Back to the Future of Missions

A wise man once said, “Nothing is more obscure than the obvious” [1] The purpose of this paper is to explore the “obvious” implications for the modern missions movement of the future from both a Biblical perspective and a societal perspective. This is an obvious future that seems to be rather obscure in the thinking of the modern Church. It is a future that will require new ways of thinking and new approaches to missions.[2] It is also a future already anticipated by Scripture and already experienced by the Church in its early history. It is the future that God intends the nations to come into and we, His Church, are His agents to effect this purpose.

Catching up to the Signs of the Times

Why is the Church constantly playing catch up when it comes to anticipating the future? Perhaps, it is because the Church on the whole would rather not take risks with its programs and methods. What has worked well in the past, it is assumed, will work in the future.[3] Untried initiative is met with skepticism by too many missions committees who are more comfortable with “proven” methods.

Loren Cunningham was not discouraged by this attitude when he set out 40 years ago to lead a new missions movement of young people.[4] Had he not trusted God and seized upon his vision of waves of young people crashing upon the shores of the continents, Youth With A Mission, would never have been launched and 12,000 Full Time staff, 13,000 Mission Students and 32,000 Short Term missionaries would not be presently ministering in over 700 locations in 135 nations with YWAM.[5]

If those missions committees had looked at the world around them in 1960 they would have discovered the changing demographic, geographic and technological contexts that would enable the impossible to be possible in 40 years. A huge population explosion was underway globally. The victory of the Allies in the Second World war secured freedom and opportunity for people groups who had been trapped behind closed borders. Air travel made it possible to reach these people groups within days verses the weeks and months required by ship. Television opened up the window for us to see immediately the nature and need of the nations. The world was ripe for a harvest and it was a travesty that the Church did not better “discern the signs of the times” and respond appropriately.

Change the Mindset and Method of Modern Missions

As we enter into a new millennium we are confronted with even greater opportunity than in 1960 and yet our response is really more of the same. We seek more full time workers, who must raise more support to make their way to more frontiers. We conduct more teaching seminars to encourage more aging baby boomers to choose the significance of missions over the success of working activity. We appeal for more money for more mission agencies that gather together more often to recruit more of the same. [6]

Meanwhile, the world passes us by. The Internet connects people, communities and nations together into a global village.[7] Globalization integrates economies on the way to one marketplace - a virtual one. Cultures clash and merge and the McWorld lure of materialism drives the pursuit of wealth.[8] The cry of poor, 2 billion of whom live on less than 2$ a day, is drowned out by the din of world stock markets.[9] The plague of AIDS wipes out whole population groups and puts forty million orphans onto the streets of mega cities.[10]

Of the current world population of 6 billion people, 50 percent are under the age of 25.[11] In the next 20 years, 3 billion young people will enter into the marketplace looking for employment. Many of these young people will not have the skills or knowledge to find regular employment. To survive they will operate micro businesses buying and selling products and services.[12] To provide for their families they will spend most of their waking hours working in the marketplace. These young people represent an incredible harvest field because seven out of nine new Christians come to the Lord before the age of 25.[13] To reach these young people the Church must reach them where they are in the marketplace. Yet, in all of this, the Church seems to be increasingly irrelevant and the missionary is marginalized.[14]

So the time is ripe for a “sea change” in the way we do missions. A “sea change” is an entire shift in our thinking and our methodology towards missions.[15] Without this change, we risk the temptation to retreat into our cultural Christian ghetto surrounded by our spiritual walls of the fear of compromise, suspicion of technology and reluctance to risk. Some may even think that this is the place for the Church to be, to wait for the coming “rapture,” [16] but it is not the place God wants it to be.

The Church, The Nations and the New Jerusalem

How will the world end? One world government to control our thinking? One world religion to tempt us to abandon our faith? Or one asteroid strike to execute the wrath of God? Take your pick. Most of the popular eschatology[17] taught in the Church today isolates it and prevents it from even considering that it has a destiny to rule the nations as the body of Christ. But what does Scripture say?

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God….I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. ( Revelation 21:1, 21-26 NIV)

Certainly, the Book of Revelation anticipates great upheavals in the world, and disasters and persecution of Christians, but in the end there is a glorious vision of the city of God.[18] John’s revelation is instructive as much for what it does not tell us, as for what it does tell us. It does not tell us that churches will be in the New Jerusalem, in fact, he specifically mentions that there will be no temple. The temple represented organized religion. Instead, God and Jesus are there and it is the nations that walk by their light not churches!

Yet, is it not the rallying cry of the modern missions movement “A church for every people group?” [19] Is it not the purpose of the Church to produce more church? Is it not the objective of the missions movement to plant churches? [20] Where, then, are these churches in the new Jerusalem? Of course, there will be no churches there, but we are not there yet, so we need churches here. The purpose of the Church is to prepare the nations for their destiny in the New Jerusalem. Too often, though, the Missions movement has been motivated to hasten the return of Christ by getting the gospel preached to every nation with little emphasis on seeing that gospel transform all areas of that nation.[21] In reality, salvation is not the end of the task but only the beginning, the doorway through which the nations can enter into their destiny in God.

Begin with the End in Mind

The world ends in a relationship, not in an organized religion. God is interested in a people that he can call his own. He describes his people as a gathering of the nations, not as a gathering of the churches.[22] It is the glory of the person of God and of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that directs the nations to the New Jerusalem, not the religious traditions of the institutional church. Jesus said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32). Revelation 21 is the fulfillment of this prophecy and it happens as the nations see the person of Jesus Christ, lifted up in their culture, in their society, in their destiny as a people group. As they see Him as the true source of all that is good for He created it (Colossians 1:16); as they see Him as the one with the authority to judge it (2 Timothy 4:1) and as they see Him as the Healer who will restore what was lost and right every wrong. (Revelation 21:4).

The story of mankind begins in a garden and ends in a city. It begins with God declaring his creation “good” and it ends with the declaration, “I am making all things new”. It begins with a mandate to Adam to “be fruitful and fill the earth” and it ends with an ingathering of the fruitfulness of Adam, a fruitfulness redeemed and sanctified by the cross of Christ, a fruitfulness that represents the cultural diversity of the nations, a fruitfulness that shows to the fullest extent the glory of God in the fullness of his creation.

Thus, if we are to change the way we do missions, we must begin with the end in mind. We must consider what it means for “the nations” to enter into the heavenly city – what it means for the Kings of the earth to bring their splendor into the New Jerusalem.[23] And what it means for Jesus Christ to be lifted up in a culture and society that he may draw the nations to himself.

When we fully understand that the Church is a means to an end and not an end in itself we will come into our destiny as God’s agents to bring about his purpose on the earth.

Discipling Nations is the Purpose of the Church

So if God’s intention is to have nations before Him in the new Jerusalem, how will that happen? God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22 was that through him and his seed, God would bless all nations. This is referred to as the Abrahamic Covenant. It is one of the biblical foundations for the modern missions movement. The last instruction of Jesus to his disciples was “to disciple nations” (Matthew 28). Why? Because this is how God will “bless the nations”. Thus, planting a church in an unreached people group is only the beginning of discipling a nation, not the end. Once a people group is introduced to the gospel the next step is for them to know what it means to live the gospel in all areas of society so that the nation would be blessed economically, socially, and culturally. This is the great task of the Church and, to date, it has failed miserably.[24] It spends more time, money and energy debating over what the Church of God should look like and lets Satan, “the Ruler of this world” define what culture, economy, government, science, technology, health and education, family, and social structures should look like. Perhaps if the Church discovered what God’s economy looked like or what a godly society looked like, it would challenge the existing order with a new way of doing things. And perhaps it is this new way, God’s way, in all the areas of society, that will allow a nation to discover its “goodness” [25] and enter into its fullest identity as a people with a culture and a society that glorifies God, a glory and a splendor worthy of a New Jerusalem.

The Professional Missionary— A Recent Phenomena

Once we have the end in mind, we must ask what road we should we travel to get there. The well beaten path of the modern missions movement is the way of the supported worker. One often hears inspiring testimonies of zealous Christians who “laid down” their secular employment to enter missions “full time.” [26] The professional missionary with a Bible School diploma and technical training in development is the epitome of a successful missions strategy. He or she is also the spiritual icon of the Church, held up as an example of counting the cost and a model of spirituality. However, in the history of the Church the professional missionary is a recent phenomena.[27] During its first four hundred years of existence, the Church grew from being an obscure religious sect of Judaism to the dominate religious influence of the world principally through people who lived their faith in the marketplace. Rodney Stark in The Rise of Christianity concludes that “Paul’s missionary efforts had their greatest success among the middle and upper middle classes.” [28] These converts were like Lydia, a business woman, who had the freedom to associate and to gather others to hear the good news. (Acts 16:15) Thus it is very likely that these Christians traveled as merchants and traders to new lands and introduced nations to the gospel as the plied their wares and sold their crafts. [29]

The “As You Go” Great Commission

The Great Commission calls us to “go” and make disciples. The Church places great emphasis upon the word, “Go.” One mission group challenges young people to missions with the statement “What part of the word ‘GO’ do you NOT understand?” YWAM entitles its directory of mission opportunities “The GO Manual.” Naturally, we understand that going means leaving one place and going to another. It means that to do missions we must GO somewhere else. Yet, if we examine the use of the word in the New Testament it can also mean “as you go” (Matthew 10:7). So Jesus is not just calling a select set of disciples who can leave their present location to serve him on the foreign mission field or to lay down their marketplace career to GO into missions full time. He is actually calling all his disciples to make more disciples and to do it “as they go.” Along the way of life, they are to introduce others to Christ, in the city, in the workplace, in the marketplace, in the schools, in the places where society gathers and ideas and information is exchanged. [30] These are the places where nations are discipled.

A Road Less Traveled

Today, the “as you go” way of missions is a road less traveled by the mission movement. However, it is the highway God has prepared for His Church to travel if it is to come into its destiny to disciple nations. It is a highway traveled not so much by professional missionaries, but by Christian professionals in business, in technology, in healthcare, in education, in social service, in government. The tragedy, though, is that while many Christian professionals travel this road they are not empowered to present the gospel nor equipped to disciple the peoples they encounter along the road. The Church has reserved that task to the professional missionary, [31] the one who is willing to lay down their marketplace activity to go into missions. However, when they no longer work in the marketplace, they become isolated from the people they are trying to reach. Roland Allen in his classic book, The Case for the Voluntary Clergy makes the point well, “Stipendiary clergy cut off by training and life from that common experience are constantly struggling to get close to the laity by wearing lay clothing, sharing in lay amusements, and organizing lay clubs; but they never quite succeed. To get close to men, it is necessary really to share their experience, and to share their experience is to share it by being in it, not merely to come as near to it as possible without being in it.” [32]

Secular Work IS Spiritual Work

So this is the road for 21^st Century missions. It is the “obvious” road of the future. It is a road once traveled with great success by the Church in its early history. It is the road the Apostle Paul exhorted the church to travel when he states that the purpose of the church professionals -- prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, and teachers -- is to equip the saints to do the ministry rather than to just do the ministry themselves. (Ephesians 4:11-16) However, the influence of a Greek worldview that has caused us to separate ministry from work — spiritual work from secular work, and reserve the spiritual work for ministry professionals.[33] It has also caused us to reserve ministry to church based programs rather than seeing our secular work as a ministry. For example, marketplace Christians are rarely asked to share about their ministry in the marketplace at church meetings but they are encouraged to “make time” for church ministry in the evenings and on weekends. The church professionals recruit marketplace Christians to be “plugged into” the church based ministry programs. Those who are especially good at church based ministry are encouraged to leave their secular employment and join the church so they can minister “full time”. Thus most ministry done by the church is church-based as opposed to marketplace-based which makes it distant from the vast majority of people who live and work in the marketplace. [34]

To travel the “as you go” road we must return to a Biblical worldview that sees all of life as integrated and all believers called to minister in every sphere of society especially in the marketplace. How else will God bring transformation in every area of society. Work has been corrupted by the fall, but not cursed because of the fall. God values “secular” work, not just so Christians can witness to unbelievers, but because, through transformed work, glory and honor will be brought into the New Jerusalem. ALL work has the potential for eternal significance.[35]

Carey & Livingstone’s Vision for Business and Missions

It is a road even William Carey, the itinerant shoemaker who went to India and who is considered the father of modern missions, believed the Church must travel. In his day, he called the Church to a “sea change” in its destiny to reach the heathen. In 1792, in his famous “Enquiry” he states:

“Scripture likewise seems to point out this method, ‘Surely the Isles shall wait for me; the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far, their silver, and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord, thy God.’. Isaiah. 60:9. This seems to imply that in the time of the glorious increase of the Church, in the latter days, (of which the whole chapter is undoubtedly a prophecy,) commerce shall subserve the spread of the gospel. The ships of Tarshish were trading vessels, which made voyages for traffic to various parts; thus much therefore must be meant by it, that navigation, especially that which is commercial, shall be one great mean of carrying on the work of God; and perhaps it may imply that there shall be a very considerable appropriation of wealth to that purpose.” [36]

Despite Carey’s vision of “commerce subserving the spread of the gospel” it was only the Moravians who really took it to heart and integrated business and faith and went to the nations as traders as well as missionaries. [37]

This was also the vision of David Livingstone who once said:

"By encouraging the native propensity for trade, the advantages that might be derived in a commercial point of view are incalculable nor should we lose sight of the inestimable blessings it is in our power to bestow upon the unenlightened African, by giving him the light of Christianity. Those two pioneers of civilization -- Christianity and commerce -- should ever be inseparable."[38]

Missionary Tentmakers lead the Way

There are signs, though, that this “sea change” in missions is beginning to occur. An increasing number of missions organizations are looking for people to move in this way^{. [39]} They are called Tentmakers. Tentmakers are defined as self supporting workers in marketplace employment who travel to another culture as intentional witnesses of the gospel.[40] The tentmaking movement has seen a significant increase in participation and interest over the past twenty years.[41] The name is taken from Pauls’ tentmaking activity that he did to supply himself in Corinth. (Acts 18:3) Countries that are closed to the professional missionaries are open to tentmakers who bring economic blessing to the country as well as bring their witness to the gospel. [42]

However, for the tentmaking movement, the separation between regular marketplace Christians and the professional missionary persists because tentmakers are considered a specialized class of professional missionaries rather than being considered as marketplace missionaries. They are considered to be “Bi-vocational”, that is they have two vocations, one in business and the other in ministry. During the working week, they earn an income and in the evenings and on the weekend they plant churches. [43] Stevens makes an excellent point about the confusion that exists in the missions movement concerning tentmakers.

“The frequent use of the term bivocational missionary when describing a tentmaker is misleading and incorrect. There is one calling or vocation, not two. Paul says that all Christians are called (Ephes. 4:1) and that the call of God is all-embracing: it includes Church, family and society (Ephes. 4:1-6:20). The idea of vocation is quite different from what is involved in an occupation or profession, both of which are chosen by the person. To be a called person is to live one’s life in response to the summons of Christ to discipleship, service and holiness. There is no hierarchy of calls within the people of God; there are only different expressions of the general calling to all according to gift, talent and temperament of the individuals.” [44]

A New Missions Force—Marketplace Missionaries

Thus the challenge before the Church is to equip marketplace missionaries not just professional missionaries and that means equipping the whole people of God to reach out to the whole world with the whole gospel of God.[45] Yet, marketplace Christians are valued by the Church not so much for their marketplace position nor for their calling to serve God in marketplace work, but for the money they can generate to support the professional missionary. These marketplace Christians are encouraged to “partner” with the Church and Missions Agencies who are seeking to reach the lost. Rather than considering this partnership as both parties directly involved in the task, the Church sees the resource potential of Christians in the marketplace as their only contribution. It seems the Church cannot see beyond that to the opportunity for those Christians to be commissioned as marketplace missionaries to reach the nations and teach them through the spheres of commerce, healthcare, education, science, technology, and government. This is a myopic view of a huge segment of the body of Christ with tremendous potential to disciple the nations.

Global Movement of God in the Marketplace

There is a picture emerging, though, of a global movement of God in the marketplace that will finally bring this challenge into focus for the Church.. As a service to the Church, the Scruples Web Site provides a Directory of Marketplace Ministry that lists initiatives dedicated to equipping Christians in the marketplace. Of the 756 organizations listed in the directory, a founding date was received from 331. Of these 223 or 67 percent were founded in the last twenty years; 156 or 47% in the last ten years. The number of new organizations has at least doubled every decade from 1960 onward. The same is true for publications written for marketplace Christians.. Of the 244 books listed at Scruples, 149 or 61 percent were published in the last ten years. [46]

Although most of these organizations and publications are based in North America or Europe there are indications that this movement is having a worldwide impact. The International Christian Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1985 in Belgium. Since then its membership has grown to include over 80 countries. The Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International has a goal of having members in 200 countries. Also emerging is the Europartners movement in Europe and the Christian Business Men’s Committee has members in over 60 countries worldwide. Professional Organizations such as the International Christian Medical and Dental Association and the Nurses Christian Fellowship International are following suit with affiliates in many countries. Christian Enterprise Development Organizations that work with the poor such as the Mennonite Economic Development Associates and Opportunity International are also seeing growth in their membership, especially in developing nations. At a recent conference for Christian Micro Enterprise Development over 40 organizations participated.

God is on the move in the marketplace and he is calling for Christians to rise up and take their positions as his ambassadors of love to a broken and corrupt world. Even Christian corporate leaders are calling for this to happen. Bill Pollard, Chairman of ServiceMaster Corporation, has said, “In today’s global community, the greatest channel of distribution for ‘salt and light’ is the business community… the marketplace.” [47] Edward Simon, president of Herman Miller, says that “business is the only institution that has a chance, as far as I can see, to fundamentally improve the injustice that exists in the world.” [48] Thus, it is the challenge of the Church and the missions movement through marketplace ministry to equip these ambassadors with the knowledge and skills to reach and teach their nations.[49]

Marketplace Missions - A Shalom Catalyst for Nations

A specific example of a marketplace missionary making a difference occurred recently in Africa. Five years ago a missionary traveled with his family to Zambia, Africa for two-year missions outreach to teach Zambian entrepreneurs small business skills. During this period he helped form a Venture Capital company with local Christian Entrepreneurs that would provide small start up loans for Christians in business. This organization received a grant of 3 Million US dollars from the British Development Agency to launch a Micro Credit program in Northern Zambia. After two years of operation, they have serviced 25,000 loans and organized 360 community loan associations (Trust Banks) in ten cities. The British Government has approved another grant of $7.5 million to help the organization transition into Zambia’s Bank for the poor.

The name of the company is the Christian Enterprise Trust of Zambia (CETZAM).[50] It’s mission is to “empower the poor” though micro finance services and community transformation. CETZAM is literally “possessing” cities compound by compound, township by township as it develops its network of Trust Banks. This is a modern day fulfillment of God’s Covenant promise to Abraham that through Christ (the seed) the nations (e.g. Zambia) would be blessed and that “cities” would be possessed by the followers of God.

It is through economic development initiatives in the marketplace such as CETZAM that God is blessing the nations so that they may rise out of the stranglehold of poverty. A better economy brings stability and frees the people to develop in other areas such as arts and culture. This is what Jeremiah called the people of Israel to do in exile in Babylon.

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." -- Jeremiah 29:7

He called them to pray for the peace (Shalom) of the city in which they lived.

In the context of Jeremiah 29, it (Shalom) means more than the absence of conflict, but everything that makes for our highest good. Shalom is a state of completeness and wholeness in which people individually and collectively experience health, prosperity, security, oneness with nature and spiritual renewal. Today it is the challenge for faithful Christians to work through the church to help people obtain jobs, receive adequate health care, heal racial division and injustice and share the good news of Jesus Christ. It is the pieces and peace people need for daily living. [51]

Once a nation reaches a state of Shalom it is able to develop its full cultural identity. It is this identity and the “goodness” that is associated with it that God desires before him in the New Jerusalem. Marketplace Missions can be the catalyst that will empower nations through a Biblical Worldview to discover who they are in God and develop a culture and a society that brings glory to God. [52]

Back to the Future of Missions, Forward to Nation Discipling

Thus the challenge is for the Church to not only choose to GO but to choose to go to the right place, the marketplace. It is estimated that by the year 2050, 80 percent of the world’s population will live in cities where only 200 years ago most of the world lived in the countryside.[53] Today, frontier missions are done in the jungles of Borneo, but it is the urban jungle of Calcutta or Beijing where the harvest is really ripe.[54] This is where there is great opportunity for evangelism and for the discipling of nations. To rise to this challenge, marketplace missionaries must be equipped by the Church to integrate their faith and work. They must be empowered to think strategically and intentionally about how their marketplace activity can serve the purpose of God to disciple the nations. The Church must commission them to travel the ‘ as you go” road of marketplace activity to reach the nations and to teach them so that they may bring their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem.

Let the Church arise at the crossroads of society, in the workplace, in the marketplace of the cities of the world. Let us go back to find the future of missions, back to Scripture and back to the early success of the Church and let us go forward to our destiny as a Church that disciples nations.

The Case for Marketplace Ministry

May, 2001

Marketplace Missions - A Shalom Catalyst for Nations

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