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.
posted by Tim Patterson @ 11:24 PM
5 Comments:
Thanks for the thoughtful post. I don't see this so much as a "can of worms", but rather more in the "iron sharpens iron" vein.
I think you make some excellent points, and, as I mentioned in my post, I like the strategy you describe, and believe it is probably great for your context, as well as a whole lot of other contexts out there.
For the most part, the principles you find in the Matthew, Mark and Luke passages do seem to be good principles that we would all do well to put into practice.
However, I am not so sure that when Jesus sent out his disciples on this occasion his intention was to lay down a model of ministry for all posterity.
Given the particular situation at hand, Jesus, as the Master Strategist, without a doubt gave the best plan of attack. One chapter back, though, in Luke 9, the instructions were a small bit different. On that occasion, they were not even supposed to bring a staff, or bread, or money, or more than one tunic. In Acts 1, the instructions were way different... just "wait", which the disciples used as an opportunity to work on their prayer life and communion one with another. When the Holy Spirit came, they did not immediately go back two-by-two into all the towns and villages, but rather preached in the open air to the multi-cultural multitudes in Jerusalem. A different strategy, if you will, for a different context.
On one of your comments on my blog, you say: "I don't find any commands for preparing the soil. I only see our part in the sowing and cultivation. I used to use human needs and other means to "prepare for the harvest", but found that it didn't matter. God already has people prepared."
As I read Scripture, I see that to a good degree "signs and wonders" helped to prepare the soil for the Early Church proclamation. People being healed and helped in personal, practical ways definitely helped them to be more open to the message of repentance and faith. Yes, "signs and wonders" are a sovereign act of God, but He works through human hands and obedience to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and willingness to be used that way. And although Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 that he did not come "with excellency of speech or of wisdom," from what I can tell, he sure did seem to display a lot of cultural insight in his Mars Hill speech in Athens.
My point? Someone could put together a really good, biblical explanation of the gospel message, write it all down, go to a busy street corner, and begin to read it in a loud, monotone voice, and afterwards go home "content" that he/she had been "faithful" in proclaiming the Gospel. Perhaps, to a certain degree. But I happen to think that person would be even more faithful if they were to work on presenting the message in a
format, if you will, that better serves to get the people's attention, seems relevant to where they are at in their life at the time, respects them as individuals, and helps them to truly understand from their particular cultural and experiential perspective the message they are hearing.
And the best way to do this will depend entirely on the particular individual and context with which we are dealing.
David,
Thank you brother. You are right, this is a healthy discussion and is more like iron sharpening iron.
I agree that the person of peace passages are not meant as THE model. However, in all church planting ministry God leads us into the lives of people who are key in starting new work. That is the bottom line principle we need to follow. Look for those key people who are lost today but will become the local church where there is no church. The Holy Spirit will lead (if we let Him). We don't need to overly obsess about the details of the instructions in these passages (Mt. 10, Mk. 6, Lk. 10). There are some valuable principles there, that is all I am trying to say.
You are right that signs and wonders are things that God uses, even today, to prepare unreached people for harvest. That is the Holy Spirit's work. God is sovereign and we cannot call in a sign or wonder on demand. We can be used by God through prayer and walking in the Spirit as His instruments. But that preparation of hearts is His domain. That is why we do our plowing through prayer and make sure we are clean and close to the Savior. The sowing is evangelism and the watering/cultivating is discipleship. I could go on with the Ag analogies, but 'nuff said.
I agree with your comments concerning relevance.
Thank you brother!
Thanks. I look forward to keeping up with your blog, and the other insights you have to share in the future.
Blessings,
David
Thanks to both of you! This is the kind of reasoned commentary that can encourage and define the methodology as others observe and apply them to their personalities, opportunities and even future planning strategies as they analyse the variety of approaches you discuss! It's what I see so beautifully depicted in Isaiah 55! Blessings as you and your families serve in the context of HIS placement!
Really helpful post. I liked your MODEL model. Your point about missionary ministry not to be confused with pastoral ministry is also a good observation. The principles are standard, but the context for them varies from situation to situation.
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