BY EDMUND CHAN
We need a critical paradigm shift in missions today. It’s not a new paradigm. It’s simply a neglected one.
Get this. Missions is not the 'special call ' for a few ‘spiritual commandos’ in the church. Rather, missions is the redemptive purpose of God for EVERY believer.
Some friends say that when they read the empathic “Get this”, they know it’s not generated by ChatGPT!
No artificial intelligence in the world can issue the call that Jesus issued Himself:
“As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you.”
— John 20:21
Hudson Taylor emphatically said:
"The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed."
And for those who feel inadequate, Hudson Taylor added these famous words:
"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply."
Grasp this paradigm-shifting call. Every believer is called of God to be a Missional Christian. Thus, to be a Missional Christian is not a selective option for some super Christians, it’s for EVERY born-again Christian!
As is often reiterated, missions requires the whole Church to take the whole Gospel to the whole world.
A clarification here.
SOME Christians are called to be missionaries. But EVERY Christian is called to be a Missional Christian!
How? Being Missional Christian involves a Three-Fold Connectedness.
1. The UPWARD Connectedness.
Henry Martyn, an Anglican missionary who’s called "the pioneer missionary to Muslims", said - "The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become."
This focus changes the missions landscape. It’s not merely a call to “draw closer to the mission field”. Rather, it’s a call to “draw closer to Christ”. And wherever He sends you becomes the mission field”!
2. The INWARD Connectedness.
It’s about our inner conviction! It comes from an awakening that our lives must be lived with a God-intended purpose - and that it’s worth it all!
Jim Elliot famously declared, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
3. The OUTWARD Connectedness.
It’s about having a heart for the lost. A compassion. A heart broken for the lostness of man! For unless we see as God sees, we won’t jump in to do as God says!
The words of Oswald J. Smith moved me: "We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first."
The local church must also make a paradigm shift. From being merely a church WITH missions to being a church IN missions. From merely having a missions programme to having a missions impetus. From merely preaching about missions to actually discipling Missional Christians! And in discipling Missional Christians. the church must commit to four strategic engagements - to prioritise missions education, to ignite missions prayer, to encourage missions sending and to mobilize mission support!
Someone has said, “We have taken the basics for granted for so long that we don’t remember the basics any more.”
Without this missiological impetus, then the call to “make disciples” is often tragically morphed into an insipid and impotent Bible Study - a mere knowledge transfer in a classroom-sort of enclave that has no power to change the world!
We have micro-managed discipleship by our diminished understanding of missions!
And it all begins with us taking the call of Christ seriously: “As the Father has sent Me, even so send I YOU!”
Rev. Edmund Chan
A3 Faculty Member
"I believe that the test of leadership is found in the third generation. It involves mentoring leaders who would reproduce leaders. This is why I thank God for A3! It is an outstanding movement that's strategically committed to sustainable leadership development! Mentoring leaders. Multiplying disciples. YES!!!”
Rev. Edmund Chan
Leadership Mentor, Covenant Evangelical Free Church, Singapore
Founder, Global Alliance of Intentional Disciple-Making Churches
Reverend Edmund Chan is a seasoned disciple-making pastor. The Leadership Mentor in Covenant Evangelical Free Church, Edmund is widely regarded as an insightful Bible expositor and a wise mentor of Christian leaders. In 1995, he launched the annual Intentional Disciple-Making Church (IDMC) Conferences, which have drawn over 1000 pastors and disciple-making leaders from more than 150 churches from over 18 countries. He also serves on the advisory councils of several Christian organizations. Edmund has authored Built To Last: Towards A Disciple-making Church, Growing Deep in God, Mentoring Paradigms and Growing Deep in Faith. He graduated summa cum laude from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School with an MA (Missions). He is married to Ann Chan, who serves as an Associate Pastor, and they have two adult daughters, Amanda and Belicia.
More Information
- A3 Faculty
- Photo credits:
- Picture taken from @missionalquotes from X / Twitter
- Up-In-Out graphic courtesy A3
- Read more about A3's concept of UP-IN-OUT...
