July 18, 2011
Has Mission Become Our Idol?
The church and its leaders desperately need a vision of a life with God and not just for him.
Tweet
“There is a first-rate commitment to a second-rate mission.” That is what Roger, a leader in global church planting, said as he looked at the rock climbers ascending a cliff in the Alps. Many of us called into ministry feel the same way. Rather than giving our lives to climbing a rock, building a business, or amassing a fortune, we are committed to what really matters; a first-rate mission--advancing the Gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ.
But what if we’re wrong?
Roger spent decades serving Christ by planting churches on four continents. But after reflecting on his labors for the kingdom of God, his confession surprised many of us. “I’ve given most of my energy to a second-rate mission as well,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. Church planting is important. But someday that mission will end. My first calling is to live with God. That must be my first commitment.”
What Roger articulated was a temptation that many of us in ministry face. To put it simply, many church leaders unknowingly replace the transcendent vitality of a life with God for the ego satisfaction they derive from a life for God. Before exploring how this shift occurs in church leaders, let me take a step or two backwards and explain how I have seen this tendency within the Christian college students I’ve worked with in recent years.
Is impact everything?
The students I meet with often worry about what awaits them after graduation. This is a reasonable concern for any young adult, but for many of them the worry extends far beyond finding a job with benefits. They fixate, and some obsess, about “making a difference in the world.” They fear living lives of insignificance. They worry about not achieving the right things, or not enough of the right things. Behind all of this is the belief that their value is determined by what they achieve. I’ve learned that when a student asks me, “What should I do with my life?” what he or she really wants to know is, “How can I prove that I am valuable?”
When we come believe that our faith is primarily about what we can do for God in the world, it is like throwing gasoline on our fear of insignificance. The resulting fire may be presented to others as a godly ambition, a holy desire to see God’s mission advance--the kind of drive evident in the Apostle Paul’s life. But when these flames are fueled by fear they reveal none of the peace, joy, or love displayed by Paul and rooted in the Spirit. Instead the relentless drive to prove our worth can quickly become destructive.
Sometimes the people who fear insignificance the most are driven to accomplish the greatest things. As a result they are highly praised within Christian communities for their good works. This temporarily soothes their fear until the next goal can be achieved. But there is a dark side to this drivenness. Gordon MacDonald calls it “missionalism.” It is “the belief that the worth of one’s life is determined by the achievement of a grand objective.” He continues:
Missionalism starts slowly and gains a foothold in the leader's attitude. Before long the mission controls almost everything: time, relationships, health, spiritual depth, ethics, and convictions. In advanced stages, missionalism means doing whatever it takes to solve the problem. In its worst iteration, the end always justifies the means. The family goes; health is sacrificed; integrity is jeopardized; God-connection is limited.
What I have witnessed in the lives of many college students is the early symptoms of missionalism. The virus had been introduced to them in childhood and incubated by well-intentioned churches, ministries, schools, and the wider evangelical subculture. And with graduation looming the students were feeling the pressure. It was after all their first opportunity to actually prove their worth through achievement.
When meeting with or counseling a struggling church leader, one of the questions I’ll ask to diagnose whether missionalism is present is this: “Assuming you’re not engaged in some kind of disqualifying sin, why not?” The answer I often hear, the answer most pastors have been conditioned to say, is: “I wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize my ministry.” That response often reveals where a leader’s true devotion is. Sadly I rarely hear a pastor say, “I wouldn’t want anything to disrupt my communion with God.” So few of us have been given a vision of a life with Christ, and instead we seek to fill the void with a vision for ministry--a vision of a life for Christ.
Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, was raised in a “life for God” environment. His experience reveals how the fear of being insignificant is implanted into young people. He said the heroes his community celebrated were “the Rockefellers of the Christian world;” those who were enterprising, effective, and who made a huge impact for God. They launched massive ministries or transformed whole nations. This led Vischer to conclude that impact was everything. “God would never call us from greater impact to lesser impact!,” he wrote. “How many kids did you invite to Sunday? How many souls have you won? How big is your church? How many people will be in heaven because of your efforts? Impact, man!”1
But after losing his company in 2003, Vischer began to question the validity of the “life for God” values he had inherited and which had driven his early career.
“The more I dove into Scripture, the more I realized I had been deluded. I had grown up drinking a dangerous cocktail—a mix of the gospel, the Protestant work ethic, and the American dream…. The Savior I was following seemed, in hindsight, equal parts Jesus, Ben Franklin, and Henry Ford. My eternal value was rooted in what I could accomplish”A professional crisis made Vischer pause and reexamine his posture with God, but for others the nagging discontent of a life lived for God manifests much more slowly. Consider what one pastor in his late 30s wrote: "The church is growing, and there's excitement everywhere. But personally I feel less and less good about what I'm doing. I'm restless and tired. I ask myself how long I can keep this all up. Why is my touch with God so limited? Why am I feeling guilty about where my marriage is? When did this stop being fun?" This leader is not alone. Studies show that approximately 1,500 pastors leave the ministry every month due to conflict, burnout, or moral failure.
Others have shown, in the pages of Leadership Journal I should add, how ministry rooted in relentless achievement for God actually contributes to addictive behaviors. When the accolades that give pastors a sense of significance cease or never come at all, some begin to nurse secret pleasures on the side to numb their pain.
When church leaders function from this understanding of the Christian life, they invariably transfer their burden and fears to those in the pews. If a pastor’s sense of worth is linked to the impact of his or her ministry, guess what believers under that pastor’s care are told is most important? And so a new generation of people who believe their value is linked to their accomplishments is birthed. If the cycle continues long enough an institutional memory is created in which the value of achievement for God is no longer questioned. Leaders may be burning out at a rate of 1,500 per month, young people may be riddled with anxiety, and divorce rates in the church may be rising and families falling apart, but no one stops. No one asks whether this is really what God intended the Christian life to be. No one asks, at least out loud, because that might slow things down. Remember, the work must go on. Impact, man!
In Part 2, Skye Jethani will explore why mission is critical but not ultimate.
This post is related to Skye's new book, WITH: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, being released in August by Thomas Nelson. Read the first chapter online now.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga on July 18, 2011
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/5970
Comments
I like the sentiment of this post, but I fear it pushes too far to the other side. The pendulum swing is too harsh. Perhaps mission does need to be subordinate to abiding, but both are part of a holistic view of relationship with God. Just because one is greater than the other doesn't mean that the lesser one is optional. Or, more importantly, it also doesn't mean that the greater can't be strengthened by a healthy participation in the lesser. (Think Chariots of Fire - when I run I feel God's pleasure.)
Another thought here is that eschatology plays an important role in this discussion. Your friend Roger is perhaps right to suggest that the particular mission of church planting will come to an end, but does that mean that mission in general will cease? Is eternal life only about abiding, with no kingdom-minded mission at all? How might a better-informed view of mission after Christ's return help form our perspective of the proper place of mission in this stage of eternal life?
Posted by: DRoss at July 18, 2011
I believe that Skye has really hit the nail on the head here. I'm so tired of hearing that we must be the "hands and feet of Jesus". I fail to see how one could truly 'abide' in Christ without there being kingdom-minded mission to follow. But it is very possible to have a kingdom-minded mission without any 'abiding' in Christ at all. Matthew chapter 7 really demonstrates this concept well, I think.
Posted by: elegance at July 18, 2011
“The more we become people of action and responsibility in our community, the more we must become people of contemplation. If we do not nurture our deep emotional life in prayer hidden in God, if we do not spend time in silence and if we do not know how to take time from the presence of our brothers and sisters, we risk becoming embittered. It is only to the extent that we nurture our own hearts that we can keep interior freedom. People who are hyperactive, fleeing from their deep selves and their wound, become tyrannical and their exercise of responsibility only creates conflict.” Vanier, Community and Commitment.
Posted by: Len Hjalmarson at July 18, 2011
I read your post yesterday Skye and then this, from Tozer's The Knowledge of the Holy this morning.
Few of us have let our hearts gaze in wonder at the I AM, the self-existent Self back of which no creature can think. Such thoughts are too painful for us. We prefer to think where it will do more good - about how to build a better mousetrap, for instance, or how to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. And for this we are now paying a too heavy price in the secularization of our religion and the decay of our inner lives
Posted by: David Swanson at July 19, 2011
one of the worst things I've heard in the last few years is:
"The church doesn't have a mission. The mission has a Church."
Horrible. Just Horrible.
Posted by: nathan at July 19, 2011
Another group of good-hearted folks prone to this is devout Christian mothers, those of us who take seriously the command to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I've seen so many dear Christian women exhaust themselves by trying to raise their children for Jesus at the expense of being with Jesus. Even the prophet Jeremiah had to be hauled up short and reminded that his zeal had overtaken him and he needed to return to his first love. Thank you for writing this. I'm going to share it with many others, trusting it will be a blessing.
Posted by: Nancy at July 19, 2011
"They fixate, and some obsess, about “making a difference in the world.” They fear living lives of insignificance."
Reminds me of Percy Shelly's poem, Ozymandias.
"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert.
Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains.
Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Perhaps our seminaries should start teaching their students how to walk and be with G-d rather than how to do "something, anything" for G-d.
Posted by: Sheerahkahn at July 19, 2011
Psalm 127:1, "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman watches in vain."
Posted by: elegance at July 19, 2011
@Nathan, I am curious why you would say that, can you explain?
I have found that phrase to be an 'on the money' corrective to the Church-for-its-own-sake mentality that permeates most of the church. If the Church has a mission, then you can participate if you choose to. It is one of the many other services we provide to religious consumers. You can drink our wonderful latte's enjoy our cool musicians, check out our sexy singles ministry, or engage in missional service...
to say that the mission precedes the church is to say that God's agenda comes before ours...
Why is that horrible?
Posted by: Steven at July 19, 2011
I agree with DRoss that this swings a bit too far to the other side. A "life FOR God" is not an entirely bad thing. When I hear that phrase, I think of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Our actions -- no matter how "small" or "large" -- should be directed towards building His Kingdom; in other words, living FOR Him rather than for myself.
Yes, we can take "life for God" and warp it into a castle-building endeavor, onto which we plant our own flags; but when we keep a Kingdom focus (that is, focused on HIM and not our efforts), then a "life FOR God" is exactly what we should be living, especially when we remember that we can't live life FOR God without life WITH God.
Posted by: Anne at July 19, 2011
Thanks for sharing this, I think it's a hard topic to broach because mission has become so precious to many of us. When I first heard my pastor say that evangelism is not the primary thing, I had to keep myself from gasping and wondered if somehow he had gone off track. But I see now what he meant. Evangelism for its own sake makes the Christian life meaningless. If we're saved so that we can save others, so that they can save others... the Christian life becomes empty. That doesn't mean evangelism or mission is not important, but it should not take the primary place in our lives which belongs to Jesus and abiding with him.
Posted by: Tamsyn at July 19, 2011
Great stuff.
As for those who are saying that a life lived for God is not such a bad thing, yes you are right, but if you have the option.. which you do. To live a life with God or a life for God which would you choose? Is He a distant boss desiring our works, or our best friend and lover, eager to walk with us in all that we do.
God is taking me along this path at the moment, when I realised that I was missing the only thing that actually matters.. the love of God, He told me to stop pursuing all of the works and just abide in Him. In doing so I have been stirred to evangelise and share with others more than ever before, as I cannot help but share the love He pours out on me.
Posted by: Daniel at July 20, 2011
Good post and equally thoughtful comments, except for Nathan's critique of Bosch's comment on church and mission, which is completely senseless.
Posted by: Brad at July 20, 2011
I think that while Skye isn't suggesting an "either-or" pendulum, it came across that way.
Biblically, I see this as "both-and"..the teaching of scripture is clear that we are to walk with and before the Lord first and foremost, keeping short accounts with the sin in our lives; with God and others, conforming and transforming ourselves into the likeness of Christ.
Mission is real, necessary and commanded by the living Christ. Not optional for any follower of Christ..but there is tremendous freedom in the individual lives of believers as to how and where that "ambition" that comes as an outpouring of love, thankfulness and obedience is focused and lived out in connection to God's work in redeeming a people unto Himself..
A life focused on Abiding is monastic, and as a rule, i dont believe God gave His bride that task..
Posted by: chefjef at July 20, 2011
It was good for me to read this right now. I'm leaving in two days for my 10th mission trip to Uganda. I'm feeling tired, burned out and frustrated - worried we're not "getting enough done" there. (We have an orphanage and school in Kabale, Uganda) I keep feeling we aren't "getting through" to the people, not just regarding God but also about learning to do for themselves instead of always expecting outsiders to do it. After reading this article, I think I am going to try to just focus on being with them, getting to know the kids and sharing my love for Jesus with them. The Lord will do whatever "accomplishing" needs to be done. Please pray for me that I stick to that!
Posted by: April Dobbs at July 21, 2011
Enough with the age-old "being v. doing" debate. @elegance said (amazingly): I'm so tired of hearing that we must be the "hands and feet of Jesus."
What hands and feet does Jesus have on earth, but ours? Perhaps @elegance is not protesting the words s/he put in quotes, but the three preceding (moralistic-imperative) words: must be the hands and feet of Jesus. The fact is, we ARE the hands and feet of Jesus. That's a BEING-DOING metaphor that becomes nonsense if separated.
Yes, Skye, our first calling is a life WITH God. But I can't get my head around the idea that a life FOR God--if lived with authenticity in a mutually accountable community of disciples of Jesus participating in God's mission--could ever divert us from a life WITH God.
Missional theology asserts that God is already at work in the world and in our neighborhood and in all our human communities (including the church), and that we humbly discern where God is at work, and join WITH God in that work. Being missional is all about "being WITH God," and letting God and God's mission set the agenda.
Maybe the allergic response to DOING has less to do with theology, and more to do with a bias toward certain private-contemplative practices of spiritual formation. I also need (and practice) silence, solitude, and contemplation. But I am equally WITH God--powerfully--when I gather with a worshiping community, and participate with them in God's mission. Why do we not see that as living life WITH God?
Posted by: Phil Kniss at July 22, 2011
He has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do Justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly WITH God. Micah 6:8
Posted by: Chris at July 28, 2011
This was exactly what I needed to read right now. Thanks.
Posted by: Adam Gonnerman at September 12, 2011
Another group of good-hearted folks prone to this is devout Christian mothers, those of us who take seriously the command to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I've seen so many dear Christian women exhaust themselves by trying to raise their children for Jesus at the expense of being with Jesus. Even the prophet Jeremiah had to be hauled up short and reminded that his zeal had overtaken him and he needed to return to his first love. Thank you for writing this. I'm going to share it with many others, trusting it will be a blessing.
Posted by: Web Based at February 15, 2012