Single Issues and Systemic Concerns

An amazing thing happened in the 18th century - Evangelicals "awakened" to the Gospel in new ways and began to get involved in missions as a result. Catalysts like William Carey became God's instruments to use "means" to carry the Gospel to the world. Previously, the Protestant mindset was largely reflected in the quote an elder supposedly told Carey when he presented his desire for evangelization: "Sit down! If God wants to convert the heathen, He'll do it without your help or mine."

Carey couldn't sit down - he wrote an influential pamphlet arguing for the use of "means" to accomplish God's plan to reach the world with the Gospel. Those "means" are known to us as missions organizations.

The first formal missions organizations were not denominational, but were, as many key movements, on the fringe. These new structures afforded a place for individuals who were tugged by the compulsion to share the Gospel and minister to people, but whose churches lacked that emphasis. Modeled after Paul's missionary bands in the book of Acts, these bands have been called Protestant "orders" (paralleling the Catholic orders which led the way in Catholic missions through the monasteries). These missionary bands reported to churches and sought to develop churches, but were independent from any one church.

Eventually, the churches caught the vision and developed their own denominational missions structures. Since that time, Western missions has been characterized by these two systems. This variety in approaches has led to an unprecedented expansion of specialization; Martin Mary writes, "These institutions grew larger and larger, but their goals encompassed ever narrower portions of life." Essentially, many agencies specializes in something different - Muslims, or Tribals, or the poor - providing a means or instrument for the outlet of those stirred by awakening to meet a specific need. It affords a natural structure for new ways of thinking and new emphases.

However, there is a downside. The very structure that attracts those who have the passion it reflects also acts, intentionally or not, to exclude those who have different passions. As a result, there is a surrender of wider systemic concerns. It often can lead to individual level reform vs. societal reform, if the organizations compete rather than peacefully co-exist among a people group.

Such a struggle underscores the wisdom of God. It is through the church - the body of Christ, where all are equal and all concerns valid - that God manifests His wisdom to the spiritual realm. In the church, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. The Biblical pattern doesn't segregate by age or ethnicity, either. And through each person fulfilling his or her gifts and working together in unity with others, God transforms not just lives but societies.

The very fact that I am sitting here studying this material in a majority-Christian society demonstrates that transformation. My ancestors were Native Americans and Europeans, mainly German and English. Reach back far enough and all those regions were controlled by tribes that practiced animism and warred against each other. More recently, the early American society while largely influenced by Scripture only boasted 6% church attendance, until the Great Awakening truly brought home the need for personal salvation. So I sit here today with a heritage that demonstrates societal transformation.

Alone we can impact people. Together we can "turn the world upside down", as the Jewish leaders said of the apostles. Missions structures are vital - God has used them mightily for 200 years, as the "wild fringe" that keeps the church focused on God's big picture plan. But left to themselves the missions structures can polarize rather than unify. That's why there must be a partnership with the church - God's structure for revealing His wisdom!