Lies, Lies and More Lies
This is a 4 minute read
A CCWM 10 part Series adapted, with copy right permission, from the book, The Insanity of Obedience by Nik Ripken
The way people were running to the store in search of toilet paper in 2020, was the way I was searching the proverbial shelves for future missionaries. But the shelves were pretty bare. Maybe I was doing it wrong? Perhaps I was looking in the wrong places?
I had returned from the full-time mission field in 2017 and soon after accepted a position at CCWM as Director of Communications. Inadvertently, I became a missions mobilizer, something I never thought I’d be when I grew up. I quickly got to work telling the story of missions and attempting to speak with various Church leaders and missions committees. What I didn’t expect were the closed doors, blank looks, and lack of luster or passion to SEND. It seemed these days missions had become old-fashioned, outdated, misunderstood, and dare I say... weird, even to the Church.
I began asking a lot of questions which led to research. What I discovered about missions, the Great Commission, Missionaries, and the American Christian’s perspective wasn’t news to me by then, but now I had the hard cold facts in view, and they shocked me. Here is a slice of my findings for the number junkies. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in 2019, there were a total of 2.5 billion Christians around the globe. Of those 2.5 billion, there were only 450,000 missionaries. Let me show you what that looks like.
This made me uncomfortable. Somehow I had believed there were more than 450,000. I think that most mission-sending agencies would agree with me when I say we are expending a lot of our time working to get the attention of a small group of people.
*bunny trail Did you know there were 5,400 mission sending agencies? Divided up, we could each handle around 83 missionaries, in that case, CCWM is halfway there!
Okay, enough of the numbers. Let’s get to the heart of why I wrote the coming series 10 Lies That Prevent Us From Going Across The Street or Across the World.
It became obvious to me that something tragic had happened to the Church. I love the Church, I am a part of the Church and I long for the Church to be busy accomplishing the task Jesus gave us when He said,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
You know that funny saying, “You only had one job…”
The Great Commission is our one job. So why is it so hard for us to do?
Why is more than 70 percent of the world’s evangelistic witness focused on the world’s historically Christian countries?
Why is the bulk of sacrificial offerings directed toward buildings, staff salaries, and educational materials for those already in the kingdom?
Why do unengaged and unreached people groups today still lack even minimal access to the gospel?
Why do many seminaries in the West, filled to overflowing with capable and committed students, send fewer than 10% of their graduates to the nations?
*questions quoted from Insanity of Obedience Lies, Lies and More Lies
During my deep dive into figuring out the WHY, I discovered a gem of an author, Nik Ripken and his INSANITY series. The Insanity of God and the Insanity of Obedience. The books helped me to understand some of what may be behind our reluctance to obey. I was especially intrigued by Chapter 7 in The Insanity of Obedience titled Lies, Lies and More Lies. After reading, I couldn’t un-see the clear line from the 10 lies Nik mentions that runs straight to the root of why many of us are not doing our one job. Here’s what Nik wrote about his purpose in bringing these 10 lies to our attention:
“It will be easy to be offended by this chapter. All the same, having insight into our own culture is possibly one of the highest signs of spiritual maturity. It is our hope that this chapter will ultimately help us have a faith rather than a religion and a church rather than an institution.” ”
I couldn’t help but take that bait. I wrote to the publishing company and received copyright permission to adapt chapter 7 into this series for our CCWM audience. I pray it lights a fire in your heart that won’t soon be put out.
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