Failures, part 3: Power/Politics
by Justin D. Long
Here is our continuation of our survey of failures. In this Part 2, we examine reasons and causes for failure related to signs, wonders, miracles, healings, discipleship, personalities and leadership. Remember, every single one of these reasons has been a contributing factor ALREADY to the downfall of at least one of the 534 global plans that have failed. Use this list as a "checklist"; any single one of these problems can prove fatal to your plan, so you must work hard to avoid all of them. All have simple cures that have been implemented by successful plans
those that have learned from failure and have gone on to be stellar successes.
We are not giving ALL the reasons in this particular survey, as some are very similar and/or related. I will list all 340 at the end of the sequence. One person wrote to suggest a more positive tone would be helpful (dealing with failures all the time is disheartening). I appreciate this, and in this issue and futures I will be attempting to give not only examples of failure, but also examples of organizations that have successfully dealt with the problems presented.
- ASSASSINATIONS OF KEY MISSION STRATEGISTS
In the book "Earth King" by Michael Youssef (subsequently re-released as "Man of Peace", and perhaps one of the most realistic end-times scenarios I have yet read), the author sketches out a scenario where the Antichrist rises to power and at the onset of his rule instigates the mass assassination of the key church leaders worldwide. At one stroke this particular campaign sets the church in total confusion. Whether his scenario is accurate or not is up for debate, but it is thought-provoking. What's more, it's not completely unrealistic, as key mission leaders have been imprisoned and/or assassinated in restrictive countries. In "Our globe and how to reach it," we noted that an indigenous evangelist has, globally, a 4% chance of being martyred; missionaries are just below this with an average 3% chance. - CLOSING DOORS
In many places around the world, doors have opened; but in many places they are closing and continue to close. Much of this is beyond the control of Christians. A closed country does not mean Christians cannot work there, but it does effectively shut out the smaller, more flexible organizations who think they do not have the resources to mount the sort of evangelistic operations required in closed nations. However, it is possible for small organizations to work in closed nations: witness the effectiveness of groups like Brother Andrew's "Open Doors." ODBA is not a large organization at all, and yet it has had a tremendous impact on closed nations. Other organizations would do well to repeat the model. (If you want a great mission book to read, I highly recommend B. Andrew's "The Calling," available at most bookstores.) - collapses of education for global mission
One good friend of mine recently told me that he thinks one of the key problems in mobilizing resources (e.g. donor dollars or short-term mission trip participants) from churches is the lack of awareness and mission education of church leaders. Some organizations and plans have launched efforts to cure this, and with some success: ACMC has missions education programs, as does AIMS, and of course many who read this are very familiar with the Perspectives program from the US Center for World Mission. Unfortunately these programs are very American-centric. I am not aware of similar programs being conducted in other nations: does anyone have examples they can write in and comment on? -
compelling cooperation and response-
We often call for cooperation and response. For cooperative programs to be successful, one key element is their voluntary nature. One cannot force relationships. We can see this in the issue of racial relationships in the United States, for example: we can regulate, we can integrate, but we cannot force reconciliation. We cannot force next door neighbors to talk to each other. Friendships cannot be required. It is the same with Christian missions; until they are friends with each other they cannot reap the benefits of synergy and networking. -
competition and rivalry-
I noted in the last issue how competition & rivalry gave way to cooperation, forming the network we now know to be World By 2000. I did receive one correction: The fourth partner in the network is SIM International, =NOT= Adventist World Radio. Competition may be healthy for business, but I see very little room for competition & rivalry in the world missions movement. - confessional disagreements-
Discussion, debate, reform and critique are important parts of the body of Christ. When there is a disagreement it must be discussed and resolved. Sometimes the resolution will require breaking apart or excommunication. Unfortunately, these confessional disagreements also rob much time and energy from world evangelism. We discuss our internal problems ad nauseum, and ignore the world outside. More than three-quarters of our evangelism is directed at what we consider to be the "lost" segments of Christianity, and less than a quarter at non-Christians. Until we bring this into balance we will make little progress in world evangelism. - denominational rivalries-
Conflicts between denominations and traditions are a constant source of grief. In Romania, a group of 10 Baptists were attacked by a mob allegedly stirred up by Orthodox priests. In some cases these conflicts can be brought to good ends (in this incident 14 people "made public decisions to accept Christ," which may mean that they converted from Orthodoxy to Baptist). Most of the time, though, they lead to setbacks. -
DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS
One article recently wrote of a missionary to Uganda, "Most nights, [he] goes to sleep to the sound of AK-47s. He said he fears no evil. 'I am at total peace about God's protection. I have absolute confidence in God. If harm is going to come to us, it's going to go through God.'" Unfortunately political instability often does hamper missionary efforts. For example, Wycliffe missionaries were withdrawn from rural areas in Colombia due to guerrilla activity, and during the chaos in Rwanda and Liberia many missionaries were withdrawn and much damage was done to missionary installations, particularly the ELWA transmitter which had such a powerful influence on western Africa. I was very pleased to recently read how the ELWA transmitter is now back online. -
DISILLUSIONMENT AFTER MASSIVE WARS AND EPIDEMICS
"If Southern Baptists want to reach Sarajevo for Christ, they must figure out how to communicate the gospel to people who have suffered great loss." In one sentence this captures one of the potentially largest obstacles facing mission efforts in the former Yugoslavia. Southern Baptists and Campus Crusade workers are joining together in evangelistic efforts in Sarajevo and already seeing some results. But for the results to be sustained, an answer must be found to the endless question: "What does the Gospel mean to Sarajevo?" -
domino effect among agencies-
There may not be a lot of official, organized cooperation between agencies, but on the field level there is often quite a bit of you-help-me-and-I'll-help-you coordination. Some agencies provide services which other agencies cannot do without. If a largish agency is forced to withdraw, other agencies may find their resources stretched to the breaking as a result. This can lead to a domino effect of withdrawals. -
do-it-alone mentality, go-it-alone mindset, organizational isolation-
It is lamentable how many agencies think they must operate on their own. This complaint isn't even speaking of Catholic v Protestant issues. A Protestant agency that won't cooperate with other Protestant agencies is destined for probable failure. Models for countering the "do-it-alone" mentality are the Jesus Film, Every Home for Christ, CBN, Christian Aid Mission, Partners International, Interdev and other similar organizations who go out of their way to plan partnerships and associations of all kinds. -
ANTI-EVANGELIZATION DOCUMENTS-
We at GEM recently received word that some of our work posted via the Internet has been replicated and published by anti-Christian elements seeking to encourage governments and non-Christians to oppose the work of missionaries. Such opposition is in direct opposition to, among other things, the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, which guarantees every individual the right to religious freedom. So, the question becomes: should we stop publishing via the Internet? And the answer is, "No." To do so would be to fail: to give in to a force which causes us to stop in our mission to advocate, educate, challenge, and motivate. -
ecclesiastical schisms and secessions
Any time there is a schism, usually the first thing to suffer is the missionary force. After a schism few denominations are interested in outside evangelism, but rather in putting their own house in order. A schism can rob months, if not years, from a missionary board. -
failure to reach initial goals
"In 1991, evangelical church leaders in Zimbabwe set a goal of 10,000 new churches in 10 years. Six years later, about 3,400 churches have been started and membership has grown 72%." This is an enormous increase
but if the same rate is maintained, the goal of 10,000 churches won't be reached. -
fragmentation into 21,000 denominations-
One can argue that having tens of thousands of denominations results in "multichanneling." Let us use the Internet as an analogy. The same message can start at one point, yet take several different paths to reach the same endpoint. No single blockage can stop an Internet message's passage. (It was in this way that the Internet was originally devised to withstand every sort of disaster right up to a nuclear attack, and it has succeeded since very often the first notice of a natural disaster has come via Internet e-mail messages.) What if, instead of the Internet, we had 1,000 tiny e-mail networks (200 for each state)
none of which could communicate with each other? In that case, all of the things we now take for granted-global e-mail, file transfers, and the World Wide Web-would no longer be possible. Think of what that would mean-many of the advances we now use daily would not be available to us. Likewise, having multiple denominations means having multiple methods of evangelism-taking out any one single denomination only leaves 20,999 others remaining. This could be a tremendous boon for world evangelization, if we were all talking to one another. But, instead of evolving into a huge evangelistic network-not necessarily cooperating, but at least talking-we have fragmented into denominations which don't have the time to speak. It is thus that we lose out of all the benefits of networking. -
GLOBAL RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION-
We have documented the existence of over 40 million martyrs since Christ died. This equals an average of 160,000 yearly. By 2025 we project that the number of martyrs will climb to in excess of 300,000 yearly. This doesn't take into account the tremendous numbers of people who are arrested, imprisoned, tortured, discriminated against, kicked out of their homes, and denied the benefits of their society due to their religion. These factors combine to become a very large obstacle in the face of the church's attempts to evangelize. -
HOSTILE POLITICAL REGIMES-
Governments such as those found in Libya, Algeria, China make it extremely difficult for mission agencies to bring the gospel to their nations. This is beyond the control of Christian mission and we must find creative ways to evangelize within these nations. -
HOSTILE RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS-
Likewise, religious systems such as Islam in Saudi Arabia can be equally powerful and in some ways even more dangerous, since these systems contain fundamentalists who are not opposed to the use of terrorism to oppose those they consider to be blasphemous. -
MOB VIOLENCE AND RULE-
We can recall the recent mob violence against Christians in Pakistan and Indonesia. These have both caused damage to Christian evangelism. The best solutions are to endure it, for Christians worldwide to come together in the aftermath to repair the damage, and to offer forgiveness and reconciliation. -
MILITARY COUPS D'ETAT
"A helicopter airlifted 2 missionary couples from a beachside hotel as they fled fighting in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in late May [1997]. The operation was part of a mass evacuation of foreigners from the country, besieged by a coup." (Commission, 8/97). - other agendas / other interests / overloading agenda with secular concerns- We as Christians must be concerned for the poor, the illiterate, the sick, and the persecuted. However, we can get so busy caring for these that we forget our central concern must be for the spiritually lost. It's true that we can use a secular ministry as a form of evangelism (e.g. shelter construction, caring for children, orphanages, etc). But we must be sure that in the course of the ministry we present the Gospel in a clear and undeniable way. One example of this is the Southern Baptist Convention's program of disbursing Bibles along with School fees and medications (Commission, 7/97).
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partial obedience to the Great Commission-
This is similar to regional planning vs. global planning. It is a condemnation of the church as a whole rather than any one specific agency. No single agency can in and of itself take on the whole world (pride would be one downfall); however, the church as a whole MUST take on the whole world or fall prey to the sin of only partially obeying our Lord's last command. Failing this command is a sin which the whole of the Body of Christ ought to renounce. Every Christian has a responsibility to the Great Commission, and specifically to see that it is obeyed to its fullest extent. I still believe that this is a command which must be obeyed, immediately. Would a pastor advise someone that they can wait a few weeks to be faithful to their wife? Then why should we wait to obey the Great Commission? - passage of time seen as inevitable progress to goal
Some people have indicated to me that "sooner or later the job will be done." In other words, why not just sit back and let the current missionary force grow at its current rate until the whole world hears? First, of course, just because the missionary force is growing does not mean it is growing in the right places. More and more evangelism is being added to places like Europe (e.g. Cerullo), Latin America (e.g. AIMS), Africa (e.g. literally thousands of new initiatives) and even America (e.g. Luis Palau's recently announced campaigns). Yet little new effort is being added to World A, except in "hot" spots like China
and even that is not enough. So, even though the effort is growing, it is making very little real progress. Second, by not adding additional work in World A, we are denying the gospel to billions of people who will die before it ever gets to them. For them, the Great Commission can never be fulfilled
and it's mostly our own laziness that brings this about. - POLITICAL INSTABILITY-
July 1997: "Missionary Mark Hinton, an ISC [of the SBC IMB] worker from Prattville, Ala., saw a lot of his dreams go up in the smoke of Albania's civil disturbances, which swept the country earlier this year. Mark was to help direct the Albania Evangelical Rural Outreach project in Albania this summer. That's the massive project Southern Baptists have conducted with Campus Crusade and Helimission in more than 800 villages in Albania. Hundreds of people have become Christians through this intensive effort. ... Mark and other IMB workers were evacuated as conditions worsened. When he called to check on the AERO warehouse outside Tirana, he learned all the materials to be used this summer had been stolen, including 13 sets of the JESUS film (incl. film, projectors, screens, power generators, etc.). Total loss: $100,000. The gates, fence, doors and even aluminum off the outside of the building frame had been stolen..." -
POPULAR HOSTILITY TO CHRISTIANITY-
July 1997, Bosnia: "'There was one young lady we talked with. I asked her about her religious background. "I'm a child of communism. I'm an atheist," she told us. We've met similar statements over and over again here... People live and go about their business as if God didn't exist.' He told of seeing some of the vilest graffiti against Jesus Christ he has ever seen anywhere-probably a holdover from Communist times. Becoming a believer is not easy, either... the mother of one young man who did was so anti-Christian that she burned every Bible or Christian book he brought into the house." - racism-
The example I'm going to use here probably isn't what the original writer of this critique meant, but it's one I've thought about quite a bit nonetheless. It isn't "racism" per se, but rather a kind of racial line that we aren't, I think, going out of our way to erase: the fact that from America there are far more white missionaries than blacks. This was touched on in that same July issue of Commission by a question posed by a young Rwandan during a church service in Maryland: "Why do we only have white missionaries coming to do missions? Are there no black Christians?" The IMB is seeing an increasing number of African-American Southern Baptist missionaries. Are other denominations seeing a similar trend? I'm not aware of any research being conducted on this line, and yet it would be a very vital study: why aren't more non-Whites being mobilized, and how can we do a better job of mobilization?
Of course, another aspect of this racism is an attitude that seems to crop up every so often... "They're only - (fill in the blank)
- ." We have this image in our heads of a people that are our enemies because they so often oppose our governments on specific issues. Think of Chinese, and I'll bet you call to mind the issue of rampant copyright violation. Think of Iraq and you think of the Gulf wars. Think of Libya and you probably think of terrorism. Think of Saudi Arabia and you might not have a very clear image at all. Yet to keep this attitude means we are denying them the gospel on the basis of their sin. Isn't that ironic... not to mention wrong!
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TRIBALISM
There are a literally thousands of people groups with their own ethnic religions, most of which are spiritist or animistic in nature. Each of these will require an individual approach. "Traditional religions grip Benin more than any other African country. Ask God to break the power of spiritual darkness in Benin." (Commission, 8/97). -
regionalist planning vs. globalist planning
One of the problems of planning for regions rather than the entire world is that the sum of an agency's activities do not always add up to the whole of its vision. Someone must keep the global vision and insure that sufficient new activities are being launched to reach the agency's goal. We can have coalitions for Africa, Latin America, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific; but without coalitions for North Africa, the Middle East, Central, South, East and Southeast Asia, we will not reach the goal of closure. -
RELIGIOUS INTRANSIGENCE-
"A Russian Orthodox-backed law to restrict the free practice of faith and limit missionary work sailed through the Russian legislature's two houses this summer. President Yeltsin rejected the bill. But the legislature was expected to have enough votes to override the veto, in which case Yeltsin promised to recommend several revisions. Orthodox leaders and nationalists proposed the bill as a surprise to evangelicals and then quickly pushed it through. ... Depending on how officials interpret it, the law could impede much of the evangelical activity that has developed since the breakup of the soviet Union. It also would regulate any church that refused to register during Soviet days and operated underground. Further, the bill would eliminate missionary activity except as approved by religious groups with legal rights." (Commission, 9/97). -
RESURGENCE OF NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS-
In the face of rising evangelistic efforts many non-Christian religions, among them Islam and Hinduism, have both announced new campaigns to increase evangelism and counter-Christian activities in 10/40 Window countries. -
SHATTERING OF POSTMILLENIAL OPTIMISM-
This is something that may happen after the year 2000: the sudden loss of mission energy as people return to "normal life." After AD 2000 we may well see a sudden precipitous drop in mission spending as people who were giving to year-2000 mission thrusts end their pledges and decide not to renew them. -
STRUCTURES OF SIN-
Sin costs our world in excess of $5.2 trillion a year, eclipsing church/agency income of $157 billion p.a. It is impossible to estimate just how much of this would be given to the church should the sin be eradicated, or even reduced-but it is likely to be a large amount, on the order of several billion dollars. Consider the worldwide cost of cigarettes & alcohol: together, a combined $600 billion.
Not only do structures of sin rob the church of finances, they also impede the progress of the Gospel. "On the streets of Delhi, India, pedophiles can buy sex with a child for $1.40. An estimated 400,000 children in India work as prostitutes. In some villages, prostitution is the main source of income, a religion-based trade passed from mother to daughter." The Gospel would reclaim this area, but those who deal in child prostitutes will not easily give up their economic trade. - sudden replacements of executives-
Which always cause some level of confusion and can lead to a changing of agendas, goals, visions, and emphases in plans. - TERRORISM-
"Indonesia's troubled Christians saw another church attacked and razed by Muslim mobs as 1997 ended amid Christmas celebrations. On Christmas Eve a small church outside the capital Jakarta was set on fire and the building ransacked. Indonesian Christians number approximately 28 million in a Muslim nation of 200 million." (Compass Direct). -
TOTAL STATE OPPOSITION-
As in the case of many Middle Eastern countries, where to proselytize is to invite martyrdom (Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia are two principle examples). -
unannounced abandonment of original goal-
Many global plans are dropped abruptly, vanishing off the agenda of the world evangelization movement without a word as to the cause or a note of apology. -
VIOLENT REVOLUTIONS
Rwanda. Bosnia. Albania. Liberia. Congo-Zaire. Afghanistan. Tajikistan. They all share between them recent revolutions that have disrupted missionary work. In times like these there are great opportunities, but the chances are often short, difficult, costly, and having limited results in the context of the country as a whole. The greater and more frequent result is an expulsion of missionary workers, the destruction of the local church, and numerous martyrdoms, especially among the indigenous church leadership. Such events can extract a heavy toll. -
UNCONTROLLED WARS AND WARFARE
"Thirty Southern Baptist summer workers this summer fled an intense street war in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and were forced to come home and scrap plans to teach conversational English there. The workers, students at American universities, were able to catch the first Red Cross flight out of Cambodia. With them came four families assigned to the Southern Baptist organization CSI, which organized the teaching jobs." -
disrespect for human freedom of choice-
One cannot force a conversion. It is not something we like to think about, but it is possible for the Gospel to be presented and no one to respond. This is one of the reasons why a variety of evangelistic methods and numerous offers are recommended to be given to every people group. History is full of examples where conversions were forced-and failed. They are black marks against us which must not be repeated today. -
lack of global vision-
Morris Cerullo's group is among the hundreds of organizations who have us on their mailing list. Thus I have received and followed their "global" plan, entitled "Mission to All the World." I have been more than a bit disappointed: the plan last year seemed to be centered on holding crusades in major cities in European countries, with very little impact on World A. This year, they have announced four major new thrusts: all centered in Latin America. "We have just three years," announces their latest direct-mail fundraising piece, "to accomplish what the church has failed to accomplish in 1,998 years." Yet if they only go to Europe and Latin America then closure is not even a remote possibility. -
POLITICAL INTERFERENCE / PRESSURES-
An example of this is the anti-missionary legislation proposed by Israel. "Another example of such extremism is a proposed law working its way through the Israeli legislature that would limit evangelical work by and among Jews. Its ultimate passage or rejection will be a particular test of fundamentalist Orthodox Jews' power to influence Israeli society today." (Commission, 10/97). -
COLLAPSES OF INFRASTRUCTURE
An uncontrolled collapse of geographic infrastructure can occur during times of economic collapse or war. The loss of roads, rail systems, phone systems, power lines, and the like can have serious repercussions on missionary efforts within a given country.
