Tena tātou katoa e te iwi mīhana… (Greetings to all the people in mission),

This month’s whakataukī (proverb) returns us to a focus on the importance of collaboration: “Ehara taku toa, i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini” [It is not my strength or the strength of one, but the strength of many (that brings success)].

I have quoted this proverb before (Aug 2016), but this is a central tenet of the collectivist view—we are stronger together than alone. I often use this thought experiment to illustrate the power of the collective:

Imagine you are a drop of water taken from an ocean and placed on a saucer. Feel the loss of being part of a surging tide, flowing freely with currents that carry you far and wide and affect everything you come into contact with. Now sense the isolation and impotence of sitting in the cup ring of a saucer. The only motion possible is if a force external to you moves around the saucer. Even then, a drop will not move far let alone affect much.

What is our mission but to call people to participate in the great belonging that Jesus identified as the Kingdom of Heaven/God?

Every metaphor has its limits, but I find this one evokes some powerful emotions related to a sense of isolation in contrast to the deep belonging we yearn for as human beings. “It is not good for (a human) to be alone” said the Creators (Gen 2:18). This statement could be the root of all missions activity, for what is our mission but to call people to participate in the great belonging that Jesus identified as the Kingdom of Heaven/God?

I recently preached a short message arguing that we cannot understand the meaning of the Great Commission until we comprehend how the Great Commandment finds its fulfilment in the Great Commitment. The Great Commission is merely the gateway to the Great Commitment, which is best expressed in John 17:20-26, which speaks of our unity with one another through Christ in God by the Holy Spirit. This is our Great Commitment.

The media has recently made much of the declarations from some influential Christians that they are leaving their faith. Marty Sampson, a Hillsong songwriter being the latest. Many commentators have dissected the announcements in some lame attempts to defend the faith, assuming it is easy to simply toss aside beliefs. It is not. The cost to Marty Sampson, part of the Hillsong in-crowd, will no doubt have been very great and painful. The internal dissonance that led him to that choice must have been overwhelming.

I find it grievous that he could not reconcile his convictions and questions within his faith community but I hope he and his family finds another that will love them through to a place of harmony in their faith, because you cannot do that alone.

The gospel is not good news because it ensures I do not go to hell, it is good news because it ensures I can enter the Kingdom of collective goodness ruled by Christ.

There is nothing DIY (do it yourself) about living as part of the Kingdom of God. We become drops in the ocean of God’s love, moving with tide of God’s will in the currents of God’s Spirit. One of the great dysfunctions of Industrialised Christianity is the illusion of autonomy. This has been exacerbated by a theology of individual salvation morphed and popularised by evangelists born in Modernity. The gospel is not good news because it ensures I do not go to hell, it is good news because it ensures I can enter the Kingdom of collective goodness ruled by Christ. We need to flip that script.

A Christianity Today article published on August 22 cites new research out of the USA that claims most believers say they don’t need others for discipleship. Nearly two-thirds of church-goers surveyed (65%) agreed with the statement, “I can walk with God without other believers”. The article rightly points out that this critically affects our missional witness as expressed by what I call, ‘the Great Commitment’.

I think it is right to consider DIY faith delusional because there is ample evidence and increasing agreement to the contrary. We need each other for transformational growth. James makes this quite clear in his epistle where the trials, testings, etc, to which he refers are internal, not external, to the fellowship. As we persevere in our faith-relationships with one another we mature. Interpersonal neurobiological science proves this. Read Rom. 12:1-2 from a Collectivist perspective. Through this lens, our self-denying, living sacrificial worship is something we do in community before God, not necessarily individually before God. While we do grow through circumstance and reflection, nothing in this passage suggests that our devotional life alone willl transform us. Transformation happens most in the interaction with one another. We counter-conform to the world when we love one another. We understand God’s good, pleasing and perfect will in unity.

If we lament the lack of discipleship in our local churches we need to look at how we are conforming to the pattern of this world with our individualistic attitudes, buying in to the illusion of autonomy. Only when we get a revelation of the depth of responsibility required of our covenantal commitment, our Great Commitment, will we be prepared to stay connected for transformation to lead us to maturity. We are truly stronger together.

God’s glory is the outcome of missions, to which inviting others to join us in covenantal community is the objective. We can only do that together, as we #stayonmission.

Whakapaingia te Atua, to tatou kaiunga ki te ao whanui (Praise to God, who sends us into the world),

Jay