousands of men and women doing this now. Luke told the story of a young, single, American woman currently living deep in the heartland of Somalia “teaching English” and bringing many to Christ. She serves as a great example.
But these people will inevitably grow old and/or rotate back to the States for R&R or new careers. Who will be there to backfill them? And who better to take the baton than those of you who did this for a living, who crave adventure, austerity, and hardship, and who have dedicated your lives to freeing the oppressed, protecting the vulnerable, and pushing evil back into the shadows?
From what I can tell, the mission field of the 21st century and beyond will look less like a latte bar and a photo booth in the church lobby, and more like a jet boil in a refugee camp; less like a Gucci sweater, and more like a down jacket on a campstool in a wind-torn mountain valley; less like smoke machines and laser lights and high definition multimedia, more like a headlamp, a folding chair, and a well-worn Bible; less like a talented, Spotify-worthy band, and more like an a cappella Psalm or Doxology sung around a flickering fire as the Muslim call to prayer rings out across the city.
We are at war. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of evil, and the good guys need you. I don’t want to over romanticize this, and I understand this might apply to maybe one or two of you, max. Just like any profession, you will need to be trained, and it will require a great deal of time, money, and effort.
But if this piques your interest, reach out. I’ve got a good contact to get you started.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. - Matthew 16:25
Christ is King,
LC