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It tends to be human nature to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, so when missions realises the damage that paternalism can cause, we can too easily dismiss the benefits of healthy patronage. We must remain mindful of ‘when helping hurts’, but that doesn’t mean total withdrawal. The generosity of God’s people remains central to the effectiveness of God’s mission.
Evangelicals are coming under increasing public scrutiny. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Increasing exposure can create healthy accountability. But we’re also being judged by the moral standards of liberal secularism. These are atmospheric changes we need to account for as we fix our eyes on our ultimate destination.
More than a few social commentators reckon that we are seeing the dissolution of the neo-liberal globalisation project in the wake of the global pandemic, increasing inflation and a Russia-Ukraine war. Opinions are fracturing and hostilities rising, but it should not be so for those us in-Christ – and this is an opportunity for missions.
We need to step out from behind the stone-walls of our churches and work together to create an effective gospel narrative for our local communities, only then will we be able to effectively engage globally.
Seed ideas sown in faith can yield big results for God’s Kingdom. The faith-dreams of followers of Jesus engaged in mission today need to be nurtured to flourish. Let’s not let pessimism be a blight on what God wants to grow.
We need to learn how to cut off the old in order to make way for the new. Where the colonial missions enterprise has emphasized the how of mission, we need to make way for a new read on John 17:21-23 and prioritise the why of mission.
With the decline of the middle class in the Western world, so we have seen a correlating decline in missions resources. The future of missions from the West will require increasing collaboration. We are stronger together.
When we hear of missions shutting up shop and traditional missions resources diminishing, we need to hold on to the fact that mission continues and will ultimately succeed. We need to look for new innovations in mission.
The modes of mission change with empires and their economies as our worlds alter with every era. As resources available to traditional forms of mission diminish, we need to look to new ways of doing mission for the new era we are facing.
Perseverance in mission requires us to lift our attention to a grand accomplishment, to serve a vision much larger than ourselves. While our contributions will be different, according to our gifts, we all need to be working toward the same end.
Resource follows prioritisation, which follows vision. Vision comes from inspiration and inspiration can be a very personal phenomenon. We all need a fresh vision of resource sharing as we move forward together on God’s mission.
What could mission look like in the mobile digital world if we were to ride the coattails of commerce as missions has done since Paul and the Roman roads? We need to better engage with new technologies for God’s glory.