d.s. Peter L.D. Visser
missionary consultant
When I talk to Christians about their missionary vocation, it is not always an easy conversation. Where it lies is often not even that clear. What is clear, however, is that we are not from the 'soapbox'. The image of 'missionary-ness' usually looks like this: bringing up the Word of God on the street or in the market somewhat annoyingly to shoppers. And that's really not where nine out of 10 Christians see themselves standing, on that proverbial soapbox. 'I'm not much for talking,' I hear. Let me just do something, get my hands dirty', which, by the way, is a wonderful, diaconal gift. Now it remains to be seen whether in our country, which has been Christianised since the 8th century, addressing passers-by is the only way to put the Gospel at the heart of others, but I hope to come back to that in a future blog.
'Have to'?
Before we know it, we are so caught up in the atmosphere of 'should'. We should 'actually' talk more about the Lord Jesus to our friends, colleagues, neighbours and relatives. But how do you start such a conversation, and for that matter, isn't it very intrusive? Shouldn't you respect others in their way of thinking? Besides: unbelieving people are unlikely to understand you, and imagine them asking questions you don't know the answer to? The result is a lack of understanding and estrangement between, on the one hand, Christians who tirelessly raise the Gospel always and everywhere, and, on the other hand, timid sisters and brothers who lack courage and words.
'Must be told'
Lesslie Newbigin was a 20th-century missionary who served as a missionary in India for almost 40 years. After returning to England, he found a highly secularised country. Internationally, he gained fame as a missiologist and, after his retirement, he became city pastor in Birmingham, in a church opposite the local prison. He stressed that the church's mission does not come from a lawful need, as a burden Christians bear, but from an "explosion of joy". In 1989, he wrote in his The Gospel in a Pluralist Society: 'The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot be suppressed. It must be told. Who can remain silent about such a fact? In the pages of the New Testament, the church's mission looks more like the fallout of a huge explosion, a radioactive fallout which does not kill, but gives life.'
Spiritual life
With that, our motivation to serve in our missionary vocation is a question, which has everything to do with our spiritual life (or lack thereof). What do we see in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He our 'bridegroom'? Is He our great love, because God in Christ first loved us? Where service to God, following the Lord Jesus, has become a stuffy mess, a worn-out habit, there, of course, God's missionary calling will be experienced as an annoying disturbance to a rippling church and spiritual life (or spiritual death?). But Christ wants it to be different and thankfully makes it different: 'These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you and your joy may be complete.' (John 15:11)
Rev. Peter L.D. Visser
