as we are going ... looking for the person of peace
This post is in part a response to a blog about Missionary Strategy
by David Rogers posted on June 28. I admire David and appreciate his ministry in the new last frontier of Western Europe. It is hard soil with hard to find “good soil”. Like David, I do not want to get into an argument either. I love David’s blog and it is one of the missionary blogs that inspired me to start my own.
The passages in Matthew 10, Mark 6 and Luke 10 concerning Jesus’ instructions to His disciples as He sent them out, should not be written off as proof texts for recent thinking from some missions strategists. These passages are from the Word of God and deserve our careful consideration. Like much of Scripture, these passages reveal some principles that can be applied differently in different contexts. They are not meant to serve as a cookie cutter approach for missionary methodology. Rather, they are meant to teach us some principles that can be applied in different ways depending on the situation:
1. Pray for the Lord to send more laborers (Mt. 9:38)
2. Receive authority and power from Jesus (Mt. 10:1)
3. Go where God calls you, to a specific people (Mt. 10:5,6)
4. Proclaim His word (Mt. 10:7)
5. Be an instrument for God’s power (Mt. 10:8)
6. Don’t take extra money or stuff (Mt. 10:9,10)
7. Find the “worthy” person and stay there (Mt. 10:11)
8. If his oikos receives you, stay, if not, move on (Mt. 10:12-14)
9. Don’t go alone, go two by two or as a team (Mark 6:7)
10. Depend on the hospitality offered by your hosts (Lk. 10:7,8)
11. Don’t go house to house after you find the person of peace, but stay to disciple their oikos (Lk. 10:7).
The above list is not meant to be exhaustive, just examples of principles that we can learn from Jesus on the “how” of going. These principles (and others) can be applied in different ways in different contexts. We practice many of these principles in our context and God has blessed. We trained our indigenous partners using these principles, along with others, and saw wonderful things happen as they obeyed the Lord.
Not every person of peace will be the one to reach the rest of the city or region. There may be that exceptional person that multiplies “a hundred fold”. However, it has been our experience to find multiple persons of peace, most do not multiply out, but a few will.
There are not persons of peace in every village, town or city. However, they can be found among every people group, otherwise, Christ would not have commanded us to make disciples of all peoples. We “shake the dust off”, or leave a place, when we cannot find that person. We keep going to the next place until we find the “good soil” that God has prepared. Again, this is a principle that requires different applications.
As far as the part about not taking extra money or stuff, … we teach that and try to practice that ourselves. We also teach to pray for people who want prayer for their needs. We see healings take place on a regular basis. Demons are cast out. We have not had any dead raised, yet.
Concerning judgment of entire people groups in the Old Testament … I don’t know, that is God’s arena. The New Testament judgments pronounced by Jesus were on cities or regions, not on entire people groups. I believe there are plenty of examples in Scripture of a holy remnant that God spared even as He severely judged a people. As for the Dark Ages – who knows? (Only the “Trail of Blood” people know ;-).
The apostle Paul practiced the principle of finding the “Person of Peace”. Look at Acts 16 (Lydia and the Philippian Jailer), Acts 17 (Jason), Acts 18 (Justus and Crispus), etc. The Holy Spirit leads in all of this … Paul was following His lead.
Concerning how long to stay, etc., that will vary from place to place. We don’t use MAWL for training here, we use MODEL … Model a Biblical Pattern, Observe Obedience, Delegate Authority, Encourage Faithfulness, and Leave to Start New Work. We get this pattern for discipleship/training from Scripture. We never abandon, we follow up after leaving with: 1. Correspondence, 2. Timothy/Titus types, and 3. Personal revisits. Remember we are talking about missionary ministry here, not pastoral ministry.
Our “plowing” occurs through prayer. The Holy Spirit prepares the soils, we sow/plant and water (hopefully in His power).
“One size does not fit all.” Correct. That is the application part, and it can vary. However, the Scriptural principles remain the same for all.
Thanks to David Rogers for the good dialogue.