We Are All Missionaries! Really?

First, let me explain for the delay in posting my "weekly" blog from this past Sunday evening until today. For some unknown reason, a PC gremlin invaded my precious G4 and rewired one of the DRAM memory chips. Fortunately, a new one is being UPSed to me as we speak. However, working through the diagnostic process of determining why my faithful and loyal Apple was going haywire took a couple of days. I have since removed the faulty memory and replaced it with a new memory chip sent by OWC and all is well again in the MAC World. I apologize for the delay and giving the impression that I was working on a PC.

I have been in several settings recently where a phrase has been used that has caused me a moment of pause and reflection. I am attempting to determine if this is an issue worth raising at all or if this is a hill worth dying on. The phrase is simply, "we are all missionaries".

I do understand the intent and desire of those making this claim and I agree wholeheartedly that we all are commanded to be witnesses to all the nations, all the world. But is it accurate and in fact desired that we make such claims for all Christians. Let me explain my struggle with doing this.

1. Scripture does not support this claim. The word from which we derive the term missionary comes from the same word we read as "apostle" in the New Testament. We clearly read that "some" are called as apostles, not all. All are commanded to witness and minister, but not all are called to be apostles or missionaries just as not all are called to be pastors, deacons, teachers, etc.

2. If we believe that the model for recognizing and sending forth missionaries is modeled in Acts 13, then missionaries are those who are "called", "set-apart", and "sent out".

CALLED: There is a unique and clear call of God to be, live, and work as a missionary.

SET-APART: Others, the church, recognizes this called and gives affirmation.

SENT OUT: The missionary does not stay home, He/she goes the place or places where the Holy Spirit leads. You cannot be sent out and stay at the same time.

3. Missionaries participate in the missionary task as a normal part of their daily efforts. Again, using Paul as a model this is, harvesting new believers, starting new churches, and developing leaders. If everyone is a missionary then why is it most do not participate in these tasks? I wonder if it is wise to limit the missionary's task as just evangelism.

Questions I ask concerning this issue:
1. If we are all missionaries, then why is there a need for a call to be missionary?
2. If we are all missionaries, then is the only difference between us are those who get paid for being missionary?
3. If we are all missionaries, then why are we all not pastors and deacons as well?

It is not my desire or intent to set up a Christian class system, but when it comes to missions there seems to be a tendency to be loose with our definitions in an attempt to raise awareness and increase interest. Paul was a missionary, Peter was not, but this did not change the incredible influence and impact each man had on the church and the world.

Coke & Missions: What Missionaries Can Learn From a Softdrink Company

Several years ago while on "furlough" in Atlanta, Georgia, I was looking for some type of memory hook to include in my presentations to churches that would serve as a way to help U.S. Christians weave missions more into their daily routine. I found what I was looking for while reading the newspaper. Specifically, an article covering a recent stockholders meeting of the Atlanta based Coca-Cola Company. In this article, then CEO and Chairman of the Board, Roberto Goizueta was quoted as saying to the stockholders present:

"Not long ago, we came upon an interesting set of facts: A billion hours ago, human life appeared on earth. A billion minutes ago Christianity emerged. A billion seconds ago the Beatles changed music forever. And a billion Coca-Colas ago was, yesterday morning. What we are trying to figure out at the Coca-Cola Company is how can we make a billion Coca-Colas ago this morning."

This grabbed my attention and my heart. Soon after this I heard someone state, "More people in the world today have access to a bottle of Coca-Cola than they do the gospel message of Jesus Christ". I had found my hook and began to do more investigating and found that there were many similarities between the vision and goals of Coca-Cola and missions. I wrote Mr. Goizueta and asked for permission to use his billion hours quote in my mission presentations. He graciously gave permission and wrote in a letter to me the following.

"I believe that our Company's history truly is illustrative of what can happen when thousands of dedicated people work toward a common goal. If that dedication can serve as model for others in their endeavors, that is indeed, gratifying. Your letter reminds me that, from time to time, observers have been kind enough to suggest that Coca-Cola people work with "missionary zeal". It's one of the highest compliments we could ever received."

Quickly, a sobbering thought overwhelmed my senses, that a company that makes and distributes sugar water has found a way to put it's product in front of most of the people in the world while the Christian church is still stuggles to come close to matching Coke's distribution efforts.

The following represents lessons I believe we can learn from the Coca-Cola Company and apply to our missionary efforts.

Coke lists the following reasons for their unprecedented success:

1. Research the culture for the most affective advertising.
Missionaries should do worldview research to find the bridges and barriers to presenting the gospel message of Christ.

2. Committed and dedicated workers.
Missionaries must be focused on the vision and task of taking the gospel to every person.

3. Meeting a need before anyone else.
People do not care what you know until they know you care. Many times we have to touch lives before we can change hearts.

4. Adapting their products to local tastes.
In missiological terms we call this “contextualization”.

5. Giving local people a stake in the success of their ventures.
Don’t do for others what they can do for themselves. Teach them to do what they cannot do for themselves and then let them do it.

6. The Company takes pride in being a worldwide business that is always local.
a. Bottling plants are locally owned and operated by people native to the area.
b. Bottlers provide the capital.
c. Most supplies are purchased from local sources.
It is our responsibility as missionaries to help initiate work that is both indigenous and non-dependent as possible.

When you go to the Coke museum in Atlanta, and I highly recommend that you do so, you will see a video that shows almost all of the ways that Coke is distributed around the world. The video show product distributions from typical locations like stores and restaurants to the unusual such as from pushcarts and the backs of camels. They have mastered what we called in New Directions, “WigTake”. Are we will to do whatever it takes to get the gospel to everyone of these same locations?


Several years ago Coke introduced a new contoured can shaped with an indentation like the traditional Coke bottle. See photo. When asked why Coke was doing this, Roberto Goizueta replied, “When you hold one of these new Coke cans you will know for sure it is a Coke, even in the dark.” I have often wondered that in this world of darkness, does a lost world know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ simply by our touch?

The Coca-Cola Company’s biggest mistake ever. April 23, 1985 will go down in Coke history and folklore as the day the sun stood still. This was the day that Coke introduced a new and “improved” Coca-Cola. It was the first formula change in the history of the Company. The response was swift and overwhelming. People did not want a change in a product that they had come to know and love.

In our efforts to make the gospel more palpable to a lost world we must be careful that we do not change the “original formula”. Contextualization should change only how the gospel is presented not the gospel message itself. I believe most lost people do not reject the gospel but the reformulated gospel as presented by those who truly do not know how to live and express the “normal” Christian life.

“In the midst of massive changes sweeping the world, people everywhere take comfort in knowing that there are some things that never change, things that they can count on.” Quote from the Atlanta Coke Museum

People will not find “the real thing” in a soft drink, but only in the person of Jesus Christ. We can only hope and pray that one day, Christ’s church will be as dedicated and committed to her task as Coke is to its task.

“some of the text for this blog was taken from a PowerPoint developed by Curtis Sergeant”

Returning To Biblical Missions

What does it mean to "return to biblical missions"?

Several years ago myself and a good friend and colleague of mine, Elbert Smith, were discussing how we could make our training for missionaries, national partners, and volunteers more strategic and more practical. One of the outcomes of this discussion came the idea that everything we presented would come from one or both of two sources; The Word of God and The Works of God. This caused us to ask two questions.

1) Do we see this concept or practice in Scripture?
2) How do we see God moving in the world today to bring lost souls into His Kingdom?

Joshua 1:8 states: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success."

When you look at all of the plans and strategies being implemented around the world today, a close examination of these strategies reveal that those which are inline with biblical teachings are producing the greatest eternal fruit. The good news is that we do not have to keep coming up with something new, but instead, just keep remembering what Scripture both teaches and promises.

Then in Psalm 111:2, we read, "Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them."

Especially in IMB circles the buzz words for several years now has been Church Planting Movements. It is undeniable that a significant amount of observation and evidence exists to support the claim that this is a work of God, a mighty movement of the Holy Spirit. With the emergence of CPMs we see characteristics and practices that has helped return our focus on the early days of Pentecost and the rapid spread of the gospel in the years that followed.

However, at the risk of sounding heretical, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of believing that CPMs are the last word on missions and mission strategy. Even a cursory review of modern missions history will show that we are currently riding the latest wave of mission thought and practice and even if we can't see it yet, another new wave is forming just over the horizon. But until this new wave begins to build, we need to be sure that we do not miss the opportunities that lay before us today.

So, I will ask the question again, what does it mean to return to biblical missions? Here are just a few of my responses.

1. My first and primary source for mission strategy is found in Scripture. The Bible is replete with examples and commands that allows us to go from lostness to saved, saved to church, and from church to multiplying churches.

2. We call it best practices, but I believe the Bible calls it the work of the Holy Spirit. We need to be spiritually sensitive observers, showing both discernment and wisdom as we seek to determine where and how God is working to redeem lost men, women, boys and girls to Himself.

3. Lostness should impact everything we do so that everything we do impacts lostness.

4. I do not know who originated this phrase, but I heard it first from Bruce Carlton. "Church is not where we meet, but church is who we are."

5. Jesus said that a tree is judged by it's fruit. Are we bearing eternal fruit or are we taking up space that could be used by someone else who would bear fruit?

6. If we consider the apostle Paul a missionary model for us to follow, then it's important to remember that almost everywhere he went he left behind, new believers, new churches, and developing leaders. More on this in a future blog.

Returning to biblical missions is rediscovering the value and impact of 1st century principles and practices in a 21st century world.