Psalm 127:1a (ESV)
Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
During this summer at the Missions Hub, many brothers and sisters in Christ across the GTA meet up every Wednesday at Knox Presbyterian Church in downtown Toronto. We’ve been going through the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course, which takes an in-depth look at cross-cultural ministry and evangelism through a biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic lens.
Our lesson this week was on spontaneous multiplication of churches. Our speaker, Dr. Stephen Beck (Author of The Mosaik Miracle, Pastor of Mosaik Frankfurt-North, Church Planter, and Professor of Practical Theology at the Gliessen School of Theology), shared from his wealth of experiences planting churches in Canada, Germany, and the US. As a McGill University student with a campus ministry focus on leading community/social events and discipling first years, I didn’t think there could be much to apply from a church-planting seminar… but God always has a way to surprise us.
The Remedy of Combating Ministry Risks and Potential Failures is not a Greater Desire to Control, but rather Firmly Resting in One’s Identity in Christ
Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)
The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.
Dr. Beck shared about ministry strengths and barriers inherent within German culture. When it came to creating innovative automobile industries such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes, they were top quality and world class. However, such impressive quality came only through a time-consuming, meticulous analysis of all risks while heavily controlling and minimizing every confounding factor. This desire to control every factor and avoid every risk often fails within church ministry, simply because church planting almost always has risks inherently involved and relationships are often messy - or as he humorously coined, “some good Holy Spirit-ordained chaos!” He stressed the need to create a solid plan for church planting, but also an expectation that God will likely determine that some things will never really go according to plan.
How often have I tried to find my own worth and identity in my successes in academics, work, and even ministry! The slightest failure would have me doubting my own credibility or becoming defensive, pushing the blame onto factors which were outside of my control. Conditional worth based on my own performance only leads to overwhelming insecurities, a critical view of others, and an insatiable desire to control everything. How can anyone partner with others in ministry, let alone plant a church, with those qualities dictating their life?
Reflecting on his young adult years serving in ministry, Dr. Beck shared that the greatest barrier to church planting was an unwillingness to consider the wisdom of well-seasoned church planters and an arrogance which demands to do everything his own way. He explained that we must avoid thinking that church planting is primarily about building and expanding our own churches and more about expanding God’s kingdom. It is a foundational shift from thinking that we will serve God on our own terms to celebrating the privilege of joining God in His global mission to redeem all people to Himself and to serve under His guidance.
The remedy to combating risks and potential failures is having a firm identity in Christ, as a beloved child of God (1 John 3:1-3, ESV). As I reflected on the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32, ESV), Tim Keller’s quote on the gospel rang more true than ever before: “The gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope” (Keller & Keller, 2013). Even in the face of ministry failures, I can rest in the knowledge that God does not see us ultimately by our failures, but rather as His child who is already loved and accepted by Him. No failure or blunder can ever change that identity, for it was never our own work which brought it in the first place. It is only through the work of Christ on the cross that we become children of God, and that is why we can still have hope for God to continue working through us, even with our failures.
God Uses what the World sees as Failures and Reckless Sacrifice for His Glory and Kingdom Work
John 12:24-25 (ESV)
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
In a Western world of high-speed communication and updates, busy work cultures, and social media that promises instant gratification of one’s emotional and social needs, it’s easy for our church ministries to feel the need to meet those same expectations. Short-term mission trips involving building houses in a developing country and booming worship nights with an altar call seem to promise that we’re making life-changing impact in a relatively short period of time with relatively low risk for ourselves. However, we often find throughout Scripture and church history that God has his own timeline for doing His will, and usually it involves intentionally walking alongside communities in joy and suffering, making tremendous sacrifices, and working through the unlikeliest of people. God can use even the most painful losses and failures to bring about his kingdom.
The violent death of Stephen, the first martyr of the early church, was the catalyst for the Apostle Paul’s journey to Christ: from Saul of Tarsus, a vehement persecutor of the early church, to an apostle to the Gentiles who planted churches across the Roman Empire and wrote the vast majority of the epistles we enjoy today in the New Testament. God used the death of Stephen to powerfully impact Paul’s testimony and strengthen his conviction for the Gospel (Acts 22:1-21, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, 1 Corinthians 15:8-11, ESV).
Even the most central doctrinal foundation (and perhaps the most iconic symbol) of our Christian faith is found in what the ancient Roman world saw as the most humiliating and gruesome method of death: the cross. When the world - and Jesus’ disciples and best friends - watched him hanging on the cross and thought his mission had failed, God used His death as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and his resurrection put death to death and invited us into new life in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55, 2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV).
To share one last example: In 1955, Jim Elliot and his four missionary colleagues answered the call to bring the Gospel to the Huaorani people of Ecuador. However, after two years of initial friendly contact, one of the tribe members, Nankiwi, spread a false accusation on the missionaries, which led to the missionaries’ brutal martyrdom (Taylor, 2016). Although the world saw their deaths as a waste of life and reckless sacrifice, God used their deaths to move the missionaries’ families to continue their legacy, working with the Huaorani people and living out genuine love and care for the tribal communities. Eventually, as members of the Huaorani turned to Christ, the missionaries’ legacy glorified God even more as the world witnessed these communities powerfully transformed through love, forgiveness, and grace which could only be found in the Gospel! Therefore, Christian, rest in the knowledge that there is no “failure” or “reckless sacrifice” which happens outside of God’s sovereign and almighty hand. There is no loss or sacrifice great enough on this earth - even your very life - that God cannot use to bring glory to Himself and make His name known.
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot
Our greatest thanks to Justin, who volunteered to write this piece! Justin is a nursing student at McGill who serves with Power to Change, and has trained as a Missions Discipler with the Missions Hub. If you would like to connect with the Missions Hub, or write a piece for us, please email khevna@missionshub.ca. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank Knox Church, Christ the King Church, Chinese Gospel Church and Runnymede Community Church for their generous collaboration this summer for Perspectives! From May 15 through Aug 21st, we averaged 75 people coming every Wednesday evening. This would have been completely overwhelming except for our wonderful volunteers; we could not have done it without you! We thank God for the 49 students and 102 other visitors who joined us over the summer!
References:
Keller, T., & Keller, K. (2013). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the complexities of commitment with the wisdom of god. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Taylor, J. (2016). They Were No Fools: The Martyrdom of Jim Elliot and Four Other Missionaries. Retrieved from https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/they-were-no-fools-60-years-ago-today-the-martyrdom-of-jim-elliot-and-four-other-missionaries/