God’s plan to reach the world: it might surprise you

‘If I became a Christian, I would have to spend every waking moment trying to save others.’

The words came from an extremely intelligent student considering the call of Christ – let’s call him Phil. It was the last night of a university mission and Phil told me he was terrified of the gospel being true because if it was he couldn’t imagine how he could justify anything other than a life of unceasing evangelism from that day on.

‘Not that kind of guy’

If life is short, hell is hot and eternity is long, the only informed and loving response would involve becoming a 24/7 warning siren blasted to all and sundry. There were two things that Phil had become convinced of: 1) That non-stop, indiscriminate witnessing is the only legitimate response to Christ; and 2) He is not that kind of guy.

This left Phil in a quandary. But I think it also names a feeling shared by many Christians. Most wouldn’t put it so starkly, but many agree with 1) and 2), they have simply added a third point: 3) You can make your peace with a second- (or third-) class Christianity. In this settled life of Christian compromise you can believe in Jesus, love your church and family but then leave the real Christian life to those odd-ball evangelists. No-one says this stuff out loud of course, but I see plenty in church cultures and in individuals that makes me think it looms large beneath the surface.

The life that Paul commends

What do we say to this? Well, I asked Phil what he made of the New Testament (he’d finished reading it and was halfway through the Old Testament). ‘Do you see much of that kind of frenzied activism in the Bible?’ ‘Well’, he said, ‘Paul was certainly an activist.’ ‘That’s true’, I said, ‘But in his letters he has many opportunities to command that same lifestyle for others. Yet what is the kind of life he commends?’ We agreed that 1 Thessalonians 4 summarised it well: ‘Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.’

Through the church

At that point Phil asked me about reaching the lost – where does that fit in? Well, as part of a long conversation, I suggested to him that God’s way of ‘reaching the world’ has always been through the church. In fact, Biblically speaking, world-reaching and church-building are ultimately the same thing. The church is a living organism – a body, a vine – and healthy organisms grow. God’s mission strategy is to build up the church: in love for Christ; in mutual love for each other; in character; in words of witness; in works of service; and, yes, in numbers. But the church is God’s evangelistic strategy. I asked him if this was a mission he could get on board with? With a tangible sense of relief he said yes.

He’d been coming along to church for the last couple of months and had begun to see it as a different kind of community – a place where belonging happens on a totally different basis. To nurture the life of the church – yes, always with an eye to ‘winning the respect of outsiders’ – is to participate in God’s mission to the nations. And no-one is a second-class citizen in that endeavour.

It’s not just about Phil though. It’s about every Christian. Too many see capital-E Evangelists (and I’m one of them, it’s on my business card!) as those who are properly fulfilling the Great Commission while others make do with a compromised Christianity. Nonsense. There are ‘Evangelists’ who are not nurturing the life of the church and there are non-‘Evangelists’ who are strengthening the body in remarkable ways. Frenzied activity is not our missionary barometer. When the Scriptures tell us to love God and neighbour they are telling us how to win the world. That is the strategy. Want to reach the lost? Build the church.