The Place of Humanitarian Work Within Missions
Love in the Church as a Means of Missions
The world is watching.
Jesus said that Christians’ love for each other should arrest the attention of the world and attest to the truth of the good news. As we love one another, we teach nonbelievers (John 13:34–35). Unbelievers need to see that Christianity isn’t just about beliefs; it’s also about establishing people into a new family.1 When people who are so different from one another come together and love each other, the truth of the gospel comes alive. Churches all over the world are full of different kinds of people—men and women, young and old, rich and poor, higher-class and lower-class. Nevertheless, Sunday after Sunday, they come together because one characteristic alone binds them: They love Jesus. This unity can be convincing proof to unbelievers that what we teach about the Father sending the Son to save the world is true (John 17:21).
After Nour, a Muslim from Syria, got saved, she was baptized and joined a church in a Middle Eastern country. Although her husband remained self-consciously Muslim, he began attending church with her in order to be a supportive husband. But after seeing the sacrificial love among the church members as they welcomed him into their homes and loved each other across socioeconomic and class distinctions, his attention was drawn to the message of Christ. In time, he repented and believed in the crucified and risen Lord. As his pastor talked with him about turning points in his own journey of coming to faith in Christ, this new Christian mentioned what he had seen in the corporate witness of the church. As he put it, “I knew this must be the kingdom of God; I had never seen love like this before!” Our love for each other “fills in the gaps” for those who hear the gospel.
Prioritizing the Church in Missions
John Folmar, Scott Logsdon
In this brief guide, experienced pastors John Folmar and Scott Logsdon show how church-centered missiology is essential for fulfilling the Great Commission.
Our love confirms that our words are true (Titus 2:10). We should be able to say to our nonbelieving friends, “We’ve spoken of God’s love for you. If you want to see a tangible picture of that love, then look around.” Ultimately, unbelievers will judge our teaching based on what they see just as much as what they hear.
One of the most shocking and controversial teachings of Christ is that we should forgive those who wrong us. “If [your brother] sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him” (Luke 17:4). Don’t rush by those last words: “You must forgive.”
Unbelievers take note of how we respond when we offend each other. If they’re around us for any length of time, they’ll see when we annoy each other. They’ll see us offend each other. The key is what comes next. They’ll either say, “They’re just like us!,” or “We’ve seen nothing like that before!” Francis Schaeffer said visible love in a church “means a very simple thing: It means that when I have failed to love my Christian brother, I go to him and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ That is first.”2 The world has seen enough of what happens when sinful humans, without God’s Spirit, disagree. Disagreements produce murder (Gen. 4:8), coveting (Eccles. 4:8), and strife and quarrels (James 4:1). But when people born of the Spirit disagree, love (1 John 3:14), holiness (1 Thess. 3:12–13), agreement (2 Cor. 13:11), and even unity (1 Pet. 3:8) are now possible outcomes. We should be able to say to our nonbelieving friends, “If you want to see a picture of God’s forgiveness, look at how we forgive each other.”
Without access to see these incredible God-given relational gifts on display, our national nonbelieving friends will be cut off from a depiction of the gospel’s power. When they regularly see our good and bad interactions, the local church is a means of missions.
Service in the Church as a Means of Missions
Christians are called to do good deeds. They care for the poor (Gal. 2:10), they share with the needy (Luke 14:12–14), they strengthen the weak (James 1:27). We don’t do these good deeds for attention but because we love Jesus. And yet, caring for the poor is a powerful witness for the gospel. One of my wife’s closest friends, a Turkish Muslim, lived next door. She heard the gospel a lot but remained unconvinced. One day, when she saw how we handed out food packets to the poor in our city, she said, “What you all are doing is wonderful.” She loved our act of love. We hope it led her to reconsider what we taught about God’s love in the gospel. The Bible encourages Christians to care for the poor. Peter, James, and John urged the apostle Paul to “remember the poor.” Paul says it was “the very thing I was eager to do” (Gal. 2:10).
Our job is faithfulness; God’s job is conversion.
Historically, Christians have cared for the poor in ways that accent the gospel we preach. During the devastating epidemics of the second and third centuries, Christian leaders and laymen risked and sometimes gave their lives to nurse the suffering back to health. Some historians believe that Christians’ simple nursing techniques significantly cut mortality rates and provided a positive witness for Christianity.3 The Christians’ response stood in such stark contrast to their pagan neighbors who fled the cities that non-Christian Roman rulers like Julian became concerned that many citizens would convert to Christianity.
First John 3:17–18 says, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” Because of verses like these, by the fourth century monks developed a system of healthcare.4 Basil of Caesarea constructed his famous “Basileiad,” which included a school, an orphanage, quarters for the poor, and a hospital.
When churches care for the poor, they gain goodwill, which can be a positive development for the gospel (Acts 2:47). Around the world, Christians are known for their generosity. Several years ago, a public school in a poor neighborhood of Istanbul needed fifteen thousand dollars for an addition to their building. They reached out to a small national church in their neighborhood. One member of that church, Halime, immediately reached out to her broad network of Christian friends around Turkey. Within just a few days, she raised the full amount. Halime asked the donors how they would like the gift delivered, since donors usually want to receive credit for the gift. But these friends were all insistent: The funds would be given only if the gift came from Halime’s church. The neighborhood was thrilled, and the reputation of this small church grew.
It’s important to care for the poor, but churches should be careful that their work doesn’t overwhelm their primary cause. Churches care for the sick, but they shouldn’t become hospitals. Churches provide food for the hungry, but they shouldn’t become soup kitchens. More than healthcare and hunger prevention, our neighborhoods need the gospel, and only local churches are entrusted with that message.
At the same time, we don’t care for the poor simply to convert them. Christians didn’t place themselves at risk only when they could be sure of conversions. Our job is faithfulness; God’s job is conversion. Christians sacrifice their lives because they’re convinced the word of God is true, because they want to provide a positive witness for Christ in the world. Local church members provide a powerful witness for the gospel when they pool their resources and coordinate efforts to care for those in need.
Notes:
- Robert J. Banks, “Loving Family,” in Paul’s Idea of Community: The Early House Churches in Their Cultural Setting, rev. ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994).
- Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2006), 37.
- Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 77–90. 11.
- Robert Louis Wilken, The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013), 159.
This article is adapted from Prioritizing the Church in Missions by John Folmar and Scott Logsdon.
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