On lostness, mission drift, the greatest injustice and theocentric mission

Blessed Sunday! We're back after a two-week holiday break.

This edition of the newsletter is all about mission(s) and its definition in a time where “everything is mission”. As we've already seen in a previous issue, if everything is mission, then nothing is.

Here are your weekly curated insights—thoughts, concepts, and questions to support your leadership around mission, discipleship and renewal:

On lostness, eternal suffering and mission drift:

In organizational theory, a fascinating concept explains how even the most well-intentioned organizations can slowly veer off course from their original mission.

This concept, known as “mission drift,” refers to the gradual, often unnoticed shift away from an organization's core values and identity.

This crisis of mission is a phenomenon that all organizations face and must address to avoid decline and, ultimately, decay.

Consider the original mission of Harvard, now one of the world’s leading secular institutions:

“Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”

At Harvard's 350th anniversary, former Johns Hopkins president Steven Muller remarked, “The bad news is the university has become godless.”

Christian mission movements and churches face this very real threat and challenge from our Adversary.

We see this when Jesus was led by the Spirit to the wilderness and was tempted by Satan.

Each of Satan's temptations were an attack to Jesus’ identity and mission.

Three times Satan tempted Jesus and three times Jesus answered, “it is written”.

It is written. It is written. It is written.

In the crisis of mission drift and worldly and cultural demands we must remain faithful to the Word of God.

Throughout church history, and still today, one of the primary threats to the Church's mission is theological liberalism and its undermining of the authority of God's word.

When movements and churches drift from the Word as the rule of faith and basis for mission, it inevitably leads to mission drift or decay.

Not long ago, a leader of a missions network in Europe pointed out to me the increasing absence of the concept of “lostness” and hell in missions theology and discourse.

When these are lost, mission is redefined as merely liberating from injustice and oppression, focused on social and political transformation. It shifts toward alleviating human suffering and away from addressing eternal suffering.

No need to seek and save the lost. Nobody is lost anyways. And who are we to say that people need to be “saved” in light of a coming judgement? Does this sound familiar?

When we bow to the spirit of the age rather than the Spirit of Jesus, we inevitably drift from our mission.

This is why our worldview must be continually shaped and aligned with the worldview of Scripture.

The greatest problem facing humanity is not natural disasters, poverty, or political instability — it is lostness.

The offense of lostness does not diminish its truth. If we are to remain true to our mission, we must embrace this truth, regardless of its cost and give ourselves tirelessly by the power of the Spirit to the great task of making disciples of all nations.

On the greatest injustice:

“Surely the greatest social injustice is that 2 billion people haven’t heard of God’s love in Christ.” — David Platt

The Lausanne movement's State of the Great Commission Report is now complete and includes regional considerations.

Here are a few points from the regional considerations for Europe:

• “Mission is seen as immoral because it imposes one’s truth on others, which, by default, is a claim to power and a violation of the other person’s rights. This has contributed to a further privatization of faith. Believers are reluctant to share their personal faith; Christian humanitarian organizations communicate little about their Christian motivation.”

• Morality shift: “In the past, people might have thought Christian ethics to be too high of a moral standard to even try to attain. Today Christianity is perceived, especially by the well-educated, the cultural influencers, and the younger generation, to embody negative values that are adverse to human flourishing. Contrary to what many Christians perceive as a degradation of values in Europe, most contemporaries regard this morality shift as positive progress that takes society beyond Christianity.”

• “Today, Europe appears to have been thoroughly secularized. Yet, out of the spotlight, an extraordinary re-evangelization of Europe is underway.”

• “The Christian home has an enormous capacity as a place for building warm relations and inviting people in. These are basic communities that can take the role of being ‘church around a table’ both for believers and non-believers in an atmosphere of trust. “

• Major shift in evangelistic strategy: from the “come to us” model to “go and tell”. Gospel proclamation on streets, in central squares, at music festivals, in cafes, and at universities.

• Muslims are turning to Christ in Europe.

• Secular thinkers are beginning to realize how deeply European values are rooted within the Christian framework.

On theocentric vs antropocentric mission:

“The church's mission is to be conceived ultimately in theocentric rather than anthropocentric terms. Mission is part of the church's obedience to God, just as dying on the cross for the sins of the world was part of the sent Son's obedience to the one who sent Him, God the Father (cf. John 17:4; 19:30).

Thus the gospel and its abiding truth and relevance for lost sinners should be the primary point of reference as the church engages in its mission rather than human need and the contemporary cultural, political, economic, and social contexts.”

Andreas Kostenberger, Twelve Theses on the Church's Mission in the Twenty-first Century

The Gospel's eternal truth, not shifting societal or cultural concerns, should guide the church's mission.

Furthermore, we can speak of a “doxological mission” (from doxa, the Greek word for glory).

Jesus certainly understood His mission in these terms:

“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

Mission, ultimately is about God's fame and glory among the nations.

We make disciples of all nations and eagerly await the day when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

PS: In only 10 days I will be serving at the Lausanne 4 Congress in Seoul, South Korea, September 18-30.

I have been selected to pastorally care for the congress staff and volunteers.

The congress promises to be a historical gathering of more than 5,000 evangelical leaders who will come together to accelerate collaborative action toward fulfilling the Great Commission.

If you would like to partner with me and give towards this opportunity, let me know by replying to this.

I'm grateful to those of you who have already partnered with me.

As always, I want to know if this newsletter is helpful for you. Tell me how I did on this issue.

Much love and until next week,

Timo