Zac asks: This is something I’ve wondered for a while, but why do you never hear about churches going on mission trips locally to Lancaster or York, or to somewhere like Detroit? It’s always …. Hondouras or in our case, Serbia!
Zac, thanks so much for your question. I think this is brilliant and I’ve been super eager to respond to it ever since you emailed me. I know you’re not implying this in your question (or maybe you are) but I think sometimes mission trips, especially by western countries can, if not careful, have a “we’ve got this all sorted and have come to help you” feel. To put it in a really brutal language it can be a Christianised form of colonialism (and that’s not good!). So what do we think about the mission to Serbia and not Swindon?
I think there are three key passages that will hopefully help us as just one local church to consider how we play our part in God’s global mission.
Prophecy
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. – Habb 2:14
In the gloriously named Old Testament book called Habakkuk (which has nothing to do with cooking), there is beautiful prophetic longing for a day that would come. And Habbakkuk is seeing a day where something so dramatic has happened that the glory of God, which up until this point had primarily been seen in the nation and affairs of Israel, would break free of this constraint and be seen across the earth ‘as the waters cover the sea‘. Habakkuk is speaking of a global ‘something’ that would bring glory and honour the true and living God! I think this is a pretty exciting picture and I believe it should underscore for us God’s global heart for his global fame!
Command
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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.” – Matthew 28:19-20
After seeing the prophetic longing of Habakkuk, we then turn to some critical words of Jesus. These are recorded right at the end of his earthly ministry and he is turning this prophetic longing for global mission into a command. Go to all nations (or ethnicities). Here Jesus is showing us that there is no square inch of this planet and no people group who are outside of the commission for his people (the church). We are all called to be people who live with ‘go’ in our hearts! This is vital for us as a church because living in rural/seaside Norfolk/Suffolk it is easy to get separated from the global implication of mission (we joke about this, but for some, Norwich is a long way away)! Keeping this commission in the forefront of our minds will help our hearts stay stretchy and flexible so we can respond to all that God is wanting to do among us!
Strategy
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8
Finally, after seeing the prophetic longing for a global mission and then Jesus’ explicit commissioning of his people to engage in global mission, we read in Acts 1:8 this helpful strategy for thinking about mission:
Jerusalem – think about mission locally (that’s the Borough of Great Yarmouth)
Judea – well that’s Norfolk and Suffolk (maybe even East Anglia)
Samaria – this is slightly more complicated but is really working among people who you would not naturally associate with. For example, if you’re a white middle class church it will be thinking about how you can break through ethnic or social barriers (and please note how built into this is the idea of breaking prejudice in our own hearts – think about the story of the good Samaritan. Where did he come from?).
To the ends of the earth – I guess for us, that could mean places like Swindon and/or Serbia.
So how are we doing?
What is encouraging to me is that we’re currently actively involved in mission here on the East Coast; we’re also playing our part in a church plant in Norfolk (the Norfolk Broads Church Plant), we’re also part of a family of churches that is looking to plant another 20 churches across Norfolk. Phew, take a deep breath because that already sounds a lot! Our wider involvement within Relational Mission means that we are certainly indirectly involved in planting in places such as Liverpool and the Isle of Sheppey (to name but two) and then there are our fledgling relationships with places such as Serbia and Bangladesh.
Zac, I guess what your question is drawing out, is the tension that is built into the way God has set up mission for every local church. Local mission needs more resources than we’ve got! Countywide mission needs more resources than we’ve got! Nationwide mission needs more resources than we’ve got. And certainly a global mission needs more resources than we’ve got! As a result, as a local church we need to be feeling that tension and allowing it to drive us to prayer and dependence upon God.
So to finish, wouldn’t it be fun if one day we were simultaneously launching an outreach on Salisbury Road (Great Yarmouth), launching a mid-week discipleship group in Scratby, supporting a church plant in Stalham, sending someone to help Life Church in Sheringham, working with others to put a church planting team together to send to Swindon and at the same time,, having the joy of a team from Serbia coming and working alongside us so that together we could learn and grow. Now that’s a picture that makes me excited!
What do you think?
If you want to explore this more, then can I recommend the book ‘Global Humility: Attitudes for Mission: Attitudes to Mission‘
If you’ve got a mardle question, then please email me at mardle@wearekingsgate.org