Josh Benner

Tag: missiology

  • The gospel is unstoppable in a world that is often hostile

    Paul was the greatest missionary who ever lived. When writing to the Philippians, he was in jail. That’s the last place he needs to be! Why would God allow this to happen? Wouldn’t it be better for Paul to be out in the mission field sharing Jesus?

    Regardless of what is happening in the world, God is still at work.

    In Acts 16, Paul was also imprisoned, yet in that passage, it was because God did not spare Paul from prison that he was able to witness to his jailer.And so it goes throughout the history of the church. Where God has been working in ways that people might not have expected. Powerful empires have tried to crush Christianity.

    It’s often been true that the church has faced oppression. The blood of the martyrs waters the seeds of the church. And in places where it’s easy, where it’s common to be a Christian, there can be complacency. It’s easy to just assume everyone around us is a Christian. Whereas in other parts of the world, you actually have to take risks to acknowledge Jesus.

    None of this is to say that we should want bad things to happen! But to be mindful that in the face of sin and injustice, noting stops God. The gospel is unstoppable.

    Sometimes it’s because God does not spare people from the difficulties that people are in positions to evangelize and share the gospel. Sometimes through the wickedness and evil of men, because of God’s immeasurable goodness, he graciously puts them in position to hear the gospel that they don’t even deserve.

    A modern example

    During the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian citizens were facing persecution from the government for transporting Bible across borders, sharing their faith, and even worshipping privately in their own homes.

    Virginia Prodan was a Romanian lawyer who defended Christians of these basic human rights. Prodan was a Christian. She had suffered much for her faith. She had been beaten and torutnred. She had been placed under house arrest. One day, when returning to her office, one of her assistants told her a man wanted to speak with her.

    The man was a giant, 6’10” which dwarfed the 5 foot tall Prodan.

    He pulled out a gun and told her he had come to kill her.

    WRITING IN CHRISTIANITY TODAY, SHE SAID:
    I CONSIDERED THE MAN BEFORE ME. BEHIND THOSE HATE-FILLED EYES WAS A CREATION OF GOD. HE HAD AN IMMORTAL SOUL, AND HE NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT THE LOVE GOD HAS SHOWN IN JESUS CHRIST. AT ONCE EMBOLDENED, I MET MY KILLER’S EYES. “HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF: ‘WHY DO I EXIST?’ OR ‘WHY AM I HERE?’ OR ‘WHAT IS THE MEANING OF MY LIFE?’ I ONCE ASKED MYSELF THOSE QUESTIONS.” MY VOICE STAYED CALM AND DID NOT WAVER.

    HE SLID HIS GUN BACK INTO THE HOLSTER. I LEANED FORWARD. “YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE GOD PUT YOU HERE, AND HE HAS PUT YOU TO A TEST. WILL YOU ABIDE IN GOD OR IN THE WILL OF A MAN—YOUR BOSS, PRESIDENT CEAUSESCU, WHO REQUIRES YOU TO WORSHIP HIM? GOD HAS GIVEN YOU FREE WILL TO CHOOSE.”

    The assassin didn’t kill her that day. He acknowledged that he had needed Jesus in his life. The power of the gospel had penetrated his heart.

    But it was because God had not spared Prodan from that persecution that she had been enabled to witness to that man.

    And there are other stories we can find in modern times from almost every empire that has cracked down on Christianity, that has persecuted Christians, of the gospel working through the cracks of the walls that empires have built up. The gospel is unstoppable. Because God is unstoppable at achieving his purposes. Even in oppressive regimes that try to totally crush Christianity, the gospel still takes root. The truth finds a way.

    In our world, persecution and challenges shouldn’t be a surprise when the gospel is that Jesus came into a fallen world to redeem people to himself. It’s a message that’s offensive because it confronts people with the reality of sin. It points to the narrow way.

    In America, we’re often times too comfortable.

    If we think that we always need ideal conditions to share the gospel; if we think that the gospel always needs receptive environments to thrive: it doesn’t. Because the spread of the gospel, is not about our abilities and talents and planning. Not suggest this things are irrelevant. God does equip and gift people in different ways.

    But even when it seems to be against all odds, it is the power of God through which the gospel reaches people. The gospel is unstoppable.

    What does that mean to you?

    It makes sense people would be hostile to the gospel. When Jesus came to redeem a world that was dead in sin. A world that was so sinful the it killed its savior.

    And it’s not a shortcoming of God that he doesn’t do more to make the way to share the gospel easy. It’s his grace that he came to earth and made the gospel possible to be proclaimed at all. It displays his power and glory that the gospel still goes forth when people try to thwart his work.

    People have tried to stop the gospel’s advance. And those people are dead and gone, but the gospel message continues because Jesus lives on.

    Originally published February 6, 2018 

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

  • Having an “all things to all people” ministry mindset

    all things to all people.JPG

    In 1 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul gives an insight into how he approached ministry. After discussing how he related to Jews, gentiles, and those whom society had looked down upon, Paul sums up how he related to each of these groups by saying that he became “all things to all people.”

    For the Jewish people, they had the Law. In the early church, there was still some uncertainty over which (if any) aspects of the Law people were required to follow.

    Paul was respectful of Jewish customs. He had been born and raised Jewish. And for the sake of building relationships, in certain circles, he would still participate in accordance with various Jewish customs. In Acts 16, Timothy is a young minster who begins doing ministry with Paul. Knowing they would be traveling in heavily Jewish areas, Paul actually has Timothy get circumcised.

    All things to all people. (more…)

  • Notre Dame, the Church, and the beauty of things that are bigger than ourselves

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    Since the fire at Notre Dame on Monday, I’ve been awestruck by the thoughts of the longevity of that building. If you had asked me “when was Notre Dame built?” three days ago, I probably would have guessed 16th or 17th century. I knew it was old. I would have guessed it was older than America. I would not have guessed that the construction began in 1163 (around the time Genghis Khan was born). (more…)

  • Continuing dialogue on the death of American missionary

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    Much has been said about John Chau, the American missionary who lost his life when trying to approach the Sentinelese tribe, who live on a remote island off the coast of India.

    There are different camps people fall into with this story. I wrote about this last week. Some people looked at a story of a Christian going to another part of the world to try to reach others with the gospel with such scorn that they practically celebrated his death.

    I literally saw people comment that they weren’t even sorry for him. I think that’s pretty sick.<!–more–>

    Others were apathetic to his death because he was exposing people to diseases. I’m not a doctor, he might have been, however he had been heavily immunized and even spent time in quarantine before going. At the very least, it seems that Mr. Chau was thoughtful to avoid that (and he had also received medical training).

    I’ve been critical of the methods used to approach the Sentinelese people. I still do believe that things could have been approach in a manner of better judgment, especially once the situation was obviously perilous. But I also might have been unfair in my initial assessment.

    From the available information, Chau had put a great deal of thought into this trip. It wasn’t throw together on a whim. He had planned for this trip. He had trained for this trip. I always thought his desire was admirable: reaching people with the gospel who had never been reached with it.

    It’s a complicated story because people fall into many camps. There is the aforementioned group who are hostile to the gospel and its spread. There are people who aren’t necessarily hostile to the gospel but who were opposed to this particular effort because of the risk of disease.

    But Christians also have differing opinions. I think we should remember the good things about Chau’s effort: having a desire to reach the lost with the gospel. He was in an extreme situation but so many of us aren’t even willing to share the love of Jesus with a friend or neighbor because we’re so uncomfortable.

    As I’ve said, I think that there is room to question some of these methods. Not even to bad mouth a young man who lost his life, but just in terms of evaluating missiological strategies. Ed Stetzer, who’s a missiologist and author noted a couple of Bible verses that apply to this situation. In Matthew 10:14, Jesus told his disciples: “if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.”

    There is a lot of hatred in the world. Missionaries and Christians lose their lives and are persecuted for their faith.

    I still think it’s fair to question if Christians should deliberately put themselves in positions where they are facing almost certain death?

    It appears that Chau never had any sort of end with the Sentinelese people. Perhaps more information will come out, but standard avenues to try to reach and positively interact with a society seemed to be closed off.

    Christians should pray for the Sentinelese people, and to pray for John Chau’s family.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Having an “all things to all people” ministry mindset

    all things to all people.JPG

    Originally published April 6, 2016

    In 1 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul gives an insight into how he approached ministry. After discussing how he related to Jews, gentiles, and those whom society had looked down upon, Paul sums up how he related to each of these groups by saying that he became “all things to all people.”

    For the Jewish people, they had the Law. In the early church, there was still some uncertainty over which (if any) aspects of the Law people were required to follow.

    Paul was respectful of Jewish customs. He had been born and raised Jewish. And for the sake of building relationships, in certain circles, he would still participate in accordance with various Jewish customs. In Acts 16, Timothy is a young minster who begins doing ministry with Paul. Knowing they would be traveling in heavily Jewish areas, Paul actually has Timothy get circumcised.

    All things to all people.

    People needed to understand that adherence was not what saved a person. Faith is what saves. But it’s also important to understand that, for Paul, in ministering to Jewish people, the purpose wasn’t to get them to give up every aspect of their former life. Practicing things like circumcision or still eating in accordance with the Jewish dietary restrictions were not things that people needed to give up.

    Paul’s purpose was to preach the gospel, the salvation through faith and the work of Jesus at the cross.

    From Jews to Hindus 

    I was at a missions conference a few weeks ago and one of the presenters was talking about barriers missionaries face in evangelizing Hindus in India. India has a billion people, but is only about 2.3% self-identified as Christian. And those numbers haven’t really changed in the past 50 years, in spite of all of the money and missionary efforts in that country.

    Part of the challenge is that Hindus who convert to Christianity often times make radical changes. Not simply Spiritually, but external changes: things like changing their names, changing how they dress, essentially separating themselves from anything that has to do with Hinduism.

    Many American Christians might think that’s a good thing.

    But is it?

    Think about it like this: you know someone and they start going to a new church. And then they start dressing differently. And then they tell you they’ve changed their name….would you think “well that’s wonderful.”

    Of course not.

    You’d think they had just joined a cult!

    Coming to faith in the gospel of is always a spiritually transforming event. But depending on a person’s background, it can also be a significant social change as well. There can be stigmas in certain circles. It can be at the expense of relationships. While the gospel is worth whatever the cost, it does not need to be at the cost of lifestyle decisions that aren’t matters of sin. It can be easy to have extra-Biblical expectations of what a real Christian should act like or do. We should encourage and exhort people to turn away from sin, but not from things which are morally neutral, things like style of dress, tattoos, piercings, and smoking.

    For the Hindus, with things like the style of dress or their first name, or like the Jews to whom Paul was ministering who still practiced circumcision, these weren’t sin issues. These weren’t things that were inherently wrong for the people to be doing.

    While this passage is not an exhaustive manual on how to do ministry, I do think that it is providing an important bedrock example of how we are to spread the good news of the love and forgiveness of Christ in our world.

    All things to all people.

    We have a God who meets us and loves us where we are. And we are to love other people where they are. It’s not about a person getting things together so that we can find them lovable.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.