MISSIONARY METHODS: Speed vs. Sovereignty – A Case Study

Written By Great Commission Council
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STATEMENT

We think biblically rather than pragmatically about our ministry methodology by aiming to be chiefly motivated by the glory of God among the nations. God-centered motivation leads to methods that rely on God’s sovereign power rather than innovative practice. Therefore, we rely on the sufficiency of Scripture—rightly interpreted—to form and judge our ministry practice. As we set our confidence in God and his word, we begin with “What does Scripture teach?” rather than “What will work?” By this, we mean clear gospel proclamation that leads to the formation of robustly biblical local churches that evangelize the world.

 
Article Written by J.P. Stokes

I’d like you to meet two friends of mine, Victor and Vijaya. They are similar in many ways—they both love the Lord, love the lost, and want to see the gospel advance to the ends of the earth. However, despite these foundational similarities, they sometimes struggle to find common ground. Their differences in motive, means, metrics, and methodologies mean they feel worlds apart, even as they engage in the same task.

Motive

During university, Victor was a regular at worship gatherings for students on campus. One semester, they had a series of speakers come and present on the state of world evangelism. The sheer number of people living without access to the gospel overwhelmed Victor. So he took a summer mission trip, spent a semester overseas, and made it his goal to go to the unreached to preach the gospel. 

He sought to be well-equipped, so he went to seminary. He went to bed each night thinking about the plight of those who did not know Jesus. He had many sleepless nights. As he considered how he ought to engage the work ahead of him, the urgency of the task left no question in his mind: he wanted as many people to hear the gospel as quickly as possible.

Much like Victor, Vijaya sees and cares about the needs of the lost. She feels deep compassion for those who are spiritually dead. As she considers the teaching of the Bible and the example of the apostle Paul in places like 2 Corinthians 4–5, she is spurred on by a desire for the glory of God. As she studies Scripture, she sees that the biggest problem in the world is that God does not receive the glory due to him. Lostness and eternity in hell, apart from God, is humanity’s biggest problem, but it is not the core problem. The core problem is that God is not worshiped as he should be. 

So when she thinks about the urgent task of reaching the lost, she considers that the work belongs to the Lord. The need is urgent, yes, but faithfulness to God must take priority. 

Means

As Vijaya works out her faith and convictions motivated by God's glory, she prioritizes being a part of work that uses straightforward means, namely a reliance on God, whose Spirit will work as His Word is faithfully proclaimed. Vijaya knows that conversion is up to the Holy Spirit. Her job is to make the meaning of scripture plain as she speaks to non-Christians and to pray, trusting the Spirit to act. 

She believes her work must be built on the foundation of sound hermeneutics and faithful biblical interpretation. This commitment to sound hermeneutics gives her a high view of the local church. Even as she goes to distant places for the sake of the gospel, Vijaya shapes her life and ministry around the local church. She wants to support the work of church planting wherever she goes and she knows that requires submitting to godly leadership.

Meanwhile, Victor is motivated by the needs he sees around the world. He wants to know how world evangelization can be achieved the fastest. Whenever he hears of a new method to accomplish the Great Commission, he jumps at the opportunity. He is constantly searching for creative and innovative ideas to maximize the spread of the gospel. As a Christian, he cares about the Bible. But he thinks Vijaya’s efforts  for missions and ministry are too simple, too ineffective, and too slow. He wants to use any means available to take the gospel to the ends of the earth as quickly as possible.

Metrics

To Victor, the task is clear and straightforward: bring as many people into the kingdom as possible. So he constantly tracks, records, and reports the numbers of conversions, baptisms, and new churches. How will he know the state of the work without recording the numbers? 

Vijaya would affirm Victor’s desire for accountability through recording and reporting. But she’s not sure the accounting can be done so simply. After all, results do not always map neatly onto success.

In Matthew 7, Jesus describes those who had a very active and effective ministry, but in the final accounting were by no means a success. Jesus says that he never knew them. For Vijaya, success isn’t primarily about results but faithfulness.  Put simply, a missionary can be faithful and see no outward results.  

This was was the case for the first seven years of William Carey’s ultimately fruitful ministry in India. When there is no visible fruit, there’s always an opportunity for self-examination.  Missionaries must honestly examine themselves to see if the lack of fruit was due to hidden sin, a lack of prayer and faith, laziness, or a lack of gifting.  With the help of godly leaders, missionaries may soberly assess what’s happening and why. But with passages like Matthew 7 in mind, Vijaya would strongly disagree with anyone who insists that success can be cleanly or accurately measured by immediately visible results.

Methodologies

These convictions lead Vijaya to embrace a simple, historically recognizable methodology. To hear her tell it, the methodology she embraces is diverse, locally-led, church-centered, gospel-focused missions. Some may question whether her methodology could even be described as a method.

Victor, however, is eager to embrace any number of methodologies that promise to bring a movement. A popular one is based on Luke 10, which leads him to cycle through contacts and relationships until he finds a “Person of Peace.” It’s worth noting that Luke 10 describes one way Jesus sent His disciples out, not a prescribed method that we must follow. 

Victor has also embraced tools like Discovery Bible Studies. He would say he is hoping to build Disciple Making Movements (DMM), so he is influenced by tools like Training for Trainers (T4T) and Four Fields. He has even dabbled with Insider Movement methodologies, encouraging new believers to continue in their former religious practices with the hope of reducing persecution while gaining a hearing for the gospel.  

As Victor and Vijaya speak, he recognizes that some of these methodologies are built on weak or even faulty hermeneutics. He admits they tend to reproduce a reductionist understanding of biblical conversion, a minimization of the Bible’s teaching on what is needed for a church to be biblically ordered. But he carries on because he desires for the work to speed ahead, whatever the cost. 

Summary

Victor and Vijaya are not real people but they do represent amalgamations of many missionaries I have known. I know many godly men (and women) like Victor. Though we disagree, they are dear friends and cherished brothers and sisters in Christ. But I must admit: I wish they would be more like Vijaya. I wish they would look to God’s Word to establish their motivations, their means, their metrics, and their methodologies. The wisdom of the cross is foolishness to the world, but our Lord’s arm is not too short to save, and he chooses to use weak and broken vessels like Vijaya, Victor, and me through the “foolish” methods of preaching and the church (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Where Do We Go from Here?

As missionaries have learned from and incorporated various anthropological and sociological ideas over the last several decades, much of mission strategy has become shrouded in mystery. Sometimes it seems that only experts can speak to it.  

But that’s not true.. The greatest missionaries in the church's history have not been specialists but faithful men and women committed to the gospel, the church, and the work of evangelism and discipleship. There may be certain translation and cultural issues particular to a culture, so it may sometimes be wise to defer to people with regional experience. Still, when it comes to methodologies for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting, the work is fundamentally the same—from Aceh to Anaheim, from Moscow to Melbourne.

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