Gather and Go

NB: I am not posting my sermon outline here because Dr. Peter Jones will be bringing the Word to us at Christ Church tomorrow. He is in town for our annual missions conference, which concluded this morning. Below is the outline for the talk that I presented at that conference, with which you will have to make do.

Introduction:

One of our unfortunate tendencies is to think of missions in terms of distance. Mission is something that happens over there, across the sea, on the other side of the mountains. This is unfortunate because mission can only happen when the distance is closed, when there is personal contact. And that contact is occurring wherever the church is present and alive. The difference between foreign mission and domestic mission is therefore a matter of logistics—shots, passports, languages, but not a matter of principle. What then is the principle? The principle is this—new life in Christ is contagious.

The Text:

“And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:8–10).

A Disproportionate Impact:

Notice in this text that Paul reasoned for three months in the synagogue, and did so until he had generated significant opposition. Sometimes opposition means that you should just move on. But other times it means that you must not. “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Cor. 16:9). Notice how Paul reasons here—an effectual door, and many adversaries. This is in the same city, incidentally, the city of Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:8).

So when that happened, he fell back to the hall of Tyrannus, who must have been one tough school teacher, and Paul taught there daily for two years. As a result of this particular onslaught, the entire Roman province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. In this approach, the apostle Paul was not just “lucky.” He was pursuing a particular strategy.

Gather and Go:

Personal contact is assumed. The disciples were all in one hall. But there is also a rhythm to this. The Spirit was moving in the teaching of Paul, and disciples were attracted to it. They came, they gathered, they heard and internalized it. And, after having been established in his doctrine, they hit the road.

Decisive Points:

In military strategy, a decisive point is the place to concentrate on. It has two characteristics—it is both strategic and feasible. Because it is strategic, it will have a major influence on the battle if you take it, and because it is feasible, it is possible to take. New York City is strategic but not feasible. Elk River, Idaho is feasible but not strategic. Ephesus was both.

Dealing With Some Additional Factors:

One of the reasons why we have to think in terms of principles (instead of just methods) is that in many ways we are living in the kind of world that no one has lived in before. As the world continues to grow and develop, we absolutely must know what the principles are, because we will have to apply them in rapidly changing circumstances.

What are some of the constant principles here? One is personal relationship, personal contact. Another is Word-centeredness. Another is taking the initiative. Jesus said to go, disciple the nations.

What might be some faux-principles, some distractions? Missions existed before the nation/state and missions can exist afterwards. What will globalization do to the concept of foreign missions? What will happen to frontier missions when the final outpost has an Applebees? What will it mean when the fact that someone works for Exxon is more significant than the fact that he is Brazilian? Should we send missionaries to Exxon?

Here are some wild cards, places where we must apply the same principles mutatis mutandis.

• Economies of scale. The sheer size of the world’s population has to affect our strategy. When Whitefield preached in Boston, that city was approximately the size that Moscow is today. But we are a small town, and Boston was an important city. In 1517, Heidelberg had a population of about 5,000—one quarter the size of Moscow. When Jesus preached there, Jerusalem wasn’t that much bigger—a permanent population of about 30,000. What does reformation look like in a world with 7 billion people in it? We don’t know yet.
• Travel and accessibility. In the old days, personal contact was shaped by proximity. But today, it is quite possible for a couple to have closer friends—face-to-face friends— than with their neighbors right next door, measured by how frequently they get together for dinner. What does this mean for the principle of personal discipleship?
• Electronic publishing—blogging, video streaming, sermons, e-books, POD actual books are all screaming for Christians to enlist them in the service of the Great Commission. This is not a cyber-replacement of the Pauline approach, but it is a gorgeous supplement to it. Tell me, in the midst of that controversy, if the apostle Paul had had an opportunity to Skype with some of his allies at Galatia, would he have done so? That would be distance technology, but speaking frankly, so was the letter to the Galatians.

Conclusion:

The Spirit falls on men and women, not on strategic plans, and not on a collection of methods. But when the Spirit falls, there will be strategies, and there will be methods employed. They will radiate outward from the place where the Spirit is working, and they will do so by personal contact, and in such a way that the life brought by the Word will do its contagious best.