Kingdom People Living by Kingdom Principles: A Holistic Approach to the Call of Missions

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

What Are The Definitions & Terms Relating To Missions?

Chapter 2

What Is The Biblical Perspective Of Missions?

Chapter 3

What Lessons Can We Learn From The History Of Missions?

Chapter 4

How Do We Apply The Theology Of Change To Missions?

Chapter 5

How Can We Apply The Concepts Of Missions In A Practical Way?

Chapter 6

What Is Strategic Evangelism?

Resources

Bibliography

DEDICATION

To my wife, Jacqueline, you have been my most ardent supporter and your encouragement has proved invaluable. To my sons Jonathan and Justin, this is a reminder that with God’s help, you can be whatever you put your mind to become.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge my wife, Jacqueline Jenkins, and my sons, Jonathan and Justin for their support and encouragement, which have kept me going to the completion of this project. I also want to thank the members of my site team that supported me during my research: Michael Campbell, Marcia Ricketts, Dr. Prince Morgan, Rev. Linton Thomas, Rev. Roy Scott, Rev. Carlton Godfrey, and Tonia Jenkins. I would like to acknowledge Tonia Jenkins, Rev. Linton Thomas, Joan Stewart-Gayle, Rev. Daren Larmond and Marcia Ricketts for helping with proofreading my writing, which makes up this book.

Thanks to the members and friends of Bethel Temple of Praise and the First UB Church in the Bronx for allowing me to test the premise of this book at their location. Thanks to Pastor John J. Brainard and the Living Word UB Church, Columbus, OH, for helping with the survey.

Ultimately, I want to give all the praise and thanks to God. It is in Him we live and exist, and everything is made for His glory. This book is simply an offering to Him.

PREFACE

For over nine years, I have been a bi-vocational church planter and pastor in Yonkers, New York. I have become aware that churches sometimes are not effective in reaching their immediate communities. If your church should move out of the community, would the community notice that your church does no longer exist? There appears to be a myopic view of the mission of both local churches and the Mission of the universal Church.

As part of the preparation for the premise of this book, we conducted a survey of one hundred and five (105) random individuals at Yonkers train station and Downtown Yonkers, in Yonkers, NY. We found 49% of the individuals said that the Church is very relevant today. Also, 8% of the persons that were interviewed said the Church is not relevant. It was revealed that 33% agreed that the purpose of the Church should be to provide spiritually for the community, and the rest said it should also provide for other areas; they were asked how often the Church should cater for the needs of the communities and 59% said always. When asked who the church represents, 39% said the religious and 26% said everyone.

The next sets of questions were related to their church experiences (Purpose of the Church). 27%, of those surveyed, attended almost every week while equal percentages attended Church services a minimum of one Sunday per month. What was fascinating was that of those who never attended or have not attended church in the last year, 44% said the Church is somewhat relevant, 29% said the Church is for everyone, and 47% said that the Church is for the religious. When the question was asked related to the Church catering for the needs of the community, of those that never attended or have not attended church in the last year, 37% said the Church must always cater for the needs of the community, and 32% said sometimes. Overall, 85% scored over 3 (from a range of 1 to 5 with 5 as the highest score) when asked how they felt about their church attendance; 37% gave a grade of 5. 58% said that their needs were met when they attended church. While childcare, counseling, afterschool, and seeking friendship scored equal percentages as to why people attend church, 46% still expect that the Church should provide for spiritual experiences. As for the sermon, 56% gave it a 5, indicating that they understood the sermon; and 46% gave it a 5, indicating that the sermon was relevant.

This survey was slightly modified to accommodate our church community, and 100% of those that were interviewed said that the church was on target with its vision and mission; 100% would recommend our church to others. They support the vision of holistic missions and believe that the church must cater to the physical and the spiritual needs of each person. The expectation of the community and the church is that the church must continue to provide spiritual development, but should also provide for the felt needs of the community.

What was concluded from this is that the Church has a perfect opportunity to minister to the community in a holistic way. While many are not attending on a regular basis, their expectations are that the Church should put spiritual needs first and that they should also provide for the needs of the community. The Church should not drift away from its Biblical mandate, but embrace it. We can take courage that the majority still finds the Church relevant and are looking to the Church for spiritual guidance. We should not be comfortable because many of those that were interviewed and are not active church attendees were once active church attendees. They have stopped going to church or have reduced their frequency because someone or some circumstance in the Church hurt them. We still have a lot of work to do, and we must earnestly advance the mission of the Church.

I have developed a process (based on seminars and workshops) that will increase awareness as to how churches can apply a missional theology in order to challenge the Church to rediscover its Biblical call to holistic missions. This is applicable to all areas of ministries. This process draws from Biblical models and principles that are applicable in any context. The challenge to be truly missional requires that persons consider themselves to be disciples, and begin to engage their communities in their everyday life, to be incarnate. How can they apply the same principles used in international missionary endeavors, in their local settings? How will missions and being missional in the 21st century be any different from the Colonial Periods? Also, how can we mobilize the laity to become active in carrying out the Great Commission, Commandment and Compassion? These questions have posed a challenge to the Church. I seek to answer those questions.

The challenges that seem to be facing some Yonkers churches are similar to those that face the North American Churches.¹ Some of these challenges are diversity of the harvest, an increasingly large harvest, lack of harvesters, and lack of focus in the local churches, a dying church, lack of spiritual leaders and an unclear understanding and presentation of the Gospel.

In the Gospel of Luke chapter 10:2 reads, And he said to them, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." ² This was Jesus’ view of the many souls that were not saved. This picture is true today of the North American Church and begs the question Has the Church lost its focus of the Great Commission, Commandment and Compassion—holistic missions? Many churches are declining, and even dying, while the ‘unchurched’ population is increasing. Ed Stetzer and Mike Dobson stated that three denominations —Assemblies of God, Nazarene, and Southern Baptists — all reported a decline in their membership.³ While many churches in these denominations are growing, the greater portion is declining.

We do not have to travel miles and overseas to some foreign country to locate the mission field. Right here, literally in our backyards, the world has come to us as Sadiri Joy Tira, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization senior associate for Diasporas, said, The world has become borderless.⁴

The next challenge that Jesus identified was that the laborers are few (Luke 10:2). Many churches lack disciples or self-feeders (Christ-centered persons) that are harvesters. According to Ed Stetzer and Mike Dobson in the book entitled Come Back Churches, seventy to eighty percent (70-80%) of North American Churches are in decline and 3,500 to 4,000 U.S. churches close their doors every year. We are only planting about 3,500 to 4,000 per year, and when we add in population growth we are behind with the number of churches that are needed.

To be truly missional requires a holistic approach that includes the Great Commandment, Great Commission and the Great Compassion (the Great C’s), this I call The Circle of Mission. It is about ministering to the total person and requires an investment into person’s lives, of our time and our finances. This is a long-term investment.

INTRODUCTION

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

The Church is God’s people living in this world and acting as catalysis for change.

Rick Warren

In order for the Church to effectively deal with the attitudes of the congregation, and to be more holistic in their approach to missions while being theologically consistent with the Biblical mandates, it will require an understanding of the theology as it relates to missions: Church, world, and Kingdom of God. There are several themes that are illustrated in the Bible relating to different aspects of missions that can be seen throughout Church history. Two of these themes are the understanding of the main object of missions and the structures involved. It is pertinent for this book, to posit a working definition that will follow us throughout this book. One cannot define missions without defining the Kingdom of God. As we seek to articulate this meaning, it will be helpful to consider these meanings as they relate to eschatology and the ecclesia. Entrance into the Kingdom of God is clearly defined in Scriptures; so what is its meaning within the context of this book?

Church history is a hidden treasure of practical and demonstrative information relating to missions and the Church’s understanding and application of missions. The early Church took the commission very seriously because they believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Armed with this conviction, they wanted to take the Gospel message to the entire world as they knew it. The foundation of the early Church was about advancing the Kingdom of God by spreading the Gospel message. Throughout Church history, there were many who benefited from the advancement of the Gospel, and they were sometimes willing supporters because of other reasons apart from the Gospel. What they have found were that people were converted into the Kingdom of God and living a life that was admirable and these new converts became responsible citizens, workers, neighbors, and employees.

In the first one hundred years, we saw the purely Jewish Christian Church developed into the majority Gentile Church. It was the Apostles’ commitment to the Great Commission empowered by the Holy Spirit that led to the spread of Christianity during this time. Later, the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church took up a similar thrust, and once again missions were at the forefront of their endeavors. The birth of Protestantism came from a desire to become more like the Christ of the Bible. They originally were not actively involved in missions because of their efforts codifying their doctrines during the Reformation. On the other hand, the benefits of Protestantism’s sound doctrines and the codification of these doctrines was that the future generations of Protestantism were now adequately armed. Their desire for missions as their focus led to the spread of the Gospel everywhere they went. While the effect of their actions was originally felt in the west and the subsequent colonies, it later spread throughout the rest of the world, literally. The great revivals and the birth of Pentecostalism were marked by the desire to be like the Christ of the Bible, and those involved in these movements participated in missions as they perceived them. An ongoing struggle for those who are seeking to be true to Jesus’ command is to present a holistic mission. As the Church grew, some sections were more tilted toward just the commission, others were more tilted toward compassion and still others were more focused on the commandments. However, there is a consistent theme that undergirds all of the generations throughout Church history, and that is missions’ main purpose is to bring the Gospel message to all those who have not yet received it. These missionaries would travel to foreign countries and suffer extraordinary feats, determined to see the natives transformed and accept the message they brought. They were holistic in their approaches, focusing on the Great Commandment, Commission, and Compassion.

As the Church develops a comprehensive and practical understanding of missions, this will propel Christians to act out their missional call. For example, this message of hope and salvation through Jesus Christ transforms not only Cornelius, but also his entire family, and Peter as well as stated in Acts 10. God was the underlying connection between Peter and Cornelius. God is both sending the seeker, Cornelius, and preparing the messenger, Peter the missionary, the disciple. This circle of missions is the thrust of the project; it begins with the call of the Church and then the commissioning of the Church. Refocusing the mindset and view of missions, requires change. In order to foster a new paradigm, we must deal with the issue of change within the Church with regard to the understanding of missions. How does understanding the theology of change contribute to this process? Theology of change refers to the understanding of all aspects of change and the philosophy that is buried in this word change. We will consider several aspects of change, but will maintain as the foundation, what I term, the Circle of Missions. This involves looking at the community where the work of missions is carried out, the congregation where training is done and the core (people) that is doing the work of missions. Change is the agent that gets one from one quadrant to the next, from community to the core.

While there are many stories of individuals throughout Church history who have demonstrated a holistic approach to missions, our time is not devoid of individuals who are continuing this process. These individuals are demonstrating in practical ways the Biblical understanding of missions and the Kingdom of God. Even though, they are from different backgrounds and operate in different parts of our culture, they are stirred by the Holy Spirit to carry out God’s mission. Lives are being transformed, and the Kingdom is expanding. The application of Biblical missions will result in transformation, growth and will bring glory to the name of God.

The Church must take the lead in being holistic in its approach to mission. Fulfilling the call of mission requires the Church to approach this call from a holistic point of view. The Church has done an excellent job in preparing people for the afterlife, but one of the areas in which we are lagging is preparing the Church for the end of life experiences and even traumatic experiences. In order to address these issues adequately, there has to be a deliberate effort taken to look at the religious structures and spiritual practices at work in the context of the community the Church is ministering.

When one finds meaning to life, he or she will find it easier dealing with issues of death and dying, pain, and suffering. The pastor has to take the lead role in helping to change the pre-conceived notions about the end of life issues of the community, beginning with the congregants. Since the average lifespan is increasing, the pastor should play a more active role in educating the congregation about these issues. The internal structures and systems of the Church have to include pastoral care with an emphasis on end of life and death and dying issues. We have to become missional from a holistic framework without losing the basic understanding of missions as laid out in the Bible, addressing the body, soul, and spirit. The individual has a soul, which we are preparing to meet God in eternity, but he or she also has to live in this life, and both body and spirit need to be ministered to, thereby completing holistic missions. When the structures and systems of the Church are addressed from a holistic point of view, then the Church will be more successful in bringing the Gospel message to the community. This message is wrapped in the principle of love; we must love God and love each other. Jesus said that if we do not love, then we are not His children. This is important because it is only the children of God who will inherit eternal life with God. John wrote in his epistle in, 1 John 4:20, "If someone says, ‘I love God’, but