Which field?
Jesus said the fields are white to harvest (John 4: 35), but He did not say all the fields are the same, nor do people respond in precisely the same way. As Christians approach this question of evangelism generally, and Mission in particular, there is often a dearth of thinking about the ‘parameters’ of the Mission in contemplation, and whom it is that we are trying to reach.
In his book “Prophetic Evangelism” author Dan Holland outlines thirteen different types of evangelism: * Friendship, * Media, * *Power/Presence, * Invitation/Event, * Doorstep, * Academic/apologetics, * Events based, * Short term (mission), *Church planting, *Proclamation/Preaching, * Creative/drama/art, * Public transport, and * Prophetic. Perhaps there are other methods besides these.
Mission implies that there is a limited period set aside for the specific task of outreach. Within that intentionality to ‘do Mission’ however, there are differing types of spiritual ‘ground’ into which the ‘seed’ will be sown. Jesus implied as much in His parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15). It is helpful therefore to be clear about what sort of Mission we are planning to do, and the outcomes we anticipate from it.
Here we must straightway state that in our planning we cannot entirely anticipate what Holy Spirit will do, and achieve! As is sometimes said, Man proposes, but God disposes! It is truly wonderful that God always blesses any step of faith (let alone evangelism, mission), and He always has good plans of His own. We should not allow planning and target-setting to dominate our faith and expectancy that God will act – and act potentially in mighty ways! Within that it is still helpful to plan and evaluate. God seems to bless planning, often in ways far beyond our expectations!
Types of Mission
In planning and preparing for a Mission, we can ask – first of all – of what ‘type’, principally, will the proposed Mission be? There seem to be three types of outreach Mission albeit they can and do ‘overlap’ in practice (and overlap by God’s providence as well!). These three are * ploughing, *sowing, and * reaping.
Ploughing
to break spiritual ground open. Some ground is very hard indeed. Much prayer and considerable faith required. We also need to be sure that this is where and how God intends us to ‘invest’. The result of ploughing may then be more assured sowing.
Sowing
to plant the seed of the good news of new life in Messiah Jesus, and new life in the Kingdom. Some of this will be through anointed conversations.
Reaping
non believers ‘see’ Jesus for the first time and receive Him as Lord and as Saviour (oh, and as Friend). They receive new life in Him.
John 1:12
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. This verse highlights the connection between receiving Jesus and becoming a child of God.
Romans 10:9-10
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. This passage emphasizes the centrality of confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in his resurrection for salvation.
John 3:16
God thus loved the world. He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This well-known verse reminds us of God’s love for the world (that is, those opposed to Him) and the provision of salvation through belief in Jesus.
Characteristics
The schematic below reminds us that dependent on the ‘buy-in’ from local Christians, measured as strong active preparation and strong mission posture, we can anticipate the spiritual ‘ground’ we are likely to encounter. Strong active preparation really means that a local congregation has sought God in the first place, that they have prayed sacrificially and have fore-thought how they will ‘disciple’ any ho come through to saving faith during a mission. Strong mission posture means that a congregation makes outreach mission a core part of how it witnesses to the local community, probably budget for it, certainly pray for it, and enable mission both on a big canvas (world mission) and on a small canvas (local mission).
In the schematic above, the intensity of a congregation’s preparation and posture might be measured from ‘low’ to ‘high’. Where posture and preparation are both ‘high’ then, by God’s grace, a harvest of new believers is most likely. Where both are low then outreach mission is still possible, but we might find we spend most of our time effectively ‘breaking’ new spiritual ground. Here the harvest may come later (possibly some years later, but we should live in faith and expectancy at all times!).
Another variation on the mission characterization idea is that a mission might be ‘expeditionary’ or ‘restorative’ (or supportive). An expeditionary mission is one where Christians go out beyond the immediate catchment area. This might take them to adjacent areas, or different parts of the country (or even to other countries). A restorative mission is characterized by the effort to reach out to the local catchment area to encourage those who perhaps have fallen away, and/or family, friends, and neighbours. The sense is that we are restoring something lost, but which can be regained by God’s grace.
Mission context
As we characterize missions we also need to take into account the context, as suggested in our schematic below.
Increasingly in the UK (and this is likely replicated elsewhere) the context of local mission can be that there is no ‘obvious’ or visible local witness; we might say no local traditional ‘church’. If there is a local ‘church’ that seeks to do outreach mission then what they might be seeking is ‘more of the same’ in the sense of encouraging non-believers in, and to encompass them within the typical church rhythm. Special events (‘inreach’ as we discussed in chapter 6) might be one way of reaching this particular localised mission field. It is likely that most ‘churches’, howsoever defined, incorporate this ambition into their thinking, but they may not be very intentional about the task or the process.
A new church plant is rather more likely to be ‘doing’ the expeditionary type of mission. Mission in a non-church context seems to be the emerging need for Christian outreach in the UK (and perhaps across the Western world?). In the UK right now the ministry of Issachar People might be an example of non-geographically concentrated congregations that ‘meet’ in a mixture of virtual and physical settings. How these new groupings ‘do’ outreach and then undertake the necessary task of the ‘discipling’ of new believers, is an emerging puzzle. We can have full faith and high confidence that our Saviour God has this task in hand. To Him goes the glory …….
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