Responding to the Luke 4 mandate

Posted: 1/18/08

Responding to the Luke 4 mandate

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

For some Christians, listening to the news is like hearing a prayer list. More than 2 million people displaced in Sudan. More than 1.5 million Iraqi children left homeless. Residents of Southeast Texas and Louisiana still rebuilding two years after hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Nearly every story is a reminder of the pain and suffering that remains in the world. And God uses many of them to call people and churches to serve around the globe.

An increasing number of Christians are responding to global issues, noting biblical calls for such action. They commonly cite Luke 4:18-19—when Jesus announced the inauguration of his public ministry by quoting an Old Testament passage about good news for the poor. They also point to Micah 6:8 and other verses that call for compassion toward the poor and the need for God’s people to seek justice for the vulnerable.

The call to social justice particularly appeals to young evangelicals. According to a 2006 Cone Inc. survey of people across faith backgrounds born between 1975 and 1985, 72 percent had educated others on social/environmental issues, 63 percent volunteered time for social/environmental issues and 64 percent donated money to such causes.

“It seems that the kind of mission projects and trips that interest and excite both students and older Christians are those that offer the opportunity actually to do something to address people’s needs,” said Rob Sellers, the Connally professor of missions at Hardin-Simmons University. 

“I don’t hear as often about evangelistic teams going somewhere as … construction teams, medical teams, literacy teams, or other groups going to do hands-on social ministry. I hope that this seeming trend represents a growing awareness that Christians must re-spond to people’s holistic needs and not just to their spiritual needs.” 

Billy Metcalf from First Baptist Church in Amarillo examines a child during a mission trip to Kenya with Buckner International. (PHOTO/Buckner)

Some churches adopt African villages. Others sponsor children in developing countries. Still others dig wells to provide clean water.

Churches often work together across denominations through parachurch organizations such as WorldVision and Samaritan’s Purse—as well as broad-based Christian agencies with denominational roots, such as Buckner International—that can help coordinate the efforts of multiple groups in a strategic way.

Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action, believes evangelical engagement in social issues helps send a clear message about what it means to be a Christian. And that message may result in more people becoming Christians.

“I think if evangelicals were more concerned about the poor and more concerned about the environment, the secular world would be more open to hearing our message,” he said in an interview during a recent speaking engagement at Hardin-Simmons University.

Kelsey Simons, a Baylor University nursing student, helps provide a basic medical exam during a mission trip to Mexico. (PHOTO/Baylor)

Making an impact on big issues is difficult, but it’s possible if a church is focused for a long-term effort. Steve Seaberry, Baptist General Convention of Texas director of Texas Partnerships, encourages a church to have at least a three-year partnership in an area when working with social causes.

Bob Roberts, pastor of Northwood Church, routinely has said it will take at least 30 years to make any significant impact in a situation that needs to be changed drastically. His church focuses on helping build infrastructure in developing countries through long-term partnerships.

Long-term commitment requires the cause to remain in front of the congregation. Members must stay connected to the cause and be inspired to continue serving. The congregation must provide a way for all of its members to participate in the partnership, whether that’s through missions education, trips, giving money or donating items.

“Even for a progressive congregation like ours, there’s a lot of education yet to be done about social justice,” said Mark Wingfield, associate pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. “We have not arrived. Many of the people from Wilshire who have traveled to Kenya will tell you that trip changed their perspective of the world.”

Even if a congregation remains behind the effort, some members of the church are going to be called to service in other places or ministries, noted Jeff Raines, associate pastor of First Baptist Church in Amarillo. Churches have to balance focused mission efforts with the freedom to allow church members to respond to God’s calling upon their lives.

Teens from a youth group at First Baptist Church in Salado work on a Habitat for Humanity housing project in New Orleans. (RNS photo/Ted Jackson/The Times-Picayune in New Orleans)

“I think it’s hard,” Raines said. “It’s a constant tension. I listed Brazil, Mexico, Kenya (as missions emphases). We’ve had some people connected with a missionary in Slovakia. It’s not really staff-driven, but we’ll certainly promote this group is going to Slovakia. … We don’t want to squelch that.”

Sellers believes the tension between a focused effort and allowing individuals to follow God’s calling is a healthy one. The key is involving as many people as possible in the mission work God wants them to do.

“I think that working in multiple places around the globe doing multiple kinds of ministries will engage more people than focusing on one location, which may tend primarily to be one kind of ministry,” he said.

Taking on social causes also can create a bit of missiological tension within a congregation. When discussing mission work, some socially conscious Christians tend to emphasize Mathew 25, saying God wants Christians to meet human needs. Other Christians focus on the evangelistic Great Commission in Matthew 28 in which Christ commands his followers to go make disciples.

Ideally, Sellers said, congregations will find opportunities to provide humanitarian aid and share the gospel verbally. However, if they aren’t in a situation where that is possible, the tangible aid sends an unspoken message about the people providing it.

“I believe that if a church were to go into a poor African village, for example, and drill a deep well to provide clean water so that babies didn’t die of dysentery, but never got the opportunity to talk about Jesus as Living Water, that they would still be carrying out God’s mission,” he said.

Others—such as Seaberry of Texas Partnerships—stress the importance of a verbal witness. Although he understands there are some situations where open mass evangelism is not possible, he believes sharing the gospel is imperative in missions. That action is central to the exercise of the Christian faith.

“Do you mention Christ?” he said. “If not, what makes you different from a Muslim group? What makes you any different from the United Nations?”

If a church works through the tensions, remains committed to the effort and sees it through a long-term partnership, it must be realistic about its possible impact, Sellers emphasized. A church is not going to put an end to a significant issue like human trafficking by itself. But it can change the lives of a select group.

“Yes, a church can take on a social cause, even a huge one, and still make a difference for individual needy people whose lives they touch,” he said. 

“The expectations should be realistic. Churches should not think that their one- or two-week project in a given country will change grave injustices that are a consequence of a long history of systemic evil in that place.

“But their efforts can help a given poor congregation or a select group of needy individuals, and—perhaps more importantly—the project can open the eyes of American Christians who can return to this country as eyewitnesses to injustice that must be addressed.”

Rebecca Kennedy, Baylor’s director of university missions, said she believes exposing students to the situation in Africa changes their lives. Faculty and staff members help students process what they’re seeing and encourage them to reflect on how they can make a difference in the world around them.

“Because of the places we go in Africa, we see the poorest of the poor,” she said.

“We see poverty, smell it, touch it. It’s real. That’s impacting. We spend a lot of time debriefing, asking questions: ‘What does this mean to you? What different choices are you going to make?’”