"There is nothing wrong with charitable acts-but they are not to be confused with preaching the Gospel." -- Yohannan.
"To spread an effete, degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the commandment of Christ or discharge our obligation to the heathen." -- A.W. Tozer
I am currently reading a wonderful book entitled, Revolution in World Missions, by K.P. Yohannan, and it has challenged me and pulled at my heart. At the same time this book has in some ways affirmed what I have been struggling with and have written about on my blogs in the past, and that is the social missionary mindset, where we think we need to feed, clothe and heal before we can preach the saving faith of Christ. It is an "earn the respect to be heard" mentality.
Through my studies of Scripture, working in inner-city ministry, teaching in India and my current ministry experience, I have yet to find that ministry mentality truly work and have questioned it for a while. Reading this book has only clarified my opinion on this concept. We feed, clothe and heal, but their soul end up in hell because we did not yet earn the right to be heard. Mr. Yohannan talks about this in his book as well and he is well versed and experienced in ministry and would recommend to anyone to get this book and read it.
He gives three different "half-truth" as he calls them that are sending people to hell without ever having the chance to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.
The first one he talks about is people ask, "How can we preach the Gospel to a man with an empty stomach?" This is a great question, but my question would be right away; how can one not preach Christ to someone starving? Pastor Yohannan says that there is no difference in the eyes of God between the rich man on fifth avenue and a starving man in the remote areas of India, as they both are sinners in need of Christ. The primary focus should be Christ first then social concerns and not vice-verse. Yes, help them, but first help them with the most important food of all, Jesus Christ, food for our souls, quenching our thirst forever with eternal water.
The second area he talks about are those that say, "social work - meeting only the physical needs of man-is mission work; in fact, it is equal to preaching." Pastor answers this objection quickly as he says that Luke 16:19-25 says differently. What benefit is there in gaining the riches of the world and losing your soul? Lazarus on the other hand made preparations for his soul though he had nothing on earth. Luke 9:25, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? " He goes to call it a crime to just feed, clothe and heal the poor without preaching Christ. In my opinion this also blows the philosophy of the Emergent Church right out of the water.
Lastly, he takes on the argument that says, "They will not listen to the Gospel unless we offer them something else first." This one can be one of the strongest arguments that are offered, but Pastor Yohannan answers it quickly on pointedly. I will just quote him, "Substituting a bowl of rice for the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will never save a soul and will rarely change the attitude of a man's heart." Ouch!! He then quotes Romans 10:17: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
How many of have been guilty of the last one? I know I have before, and I think it comes a lot from our materialistic society, because we think no one can be happy unless they have what we have and they surely will have a hard time accepting Christ if we do not meet their needs first. How many ministries started like this? We will use sports, food banks, clothing outlets, education, music, video games and many other things to entice them in or fill a need instead of praying, relying on the Holy Spirit and preaching the Word. Again, these things in themselves are good, but not the primary activity and unfortunately that tends to happen. We start to worry about funding to support buildings, things and not Christ.
Yohannan uses Thailand as an example of this. He says that after 150 years of Christian missionaries being in Thailand, Christians only make up 2% of the population. He goes onto show how these missionaries focused more on social then Christ. These missionaries brought schools, the first printing press, the first hospital, the first university, first doctor, and in every form of trade and diplomacy Christians were at the forefront helping them and yet there is little to show for it in the what really counts and that is transformed lives in Christ. Pastor Yohannan says, "They died more educated, better governed and healthier -but they died without Christ and are bound for hell." What kind of witness is that? None at all!
Let us start to preach Christ first and then worry about social issues. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15) This should truly make us think about our ministries and how Christ is preached.
"To spread an effete, degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the commandment of Christ or discharge our obligation to the heathen." -- A.W. Tozer
I am currently reading a wonderful book entitled, Revolution in World Missions, by K.P. Yohannan, and it has challenged me and pulled at my heart. At the same time this book has in some ways affirmed what I have been struggling with and have written about on my blogs in the past, and that is the social missionary mindset, where we think we need to feed, clothe and heal before we can preach the saving faith of Christ. It is an "earn the respect to be heard" mentality.
Through my studies of Scripture, working in inner-city ministry, teaching in India and my current ministry experience, I have yet to find that ministry mentality truly work and have questioned it for a while. Reading this book has only clarified my opinion on this concept. We feed, clothe and heal, but their soul end up in hell because we did not yet earn the right to be heard. Mr. Yohannan talks about this in his book as well and he is well versed and experienced in ministry and would recommend to anyone to get this book and read it.
He gives three different "half-truth" as he calls them that are sending people to hell without ever having the chance to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.
The first one he talks about is people ask, "How can we preach the Gospel to a man with an empty stomach?" This is a great question, but my question would be right away; how can one not preach Christ to someone starving? Pastor Yohannan says that there is no difference in the eyes of God between the rich man on fifth avenue and a starving man in the remote areas of India, as they both are sinners in need of Christ. The primary focus should be Christ first then social concerns and not vice-verse. Yes, help them, but first help them with the most important food of all, Jesus Christ, food for our souls, quenching our thirst forever with eternal water.
The second area he talks about are those that say, "social work - meeting only the physical needs of man-is mission work; in fact, it is equal to preaching." Pastor answers this objection quickly as he says that Luke 16:19-25 says differently. What benefit is there in gaining the riches of the world and losing your soul? Lazarus on the other hand made preparations for his soul though he had nothing on earth. Luke 9:25, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? " He goes to call it a crime to just feed, clothe and heal the poor without preaching Christ. In my opinion this also blows the philosophy of the Emergent Church right out of the water.
Lastly, he takes on the argument that says, "They will not listen to the Gospel unless we offer them something else first." This one can be one of the strongest arguments that are offered, but Pastor Yohannan answers it quickly on pointedly. I will just quote him, "Substituting a bowl of rice for the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will never save a soul and will rarely change the attitude of a man's heart." Ouch!! He then quotes Romans 10:17: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
How many of have been guilty of the last one? I know I have before, and I think it comes a lot from our materialistic society, because we think no one can be happy unless they have what we have and they surely will have a hard time accepting Christ if we do not meet their needs first. How many ministries started like this? We will use sports, food banks, clothing outlets, education, music, video games and many other things to entice them in or fill a need instead of praying, relying on the Holy Spirit and preaching the Word. Again, these things in themselves are good, but not the primary activity and unfortunately that tends to happen. We start to worry about funding to support buildings, things and not Christ.
Yohannan uses Thailand as an example of this. He says that after 150 years of Christian missionaries being in Thailand, Christians only make up 2% of the population. He goes onto show how these missionaries focused more on social then Christ. These missionaries brought schools, the first printing press, the first hospital, the first university, first doctor, and in every form of trade and diplomacy Christians were at the forefront helping them and yet there is little to show for it in the what really counts and that is transformed lives in Christ. Pastor Yohannan says, "They died more educated, better governed and healthier -but they died without Christ and are bound for hell." What kind of witness is that? None at all!
Let us start to preach Christ first and then worry about social issues. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15) This should truly make us think about our ministries and how Christ is preached.
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