The Proper Focus of Missions

Barely 1% of all missions giving in the US goes to unreached people groups, so that should obviously be our focus - right?


But then ... where the Gospel has been planted and the church is still in development, the plants must be cultivated. Isn't our 12% of giving to focus on evangelizing reached people valuable?


And can we have a valid ministry abroad without meeting needs here?


What about our church - can we ignore building a strong local body of believers?


These questions illustrate that a commitment to missions sometimes raises more questions than we expect. When we are truly committed to advancing God's kingdom in the world we will find the temptation to either an overly broad or restrictively narrow approach.


Some churches adopt a people group and ignore all other missions efforts. Others throw missions money at everything that comes along. Most are trying to find a balance, seeking to maximize their places in God's kingdom purpose.


A historical study of missions reveals the importance of balance in the advance of the kingdom of God. Protestant missions was really a "latecomer", not blooming for two centuries after the Reformation. A young man named William Carey was among the earliest who caught a vision for man's responsibility in God's kingdom purposes - and was told famously to "Sit down" because God could evangelize the heathen without his help. Carey sat down only long enough to write a treatise on missions - specifically calling for the use of "means", or missions agencies, to spread the Gospel.

As so often in church history, the fringe led the way - those missions agencies filled a role the churches weren't filling, and soon came a distinctly western phenomenon: The denominational mission board. Protestantism was engaged in mission at last!

And yet the story was far from over. It seems the lesson needed to be learned again every couple of generations - the task isn't finished. The initial focus was on the coastlands ... then came the cries to come home because the task was complete. God raised up Hudson Taylor and others who called for advances to the inlands ... and again, the cries were soon being heard that the job was done. Later cries came to go to the frontiers and then a young man named Cameron Townsend was convicted of the lack of Scripture in indigenous languages. Wycliffe Bible Translators was born and the foundation was laid for the modern-day emphasis on people groups - and the awareness that there are still many unreached groups. At each stage of missions advance there has been a call to retreat - it seems as though God raises up someone with a vision just when the church thinks the job is done.

What's my point? Simply that in our humanity it's easy to think that what we are emphasizing or prioritizing is the end of the story. Not true! Instead, we need to see ourselves like the Israelites - in Numbers 2, God directs the structure of their camp. There were four sides with three tribes on each side. The large numbers of Israelites meant that when they moved, they used a lot of space. Surely it was easy for them to travel about with only the people in their tribe or at the most from their side of the camp. It probably took a lot of effort to cross the camp and talk to people at the opposite edge. And yet God consistently speaks to them as one, directing regular gatherings of the tribe's leaders and of the entire congregation. He insisted that while they needed to be organized for the best possible advance of the group, they also had to recognize their common goal and shared identity.

It's the same with us. God's kingdom advance requires strong churches, solid ministries in our Jerusalems, the training and preparation of the church in new areas - and advance into unreached people groups. We can't have a focus that is too narrow or too scatter-shot. We must check ourselves and our churches to be sure that we are fitting in to God's kingdom in way He has arranged - and that we are recognizing and honoring the common goal and shared identity of those who are working in other areas. It's the key to kingdom advance!