There seems to be something missing, or shifting – at least in my world but maybe in some larger sense too. I’ve wondered recently where the push for missions has gone? The drive towards inner-city missions seemed to steadily increase towards the end of my college years. I remember Claiborne’s entrance into the evangelical scene with “The Irresistible Revolution” opening many suburban-raised Christians like myself to the mission fields close by, right in our cities – and it was a field that promised transformation for ourselves as well as our new neighbors.
In my masters program at Eastern, so many questions were raised – and I believe this reflects a heightened awareness among many church groups or para-church groups about the ineffectual strategies of some development work, and even the troublesome nature of some missionary work. “Development as missions” is a concept and a calling that felt dear to many who entered our program I think – for that is what Eastern offered us that was unique.
Now, I hardly hear about the missionaries, about their mission, except through a couple prayer letters and e-mail chains from friends and distant acquaintances. I am at a church right now that has a huge focus on urban missions, and that is where we are located, right in the inner city. We’re in this mission field. Our church is open to overseas missions and we financially support some missionaries, but why is it that I don’t have a sense of feeling “sent” by our church? We are missional; our church loves mission – yet, I don’t feel any personal encouragement to be a missionary, to be an ambassador – overseas – for the Gospel.
Now I know there is much work to be done right here, all around us, but what if international missions is the focus we (Ted and I) have had? What if that’s what we’ve felt as our heartbeat before? I’m not sure I’m even reading this the right way, because the core of my values that I believe God has placed on my heart are for LOVE and JUSTICE. And those are in need EVERYWHERE.
So, does international missions even make sense anymore? It must, but what I’m trying to read is what this current wave in missions-thinking is saying – what are Christians really thinking about missions – urban versus international? Is one locale being preferred over another?
Help me.
In my masters program at Eastern, so many questions were raised – and I believe this reflects a heightened awareness among many church groups or para-church groups about the ineffectual strategies of some development work, and even the troublesome nature of some missionary work. “Development as missions” is a concept and a calling that felt dear to many who entered our program I think – for that is what Eastern offered us that was unique.
Now, I hardly hear about the missionaries, about their mission, except through a couple prayer letters and e-mail chains from friends and distant acquaintances. I am at a church right now that has a huge focus on urban missions, and that is where we are located, right in the inner city. We’re in this mission field. Our church is open to overseas missions and we financially support some missionaries, but why is it that I don’t have a sense of feeling “sent” by our church? We are missional; our church loves mission – yet, I don’t feel any personal encouragement to be a missionary, to be an ambassador – overseas – for the Gospel.
Now I know there is much work to be done right here, all around us, but what if international missions is the focus we (Ted and I) have had? What if that’s what we’ve felt as our heartbeat before? I’m not sure I’m even reading this the right way, because the core of my values that I believe God has placed on my heart are for LOVE and JUSTICE. And those are in need EVERYWHERE.
So, does international missions even make sense anymore? It must, but what I’m trying to read is what this current wave in missions-thinking is saying – what are Christians really thinking about missions – urban versus international? Is one locale being preferred over another?
Help me.
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