It's often times a struggle to decide which activities to participate in and which ones not to participate in. In life on the mission field, there is so much need and so many things that could be done, how do you decide which one(s) to actually do? (I wouldn't dare relegate this conundrum to missionary life only, but that's my current context, so that's where I'll take it). I'll pose my question to start:
How close is people coming to know Christ away from what I am doing? In other words, how many degrees of separation are there between the act that I am doing and people coming to know Christ?
First, some much needed disclaimers:
1. Regardless of the answer to that question, the gospel is always the ultimate goal. Missionary or not, the proclamation of the gospel and people coming to understand that gospel must be underlining every decision I make. Because the gospel can always be shared directly during whatever it is that I do, it doesn't help me decide which activities to participate in; it is common across the board. In math, if the lowest common denominator is removed from a set of numbers, the remainder numbers will have nothing else in common, they are the control set. Similarly, if I remove the common denominator of sharing the gospel from a set of potential activities because it can be done in all of them, what results is a set of activities that are distinct from each other. So, in answering this question, I'll eliminate redundancy by not taking into account the fact that the gospel can be shared directly in all of them.
2. The Spirit rules. We ought to always lean on him as our rock and ultimate guide. In reality, nothing I do is definite as the Spirit always has the freedom to change my plans at any moment. No questions asked. My logic and determination cannot be put above the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the argument is born out of this truth…
Many times, God does not show us exactly what we ought to do. Often times, God gives us a big picture task like "go and make disciples," but he doesn't always give us the details. It'd be great if Matthew had written a step-by-step footnote about how Jesus wanted us to go about evangelizing the world. Unfortunately, however, he didn't. That means a lot of decisions are left up to us. Since we are incredibly fallen creatures, we often miss the mark of carrying carry out what we have been commanded. We sometimes begin strong and devoted, but, little by little, things creep in from the outside and alter our focus. Surely, God saw this coming when he decided to leave the spreading of the gospel up to us, so he sent us his Spirit. We always have the Spirit inside of us, guiding us, comforting us, strengthening us to continue on in the work of the Lord. Even still, many things are left up to us to decide. For example, when there are many options on my plate, and when after much prayer and seeking the guidance of the Lord clarity is still not present, how do I decide which things to participate in and which things to pass on? My answer is by no means infallible, but for now, it's my best attempt at tackling this issue.
I'll call it "degrees of gospel separation." The proclamation of the gospel is the ultimate end of everything of which I'm a part here in Honduras. I don’t build churches just to build churches, but to provide a congregation with an adequate meeting area in which the gospel will be proclaimed for many years to come. I don't dig wells just to give clean water, but so that people can hear about and understand what it means to drink Living Water. Often times though, the desired end result, the proclamation of the gospel, is not an immediate end. Sometimes there are other steps that have to happen first in order for the desired end to be generated. Here are a couple of examples (they don’t apply to me, just random examples).
Ex 1: I could build a house for a cook to come live and work at a school so that kids could have a meal so that the school is an attractive option so that parents will send their kids to that school so that the school will stay open so that they can hear about Jesus. 6 degrees of separation.
Build a house so that…
1. Cook can come so that…
2. Kids can have a meal so that…
3. School is an attractive option because of lunch program so that…
4. Parents send their kids to the school so that…
5. The school can stay in operation so that…
6. The students can hear about Jesus.
Ex 2: Open a coffee shop to build relationships to share the gospel. 2 degrees of separation.
Open a coffee shop so that…
1. Relationships can be built so that…
2. The gospel can be shared and disciples can be made.
These are only two examples, but I hope you can see my point. The gospel isn't always proclaimed immediately after the work is completed, and that's okay. But if that's the case, logic seems to play a role. It only stands to reason that the more degrees of separation that exist between my initial act and the desired end, the greater the possibility of the end not being generated. There's simply more that can go wrong. So here's the obvious rule of thumb that is born out of all of this: the more degrees of gospel separation, the greater the risk of the desired result not being generated. Conversely, the less degrees of separation, the greater the chance of the desired result being generated.
The rule of thumb is easy to generate, but I haven't quite figured out how to interpret it yet. I can't, for example, automatically eliminate options that have more than X degrees of separation. I can't consign the work of the Lord to a silly man-made rule. But, in theory at least, if two equally plausible options are presented, I should take the one that has less degrees of separation. Less separation=less risk=higher probability of generated result.
I would love to hear your opinion on this. I'm by no means married to this idea of degrees of gospel separation, so if you have questions, comments, or concerns, let me know! This is all part of the process of serving the Lord to the best of my ability and your feedback would be greatly appreciated!
