The Church and the Nations

STRATEGIES - HUMAN AND DIVINE 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15 For much of this week I have been preparing to participate in a training course for Nigerian missionaries who will be doing church planting outside Nigeria. I have been going over the basic strategies that AFM has used over the years, the approach called Strategy Coordinators. This will also be the introduction of the Rev. Dr. Julian Linnell, the new Executive Director of AFM, to the Nigerian mission leaders. Strategies and strategic thinking is on our minds as we prepare for this. Then I read about God's strategy for bringing His Kingdom to Naaman and the people of Syria - through the testimony of a captured Hebrew young woman. That strategy does not show up anywhere in my notes, current or ancient. Nevertheless, God's strategy was clear - take a believing Hebrew woman who is enslaved by the Syrian general, and let her give him unmistakable witness to God's saving power. So much for training, literature, mass communication, advocacy, research, and all the rest of the illustrious fundamentals of missions strategy! Come to think of it, God went back to that strategy over and over again. Let's see - if Paul was instrumental in the conversion of the Philippian jailor, that would make the event take place when Paul was a captive, jailed, giving testimony to his captor. Hmmm. We can read the story in Acts 16. Then there is the story of Patrick, of whom history robs the greatness of his mission and leaves us with green beer in his honor! Patrick who was enslaved by Irish thugs went back to them as evangelist and church planter. The legacy lives on, the model began with Naaman. A modern Naaman-like tale emerged when some Christians realized that there was a small underground Afghan church that dated back into the 1980's. Some investigation pinpointed its origin to Soviet prisoners during their invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets, intending this for evil, first sent in Christian troops from the Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia. Some of these Christians were captured by the Afghans and put in their prisons. While there as prisoners they began having Bible studies. From these discussions with their captors came the fledgling Afghan church. All the time this was going on in Central Asia, in another part of the world Christian mission leaders were seeking God's leading for church planting behind the Iron Curtain. I doubt that sending in prisoners was on their list. But we are neither irresponsible nor unspiritual when we do think and seek wise strategies. We just must realize the amazing creative ways of God, wait, watch, listen, and then get in step with what we discern He is doing. THE LEAST EVANGELIZED .... THROUGH THE EYES OF UNEXPECTED STRATEGIES If we had the book of top strategies that God uses, we would find surprises giving testimony to His unfailing power in bringing glory to His name. In addition to a chahpter on "Send in prisoners", we would find a few other unexpected strategies: 1. "Get evangelists who want to make money and gain prestige through the business of preaching." Huh? Well, isn't that what Paul described in his letter to the Philippians? No, Paul didn't applaud them, but he was shrewd enough to see that some converts were made even through this questionable witness. Not too different from genuine conversions through disingenuous preachers on TV. 2. "Recruit more monks. Get them to set up monasteries. Yes, monasteries with cells, monks who spend hours praying, those places with enviable gardens and restful grounds." But nothing happens there. How can they extend the Kingdom? Monasteries were the key piece of the expansion of the Kingdom in Persia in the 4th century. Jacob of Nisibis and Aphraphat the Persian may not be well known outside of Iran today, but the monasteries they founded kept pushing back the boundary of darkness. Aphraphat wrote a treatise entitled "Demonstrations" wherein he laid out ways for the spiritual maturity of the monks to rub up alongside those in the market and even in the churches. The effect was renewal and expansion. 3. "Sign up martyrs." Yes, martyrs, people who will die for their faith rather than deny their Lord. Look at the impact of the Martyrs of Uganda. The place where they were burned, the types of branches in which they were wrapped, the sodomy they refused - all that is kept alive in the memory of Ugandans today. That memory stirs the fires of evangelism within the church and awakens faith for those outside the church. 4. "I will even use heretics." How could He? Two answers. First, who has it all right anyway? Second, the Nestorians were woolly on the two natures of Christ united in one person. They didn't quite put the two natures in one person. This was not a little thing - the Council of Chalcedon addressed and clarified their teaching - but the movement lasted for a couple of hundred years. They just didn't know they were to cease their missionary activity. They went on and on and didn't stop until they were in China establishing the church there. What do we learn from these observations from God's salvation history? He is doing great things. He is sovereign and is not limited to our strategies. He will make any situation become a time and occasion for revealing His glory and mercy. As a missions leader once said to me, "God is doing great things in the world today - in spite of the missionaries." But the lesson becomes clear when we realize that the one who spoke that to me was one of those who devised the strategy we will be presenting in Nigeria and is one of the leading missions strategists in the world today. Strategies of human origin, under humility and passion, can become parts of divine strategy. Church Steps . . . Towards the Nations I ask for your prayers for this trip to Nigeria. There will be about 50 Nigerians present, to be trained to do church planting outside Nigeria. Four of us are going - Julian Linnell, the Director of AFM, Ward LeHardy, Board member and on the vestry at St. Stephen's, Heathsville, and Constance and me. Pray for the participants. Pray for them to know new things about God's wisdom andGod's power. Because of this trip I will not be sending Sunday Scenes for the next two weeks. Sunday Scenes gives a weekly comment on the lectionary for a cumulative perspective on the missionary theme of Scripture. Rev. Tad de Bordenave, Founder and Former Director