Why the nations? “Paying it Forward”

This is a question often asked today: “Why put such a focus on the nations … we have such great need on our very own door-step?”

This is a good question … sort of. “Sort of” because there are sadly many who ask this question who have no commitment to the need on our door-step. Too many simply snore on the sidelines, throwing stones, whether we reach the nations out-there or help the poor right-here. Others criticise our focus on the nations by asking, “Why don’t we just give our money and put our energies into the poor?” Sound familiar? Yes, Judas coined those words (John 12:5), and as you know, he was not one of the better disciples.

But this is also a good question. There are those who ask “Why the Nations?” who have a sincere heart for the need on our own door-step and need us to answer their genuine concern that a focus on the “nations-out-there” may steal away from people’s initiative to be responsible in the “here-and-now”. There is truth in this concern. It is sometimes a lot easier to randomly pray for a missionary out on the “frontlines” while we live in apathetic comfort, blind to the hurting world all around us.

Again, we ask the question:

Why the Nations?

There are two main reasons.

(1)  The nations are on God’s heart.

You cannot read the Bible and miss this! The word “nations” is the most used word in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Of course, “nation” (Greek: ethneos) refers to ethnic, cultural groups not countries with geopolitical boundaries. It is God’s desire that we, as His people, nurture a “Here and There” heart; a commitment to those who need Him in the “here-and-now” and a commitment to those who need Him in the “nations-out-there”.

When Jesus promised His fledgling church the outpouring of the Spirit He made absolutely clear that at the very core of our new life we were to be a “Here and There” people. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The phraseology Jesus used here does not imply a consecutive approach. He did not mean that they were to first target Jerusalem exclusively and to then, only once that was achieved, focus on Samaria. If they followed this plan of action they would never have left Jerusalem!

Jesus’ words imply a simultaneous approach. The early church were to target Jerusalem – their “Here” – while simultaneously reaching out to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth – their “There”. This DNA deposited into their hearts through the indwelling Spirit was the catalyst for their explosive power.

(2)      Plugging into God’s heart for the nations safeguards us from the chronic self-absorption we are so prone to.

In the same way that Jerusalem, with its cultural (ethneos) bias, placed blinders on the early church and their understanding of the Lord’s global commission, so the local city we live in, specifically our “part of town,” can easily do the same to us. The inherited, cultural bias of an individual, or church, remains the biggest obstacle to the Lord’s global mandate.

It is fascinating that Peter needed to be in Joppa, nearly one hundred kilometres from Jerusalem (a full days journey), to finally see God’s heart for the Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48). He had been deaf to Jesus’ clear exhortations (Acts 1:8) and blind to Jesus’ clear example of the Father’s heart for the Gentile people (Matthew 8:5-13; 28-33). As long as he was in Jerusalem – even in the intensity of the glorious flood of the Spirit’s deluge – the blinkers remained. Only when separated from his own “cultural zone,” the Spirit ripped the blinds from his eyes and the bias from his mind. His first words to Cornelius’ household were: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality…” (v. 34). Finally, the penny dropped!

It is absolutely vital that we connect to God’s heart for the globe by embracing our call to the nations. While it certainly must include crossing our streets to minister to (and learn from) cultural groupings different from ours; we should also seek to cross the seas so that, at the very least, we allow God to enlarge our hearts for the ends of the earth. This is crucial for our spiritual life and health; without which we are destined to be enslaved by our own self-absorption. Unless we have “Go into all the world” (Mark 16:15) in our DNA, we will stagnate and petrify in the dead-end quest of 1,000 trivial pursuits!

To the question:

Why the Nations?

…we simply respond…

The nations are on God’s heart and therefore should be on ours. This is not to say that we are to neglect the need on our door-step; but the truth is, when we nurture a “Here and There” heart we are actually enlarged to connect more deeply to the here-and-now. 

Why church planting? “Mission Impossible”

This is a question asked frequently today. “Why plant more churches … aren’t there enough already? Isn’t the concept of ‘church’ irrelevant today … Gee, why would we want more of them?”

Firstly, there are not enough churches today. The vast majority of people still do not know the Lord, and as long as there are people perishing we have work to do. As we will see below, church planting is crucial to this task. Secondly, the contemporary package often referred to as “church” today is admittedly becoming increasingly irrelevant. But the “church” that Jesus builds is and will always be relevant (Matthew 16:18). If we are becoming irrelevant the problem is not on God’s side, or even with the word “church;” it means we may drifted away from God’s design for His body and we need a crash course in rediscovering our identity.

Again, we ask the question:

Why Church Planting?

There are two core reasons.

(1)  Church planting and parenting is the Biblical strategy for evangelising and discipling the nations.

It is indicative of just how far we have drifted from the Lord’s design that we can read the pages of the New Testament and miss that the strategy God entrusted to us was, in fact, church planting (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 14:21-23)¹. Today we have created many contemporary evangelistic and discipleship-based strategies to fulfil our task; some good … some not so good. And while we are certainly not advocating that we should ignore contemporary strategies that are sound and effective, we are urging a rediscovery of the one strategy that is clearly Biblical and outstandingly effective; the one that the Master has given us: church planting.

The Biblical strategy of planting and parenting churches was lost by and large when denominational religion sunk its fangs into God’s people putting church planting into the puny hands of the insecure “clergy”, convincing the ignorant “laity” that they had no place in fulfilling the Lord’s marching orders. While God has always had a remnant that broke through this madness, we are living in a day of a tremendous restoration of this great truth among His people everywhere.

(2)      Church planting and parenting has now been proven to be statistically the best contemporary strategy for evangelism and discipleship.

In our empirical, scientific age – in which we tend to feel so smart – it is always only a matter of time before our “intelligence” simply reveals the Divine Wisdom of the Lord of the Harvest and Head of the Church. Time and money would be spared if we simply trusted and obeyed Him. Statistical studies now prove without question that church planting and parenting is head and shoulders above every other means, the most effective strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission.

Even key evangelistic and mission-based agencies are abandoning other modern-day tools and redefining themselves as church planting movements as they seek to recapture the power of this Biblical strategy.

Simply stated, church planting enables us to penetrate a community rather than just reach individuals and thus provides an immediate family of covenant relationships essential for effective discipleship, spiritual growth and the opportunity for all to minister. Not only does church planting increase the effectiveness of evangelism but it also ensures that our fruit remains; which after all, is the desire of the Lord (John 15:16).

To the question:

Why Church Planting?

…we simply respond…

Church planting is the only Biblical strategy given to us to fulfil the commission the Lord has entrusted us with and it is also, which should not surprise us, the most effective strategy we have.

Without intending to sound abrupt … if we have a heart for those who are lost without Christ and a commitment to the Scriptures, yet are not involved in church planting in some way, whether it is through prayer, financial support and/or practical involvement, we sadly miss a big chunk of God’s heart.

Notes:

¹ While Jesus never once said, “Go and plant churches”, the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, in obedience to His commission to make disciple-makers, means that church planting – the birth of spiritual communities – is the direct and beautiful (super) natural overflow. Yes, without question we ought to be clear that the Kingdom is the goal and church planting the means, but the point of this discussion is to highlight that church planting is the Biblical means that we have been given.