RETHINKING MISSION

WITNESSING TO CHRIST TODAY

Jayakumar Christian1

The churches worldwide will convene in Edinburgh in June 2010 to celebrate

and recommit to continue witnessing to Christ. The celebration will recognise
that God is already active in the world today and that the church is a
privileged co-worker with Him.

Edinburgh will be an appropriate time for the church to reconsider some

fundamentals in mission. Let me offer some lead thoughts for this „rethinking‟
based primarily on Nehemiah chapter 5, where Nehemiah is faced with an
internal enemy. There was a great outcry. A careful study of Nehemiah‟s
handling of the situation identifies for us critical factors that need to be
considered even as the church worldwide gathers to consider „witnessing to
Christ today.‟ Let me suggest some starters (five themes) for rethinking
mission – specifically in the context of mission among the poor and the
oppressed:

1. Witness - reading reality right

Nehemiah is faced with an awkward situation where there is rebellion in the

camp – the outcry of the people against their Jewish brethren. As we read v 1-
5, we see Nehemiah‟s reading of the situation. It involves socio-economic
factors, political factors and power issues. It was about land and ownership,
and tax. The poor were unable to redeem their own children from bondage.

Recently, I was out in Bijapur (Karnataka) visiting World Vision’s relief site. I
met 10 year-old Sachin. He was a bright student aspiring to be a doctor. I
walked up to his father Ramu’s small piece of land. He had borrowed from
money lenders to sow Bajra and was hoping under trying drought conditions
to at least get some yield. Then came the floods. All standing Bajra crops
were washed away. They were in debts and unable to move forward with the
winter crop. Little Sachin was standing nearby listening to his father explain
the loss. I asked Ramu what this would mean for Sachin. Ramu said the only
option before them was to migrate to Sholapur or Pune and Sachin and the

1
Jayakumar Christian Serves as the National Director of World Vision India. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation working to create lasting change in the lives
of children, families and communities living in poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, caste, race, ethnicity or gender.
whole family would also have to go with them. ‘In Sholapur we live on the
streets under plastic sheet roofing.’ ‘But Sachin is doing well in his studies;
should not his studies come first?’ I asked. Ramu was helpless. Sachin’s eyes
were fixed on me, asking is there another option? I was left wondering -
should a ten-year old Sachin be faced with this decision?

Standing between a failed Bajra crop and an indebted father who was unable
to make his son‟s dream come true, I asked myself „how should we respond?‟
How should the local church respond?

Our nation has many such Ramus who are unable to “redeem” their children‟s
dreams. In India this would include 800m who live on less than $2 a day. A
child dies every 15 seconds in India due to neonatal diseases while 20 lakh
children die before reaching their fifth birthday. India has the highest number
of underweight children. Over 17million child labourers whose „nimble fingers‟
have worked to their disadvantage. What is the role of the church?

If the local church must witness to Christ today the local church must be able
to critical think and „read reality‟ socio-politically, economically and
comprehensively. This ability must be demystified and made available to the
local church. The local church must be able to exegete its local context. Often
this role is abdicated to „specialists‟ within the Church hierarchy or to para
church organisations. If the local church must witness to Christ today it must
know how to grapple with reality. For after all, the Sachin‟s and the Ramu‟s
live in the neighbourhood of our local churches. Witness must be local church-
centric and involve equipping the local church to read its reality right. If we do
not read reality right our response to the context will be, to that extent,
inadequate and fragmented. Our mission will be fragmented.

2. Witness requires a theology of anger

Chapter 5 v 6 then describes Nehemiah‟s response to this „outcry;‟ “and I

became very angry.” Nehemiah did not hide his emotions. His analysis, I am
sure must have been comprehensive, diligent and thorough. But his
response did involve emotions. The Psalmist in chapter 39 talking of the
wickedness around him says „(v3) “My heart was hot within me, while I was
musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,” Our bones must burn
when we see poverty and oppression.

The church and more often para church organisations are guilty of academic
gymnastics around a human issue such as poverty and oppression. Our
objectivity seems to get the better of us. For Nehemiah it was more than an
exercise of reading reality right; anger followed.
The church that is engaged must know how to get angry over situations of
oppression and poverty. We need a theology that has biblical integrity and will
cause us to act. The local church must be emotionally involved. It must get
upset over issues that affect its neighbourhood. For too long we have been
calm and calculative in our analysis of reality. We need a theology of anger
that reflects the „broken heart‟ of God.

Speaking specifically of poverty, oppression and vulnerability we in local

churches must recognise all the statistics in the world about poverty will not
bleed. It is people who bleed. The local church is positioned aptly to be that
„expression of the compassionate heart of God.‟ Issues such as child hunger,
orphans and vulnerable children, child labour, and exploitation demand that
we get emotionally engaged with the issue – getting angry about the outcry.
The local church must be able to get angry without feeling like a sinner.

Local churches need a theology of anger that is rooted in the scripture; a

theology that will cause the local church to respond to poverty situations and
oppression with a broken heart.

3. Witness as reversals

In the next set of verses we see a legal drama enacted, but with a difference.
Nehemiah rebukes the nobles (exploiters v7), calls a great assembly against
them (v7b) and the nobles were silenced and found nothing to say (v8). It
was a strange drama. The nobles who are normally in the judgment seat are
in the witness box, with the people in the judgment seat. The nobles found
nothing to say – a telling silence in the court room! What a reversal!

Witness to Christ today will require reversals. It will require a reversal of the
Church‟s understanding of power. It will require, not a proficient play of the
world‟s power games but challenging the rules of the power game itself. It will
require challenging status quo – challenging the questions not just simply
offering smart answers. It requires world view level changes of both „them‟
and „us.‟

In poverty situation the issue is not the HDI/ Hunger index/HPI ranks and the
number of poor but the growing gap between the rich and the poor. This
demands reversals. Witness is not possible without reversal of status-quo.
The Sachin‟s and Ramu‟s have lived too long, unable to redeem their dreams.
 4. Witness as accountability to God

Nehemiah then goes on to lay the parameters for corrective action. This is not
simply about stopping the demand for interest, or giving back the sons and
daughters. This is about (v9) fearing God and avoiding reproach before the
nations. The local church needs more than a socio-economic development
programme. Mission must grapple with the question „where is God‟ in the
local church‟s responses to poverty and oppression. Nehemiah recognised
that this was not merely a deal between the nobles and the people; God was
a keen participant in the deal. This is sacred business; He is deeply involved.
God is already working and walking among the poor and invites us to co-walk
with Him. We are on holy ground in mission; He is with us.

Witness to Christ today must rediscover the meaning of accountability to God,

the meaning of integrity. There is a need to ensure „zero tolerance‟ to any
lack of integrity. Mission demands accountability not just to each other and
donors but to God. This is an accountability in which God is deeply
interested. Witness must rediscover the spirituality of our mission engagement
that will cause us set standards for accountability, not merely follow the
world‟s standards of accountability.

5. Witness demands personal investment

Nehemiah punctuates his dealing of the nobles, with personal examples. He

tells the nobles to simply follow him (v10, 14-19) almost on the same lines as
Paul does to the early church.

Mission is investment of life. Mission is not merely a summary of strategies,

structures, competence and resources; these only deliver outcomes. If the
church is serious about transformational mission the church must invest life.

Luke 4:18-19, portrays an interesting cause-effect relationship. Jesus while

outlining His manifesto, states that all his activities are a result of the anointing
of the Spirit. Without the anointing of the Spirit the list of activities in v18, 19
are merely a „to- do list‟ of a social activist, not witness to Christ. It is merely a
witness to our organisational and institutional competence.

Witness demands personal investment. Without investment of life we cannot

reproduce life – a cardinal rule in life. Incarnation is not the task of front line
staff only. Incarnation defined as „giving up what rightfully belongs to us‟ is a
whole Church mandate and a whole organisation business.
The Church in Edinburgh must lead the rethinking of mission for the rest of
the 21st century and be able to say with integrity „follow me even as we follow
Jesus.‟

A nation is waiting to be blessed because of Edinburgh 2010.