Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am Won KIM, voicing Pastor Caleb Soo Lee Chong. Shalom. Today, we’ll move on to a new topic -- “Mission View of a Disciple”.

What is driving one forward to spread the gospel or carry out missionary work with great passion after accepting the Lord? Is it a sign of thanksgiving or a show of fanaticism? Why are some churches not growing over all these years? Some people believe that the church exists to spread the gospel. In as much as the essence of the church lies in spreading the word, this work is thus indispensable to its very existence. Others hold the belief that the church should not be focusing on its own expansion; it should, instead, be playing an active role in carrying out social work, even to take the lead in promoting social reforms… Ultimately, it is the respective mission view of the church that defines its position and bear the costs thereafter.

The Decline of Faiths in the West

During a visit to the United Kingdom in October 2002, the founding prime minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew addressed a gathering of students from Singapore. He noted that while the UK society was made up of different ethnic groups with their respective languages and practiced their respective religions, churches were empty on Sundays. Many church buildings had since been converted into entertainment arcades….

In sharp contrast stands about 500 mosques filled to capacity on Fridays, besides places of worship for Hindus as well as other faiths. Let us put our heads together to find out why the English churches have come to this. Would we, too, wake up one morning to find ourselves in similar straits? A multi-pronged approach is obviously needed to help us piece the big picture together.

Firstly, major technological advancements in the western world have accelerated the secularization process and pushed it to become a materialistic society, egged on by some folks promoting the notion that God is no longer relevant to the world today. The expression “secularization process” refers to the gradual delinking of the various religious forms and modes of thinking from the activities of the people within our society, covering social, political, economic, educational, behaviourial domains, lifestyles and norms, even the state of culture in general.

In other words, these days people are managing the various problems encountered in the course of their daily lives with their own means, with no need to seek help from any religious institution whatsoever. The people in the western world are gradually moving away from the church, i.e., towards secularization. Obviously, such a process never took place within Asian societies, because the east / Asian civilizations had been secular to begin with. In contrast, the western world broke away from Christianity for the secular world – i.e., became secularized.

According to studies by statistician-evangelist David Barrett (1927-2011), about 53,000 people were quitting churches in Europe and North America every week. He even confirmed the findings in the book by Godin and Daniel's, “La France pays de mission?” (France as a mission country?) published in April 1943 that sent shock waves across the Catholic world. It pointed out that France was no longer a mission country. Instead, it had become a pagan country, where atheism, secularism, unbelief and superstitions have become commonplace. This is the first reason why churches in the west, including the UK today, are finding themselves in a state of decline.

Secondly, the western world (Christians included) is frequently haunted by a sense of profound guilt carried over from the era of colonialist exploits against other ethnic groups. The resulting sense of helplessness amongst Christians even manifests itself in an unwillingness to support other missionary centres. Their past mistakes during their apogee of imperial glory have since left them in a negative state of mind as Christians within their midst no longer spread the gospel today.

Thirdly, the entire world is now a “global village”, where oceans and other water bodies no longer keep Christian lands apart from the non-Christian ones. On one hand, the Christian world is coming apart in the West, with people losing confidence in the traditional faiths; on the other, mass migration of people with different beliefs is now a fact. Moreover, followers of other religions are usually more active and aggressive in pursuing mission works than the Christians themselves. Some religions made their way from Africa and the Middle East to France to become the dominant religion in the host country. Yes, it is happening right now! Indeed, it has been quoted that Muslims are saying this: We do not have to spread Islam to the world; all we need to do is let Muslim immigrants enter their country and they will take up our religion in time to come.”

Dear brothers and sisters, these forces are leading to the decline of churches while other religions continue to grow in influence. It is time that the church reflects on how the gospel is to be spread amidst such challenging circumstances.   

The Mission Model Today

Under the traditional model of mission, the church sends it missionaries into faraway lands to disseminate the message amongst the locals so that they respond in repentance and become converts. However, in this day and age, the church is set within a multi-religious and multicultural society (similar to what Mr Lee Kuan Yew said about the British or, for that matter, even European churches today.) In what direction do you think the modus operandi of church mission should be evolving? Should it stay steadfast to tradition and continue to dispatch its missionaries to pagan states abroad? What are other possibilities? These days, large numbers of immigrants are relocated to other cities or states; these multi-ethnic, multi-religious cities have quite a good number of non-Christians within their midst. How, then, should we spread the message to them today?

The world has changed, and so must the church! Only Jesus remains unchanged yesterday, today and forever! The church is not Jesus, and will have to renew itself constantly. Only in this manner can we serve our Lord effectively. Question is, how are we to reform our missionary model? Such reformation is essential; we are to focus on how this is to proceed.

One, Christians can no longer view other religions and faiths from its own high pedestal. An arrogant mentality such as this comes from the colonial past; it reeks of snootiness and cannot attract people to the gospel. Such displays of haughtiness merely serve to distance Christians from the very people they are trying to win over.

Two, try to appreciate our neighbours, especially with respect to their own religions and faiths. This would lead us to reassess our own stereotyping of believers from other faiths that have been ingrained within us from the past. Dear brothers and sisters, back then, the line delineating Christians from non-Christians used to be very clear-cut: non-Christians are pagans and slated for Hell. It is very difficult for people to accept and be brought over by such attitudes. To put it bluntly, it’s time for such stereotyped thinking to undergo a complete overhaul!

Three. We need to go the way Jesus Christ did, as documented in the scriptures: “the Word became Flesh”. Didn’t Jesus physically “enter” this world when He was sent by His Heavenly Father? Yes, go likewise into the world of our own neighbourhood, laugh and cry with our fellowmen, and lead them to see the hope Christ has to offer.  

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you” in the Bible in the book of John chapter 20 verse 21. We have to take after our Lord, become one of them -- understand them, their struggles, their thoughts and their sufferings. It is through our presence with them as we wade into their weal and woe that we are able to lead them to Christ – via the mode depicted in these words: “the Word became Flesh”.

Four: The notion of geographical territory is fading away as the reality of “global village” sinks in. The concept of having to be physically present in the harvest field to “qualify” as a missionary should be wiped off our mental landscape. Today, we can spread the good news right from the city we are in and gain access to places strewn across the globe to execute our missionary task. Dear brothers and sisters, we need a renewed understanding of the status quo going forward.

Finally, the church had been sending its missionaries to faraway pagan lands to spread the message in the past. In our context, we are able to grow and equip Christians originating from different places such as Mainland China and countries from the Islamic world, and thereafter send them back to their own countries and kindreds. Isn’t that more efficient? People from different countries, cultures and ethnic groups have their own practices, customs, traditions and cultural backdrops. It would be far easier (and better) for Christians from these lands to blend themselves into their own local communities, understand and lead them to Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, we need to review the need to carry on with the traditional method of doing missionary work in times such as these. Shouldn’t we widen our horizons, engage ourselves in continuous renewal as we carry out these missionary works to spread the news far and wide? It is time our current church to learn to draw lessons from our painful experiences, wrap our minds around these issues and do away with some of these traditional concepts. What has worked in the past may not necessarily be good today and we are to adjust and respond to the call of our times.

“Evangelism” vs “mission” – same or different？

What is the difference between “evangelism” and “mission”? Broadly speaking, “evangelism” has a narrower scope, and refers to sharing the gospel of God’s plans for the salvation with the rest of the world. On the other hand, the expression “mission” covers more ground -- spreading the Word and getting involved in social work. The church leader John Stott said that the word “mission” refers to all the work carried out by people sent out by churches into the world, i.e., the ministry of Christian disciples in the world is the aggregation of evangelism plus social services.

Thus,

Mission = Evangelism + Service

In other words, the concept of “mission” has a wider scope – while “evangelism” is a narrower concept. They are closely interrelated to each other, however. May God help us to spread the Word and show our concerns toward social needs at the same time.  May our works sink roots and bring our fellow men back to Christ. May God use the church so that we can carry on our ministry to the new generation through the renewed modus operandi. Amen!

Let’s pray

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank you for your blessings because we have received the gospel in Christ that you have gifted upon us.  As our Heavenly Father sent out Christ more than 2,000 years ago, Christ, too, has sent us out like sheep with wolves all around us, and said that we are to be as wise as serpents and yet as harmless as doves. We are thus to bring the gospel to the people so that they may know you and return to your fold. O, God, Heavenly Father, may you confer upon us wisdom, steadfastness and insight in order that we can adopt this renewed modus operandi to spread your message to a wider world more effectively and even bear fruits within our community so that everyone is able to witness the wonders of your Love. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Recommendations by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” by Rev. Dr Caleb SOO Lee Chong are worthy books to edify disciples. In order to minimize differences in the qualities amongst Christians, our churches need to set up basic courses to address these issues. In turn, this will enable all disciples to incorporate their faith into their lives and allow changes to take place through renewal of minds. May God make use of these basic courses to edify more disciples to strengthen His soldiers and claim victory on His battle-ground!

The three books “The Gospel for the Modern Man”, “Faith of the Modern Believer” and “Values for the Modern Disciple” are suitable course materials for anyone who wish to acquire understanding of the Christian faith in a more comprehensive manner. The contents are easy to grasp and relate to the real world that we are living in. They are written with an eye for the man-in-the-street and explore how to make our faith come alive in our daily social interactions.

In particular, these are suitable if you  

1. are someone who wants to understand the Christian faith or,

2. are someone who has just accepted the Christian faith or,

3. have been a Christian for many years but still hungering for a firmer grounding in the faith or,

4. are a pastor or co-worker who plans to use these materials for teaching purposes.

If you need to take up learning or use these materials in a systematic manner, please us contact at this email address.： HYPERLINK "

"mailto:[email protected]" [email protected]