It is very fashionable in mission circles to say that our role is to discern where God is working and to join him there. I’d like to suggest that we need to do exactly the opposite!
OK, I will admit that things are not quite as black and white as that and I will nuance them below, but there is a serious point to be made here. This is the second in a short series that looks at problems associated with the way in which some people apply the idea of “the Mission of God”. You can find the first post in the series here.
Before I get on to the controversial stuff, let me just make a couple of remarks.
Firstly, I do believe that all mission is God’s and that our role and privilege is to take part in his cosmic initiative to reconcile all things through Christ. If we are involved in mission, we are joining in with what God is doing.
It is vitally important that those who are involved in leading and planning mission initiatives spend serious amounts of time in prayer and discernment. We have to spend time thinking through the specifics of what God would have us do.
My problems arise with the notion of knowing where God is at work.
Firstly, as I’ve argued elsewhere, we don’t really have the capacity to know or understand what God is seeking to achieve in any situation. To pretend that we know where God is at work and to fully grasp what he is doing is beyond us. We get glimpses from time to time, but even then, we are looking through a mucky window into the light of divine reality.
Secondly, how does God go about his work on this planet of ours. Strangely (and I wouldn’t do it this way), he accomplishes most of his work through his church, empowered by the Spirit. Yes, God intervenes through miraculous visions and dreams at times, but most of the time, he works through the witness and life of his people. Going where God is at work, means going to where there are growing churches and dynamic church life! Whereas, it is those places where God is apparently not at work, where there is no church and where the name of Christ is not known, that have the most need for Christian witness. In a world where the vast majority of missionaries work to support already existing churches, we need to step out of our comfortable boundaries and go where we don’t (yet) see God working.
The third problem is related to the previous one; in a success hungry world, it is all to easy to divert resources, people and recognition to those places where things seem to be happening and to ignore the faithful, sacrificial witness of people in hard places. I heard a horrific story where funders for a major mission agency decided to withdraw from one European country and move into another because souls could be saved for less in the second country. Thankfully, Christ did not think in those terms on the cross.
I realise that these problems do not inevitably flow out of the notion of the “Mission of God” and of joining him where he is at work. However, I have seen examples where people following this principle have fallen into one or more of these traps. They may not be inevitable, but they are real dangers.
The thing is, our participation in what God is already doing is generally much clearer in hindsight than it is before the fact. Sometimes we are called to step out into the apparent darkness and to witness to him when success (in our terms) is very slow in coming.
28 replies on “Go To Where God Is Not At Work!”
RT @kouya: Don’t join in with God where you see him at work – go to where you can’t see him!… http://t.co/E2qB0Ob6Me
Thanks Eddie. A helpful piece for to start the working day with.
RT @kouya: Don’t join in with God where you see him at work – go to where you can’t see him!… http://t.co/E2qB0Ob6Me
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RT @kouya: Don’t join in with God where you see him at work – go to where you can’t see him!… http://t.co/E2qB0Ob6Me
Superb piece – thanks Eddy
RT @kouya: Don’t join in with God where you see him at work – go to where you can’t see him!… http://t.co/E2qB0Ob6Me
er… Eddie! (autocorrect!)
RT @kouya: Don’t join in with God where you see him at work – go to where you can’t see him!… http://t.co/E2qB0Ob6Me
Yes. I’ve had the some questions about the slogan of “go to where God is at work.” Very well thought out. Thanks.
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Isn’t it See what God is doing (somewhere) and join in? Or have I filtered the expression through a missiological lens?
I do think we should go where God is at work. It’s just that we should also go where missionaries aren’t at work. Also, God is at work everywhere.
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Or is it that we should go where we trust that God WILL be working?
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[…] Eddie Arthur challenges the popular notion that mission is ‘finding out what God is doing and joining in’. […]
Nev McCormack liked this on Facebook.
I was going to say that God is at work everywhere. We just need to open our eyes to see his work and join him in it! I have never understood that to mean where there is a missionary presence. i do recall an experience where the C&MA came into northern Benin and asked about work among the Monkole people group. There were already churches, a translation was in progress and there were local, trained pastors in the group. We asked why were they targeting a group that already had the Gospel and we asked about the Dendi and they said, “Oh they are too hard. They are closed, etc.” Sigh b/c the Dendi still do not have many Christians among them!
RT @kouya: Don’t join in with God where you see him at work – go to where you can’t see him!… http://t.co/E2qB0Ob6Me
Sherry Thomas liked this on Facebook.
I think it is also that often God’s call comes to us by him showing us what he is doing and impressing on us a desire/call to respond. we don’t all see what he is doing everywhere, that would overwhelm us i think.
Is mission really all about discerning where God is at work and joining in? I think not! http://t.co/cjg7vGa2ML
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[…] Eddie Arthur has a consistently thought-provoking blog – this piece particularly good: Go to where God is Not at Work! […]