What Obstacles Do Churches Face in Educating People on Sound Biblical Missiology?

What obstacles do churches face in educating people on sound biblical missiology?

There are a number of challenges churches face in educating their congregations on a sound biblical missiology.

First and foremost, there are a lot of pastors who sadly have sort of lost the lead on what the Bible's teaching. We forget that the Bible from beginning to end is teaching us about God's redeeming love for us in His Son Jesus Christ. That we were created— Genesis 1 and 2— to dwell with God, to live in His glorious presence. That we fell into sin, rebelling against Him— Genesis 3. And then in Genesis 3:15, as He curses the serpent, we hear the mother promise, the gospel of our salvation, that there will be a second Adam who will come, the Son of God and the Son of Man, Jesus Christ our Lord, who will save us from sin and death, from the curse that has come upon us because of our own sin. And if we don't understand that that's foundationally the story the Bible's teaching— and now the Bible is just going to unfold that promise of the coming Savior from Genesis 3:15 all the way through Revelation 22, when we see His consummate glory as He makes and brings about the new heavens and new earth— if we don't understand that, then we'll often miss how to teach particular passages in the Bible. And so we miss the missions context of the whole book. And so that's one challenge.

Secondly, we're challenged by the fact that many churches are caught up in a number of good projects, projects that they call missions that really aren't forwarding the Great Commission. They're not about making Christ known, but they are about loving your neighbor. And so there's been a confusion between the Great Commandments— you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself— and the Great Commission, which is to really proclaim Christ so that people are saved and gathered into the Church. And because we've confused those two things, often in the Church there's a challenge that comes to us understanding exactly what is missions. Well, missions isn't loving your neighbor, though you ought to love your neighbor, and that's good, it's not quite the same thing.

Thirdly, there are so many bad missions methodologies out there that are coming at us from all around. And so that can often confuse Christ's people, and ministers are often in a cloud of confusion themselves wondering what exactly is it that I ought to be saying.

Fourth, we have missiologists who might be the core problem that we often deal with in missions— missiologists who make you think that if you're going to understand Christ's purpose for the earth, you have to be a cultural anthropologist or a sociologist first. And so pastors don't think they have much really to say to speak to it. And they've lost the sense that actually this mission belongs to Christ's Church. And what we're sending people to do is exactly what I'm doing here in this church. I'm teaching the Word, and I'm discipling people, and I'm seeing people come to Christ, and I'm baptizing them, and I'm communing them. But when I go overseas, I'm just doing that in a different language and culture. And so there are additional challenges, but in principle, the work is the same.

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