You may have seen the signs, or maybe you have one installed at your own church for people to see as they exit: “You are now entering the mission field.” It’s a true saying, and well worth bearing in mind — except the sign needs changing now. You might have to cobble this together like I did in the image above, but if your church displays this sign, you need to add a word: “You are now entering the foreign mission field.” Pastors, if you don’t have the sign at your church, you need to recognize it as the new reality of ministry anyway.
By “foreign,” I mean more precisely “cross-cultural,” the same term missions strategists use for missions that crosses significant boundaries of religion, worldview, customs, habits, language, taboos, and expectations. For decades missiologists have been saying not all cross-cultural missions means flying somewhere. It could also include ministry to other cultures transplanted to America, or to Native American cultures that were here long before Christians.
Still, for most American Christians our mission field was fairly domestic: familiar language, no exchange rate to worry about on the dollar, and most importantly, not much by way of cultural barriers to cross. The first of those is questionable, the second one only matters if you’re comparing the value of yesterday’s dollar to today’s, but the third one has changed drastically. Our culture has turned foreign — and I would say not merely cross-cultural — in almost every way that matters to ministry: its view of God, its view of self, its view of Christianity, which it both misunderstands completely yet holds increasingly hostile attitudes against. Here’s one fresh, new, and I think helpful way to look at it:
Church programs and methods designed for the 20th century may seem effective still, but cross-cultural missions outreach is different. Our churches need to change accordingly. That’s the hard part — the almost impossibly difficult one. In this video I share both the urgency of change, and hope for ways to help make that change happen. It’s not the only hard thing Christians have experienced, in fact for many it’s far from the hardest. It is, however, the greatest challenged we’ve ever faced simply for being who we are, the Church.
Serving by Listening and Networking
Most of all, I share how much I care for and love the pastors God is tasking with reaching this new foreign culture. For years it’s been my dream to have a full-time ministry of networking with and serving pastors in making this change realistically possible. I finally freed up time for it by retiring from other work — only to be shocked with a completely unexpected diagnosis of stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
I am holding my own with it, but I cannot expect to be out among pastors here in Dayton as I had dreamed of doing. For those who feel the burden of this new ministry reality, though, I would love at least to offer some Zoom conversation. Pastors need to converse with pastors on these things, but I can facilitate it, as long God allows.
I am proposing two separate conversations: One at 3:30 pm Eastern time, Wednesday, October 23, and a second one on Thursday evening October 25, at 8:00 pm Eastern time. (I wish I could do it later for the sake of West Coast participants, but staying up late isn’t as easy as it used to be.) To be informed of these conversations, please use the special contact form provided here. I look forward to talking with you!
An earlier conversation between the eminently wise and unfailingly loving Christian professor Timothy McGrew and me sheds more light on the same subject.
