Recipients of Mission

Who are the recipients of mission? I

bet an image just came to your mind.

It may be based on a mission trip

experience, hearing a mission speaker,

or serving in a local outreach. More

than likely, you thought of a “them”

and not an “us.” Often times, we

think of mission in single directional

ways. “We” have what “they” don’t

have, and God calls us to share what

“we” have with “them.” This could

be spiritual, financial, intellectual,

material, medical, and so on.

Unfortunately, we may sometimes

send implicit or even explicit

messages when we engage in mission

in that we are the ones who have and

they are the ones who don’t. Hardly

ever do we think that we may be or

may need to be recipients of mission.

To those of us who are Americans, it

hurts our pride. We value being self-

made people. We have because of

God’s blessing. After all, we are the

ones who send the missionaries.

Being in Europe this last year, I have

seen how people have so much, but

also live with depravity. As you all

know, I have been researching

mission from West Africa. One thing I

am discovering is that many Africans

who have immigrated to Europe see

themselves as missionaries to a

“barren land.” In some ways, because

of the state of the church here,

Christians are in need of energy

from somewhere. (In England,

only 6% of the population regularly

attends church—which makes it

hard to believe that the seeds of the

modern missionary movement

once emerged from this land!) I am

sensing this century will see revival

in Europe, but it will probably look

quite different from the picture the

faithful have been praying for. It

sounds a bit like the surprise the

first century Jews had with Jesus,

the King and Savior of the world!

It’s interesting how God often

works outside of the box we

imagine. Perhaps God has created

us with depravity that we cannot

fill on our own. I guess that is why

we need Jesus and one another. After

all, Jesus has called us to be members

of His body, the church. And yes, the

Christians in the West need those

from Africa. Perhaps they will be

able to show us windows into the

fullness of the Gospel we miss every

day because we like having God in

our “box.”

The Africans are coming. They have

a Christ-centered passion and

commitment unknown to many of us

in the West. Will we in the West be

humble to learn from them and be

receivers as well as senders? Kirk