This is an article from the January-February 1995 issue: The Frozen Church

Why Stay Here? Mobilizing the Home Front

Why Stay Here? Mobilizing the Home Front

Mission mobilization is a strategic new category that churches are increasingly recognizing as key to their global outreach. It may not be in your church's missions policy… yet, but it is becoming more and more understood by alert missions thinkers and strategizers. Greg Parsons, who has been on staff with the U.S. Center for World Mission for 12 years, discusses this issue from his perspective and experience working with many churches, the staff of the USCWM, and other mobilization organizations.

We are all familiar with the broad range of categories that our churches support around the world--church planters, evangelists, student workers, theological educators, etc. But a new, growing category may be the most important of all…the role of the missions mobilizer.

You might say, "That's not new." People have been mobilizing, whether they called it that or not, since the time of Christ. Most missions historians agree that the two most significant people motivating the Student Volunteer Movement (that saw 20,000 people go out and another 80,000 seriously committed to back them) were John R. Mott and Robert E. Speer. Yet neither of them were ever missionaries "on the field." They were mobilizing a vast array of people to accomplish God's purposes to make His name known among the nations.

The "newness" in this idea of mobilization is not the role itself, but its growing acceptance as a crucial category in reaching out to unreached peoples. Churches are seeing that if you don't have people who work at spreading vision here, you won't have people who go to the "field." Perhaps the biggest obstacle to reaching unreached peoples is the lack of mission vision on the part of the church-- wherever in the world that church is located. You may feel this in your church.

Beyond that foundational idea of seeing mobilizers as a necessary category is the recognition that they are acceptable, supportable, and, most of all, vital to the very existence of a local church's effective missions program.

What do we mean by mobilizer in this context? In the simplest terms, it is one who multiplies, disciples or mentors in missions. But there is much more to it than that, depending on the level of mobilization. The role can be narrow, as in one-to-one relationships, or much more in-depth, as in working at a national level here at the USCWM or with an organization like Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment (or ACMC, see pg. 25 for more information) or the Association of International Missions Services (AIMS, see page 26). Perhaps the best way to explain these various levels is to give several examples.

Locally--in your church

At a local level the people with a heart for God's purposes in the world --often missions committee members--will be mobilizing within their church. If you don't see this happening, look for people with the right gifting and vision to start it. Here's an example:

One church was doing a good job keeping a missions program going along but it really wasn't motivating people for mission in any organized way. Then a couple in the church got a vision for what could be done if they really committed themselves to it. He was gifted in management and she in relating to people.

In the process of the next few years the program grew and the church not only increased giving but began to see more and more people raised up for full-time service--in many areas of ministry. Soon this couple felt called to serve and later linked up with a mission agency and is serving in another culture.

But that left a void. The couple was the catalyst--the moving force behind the program. Because they didn't mentor anyone for their role, though the program didn't fail, it took several years to find the right kind of leadership to move things forward again.

The bottom line is that the ministry of stirring up missions vision and involvement in your local church's program--whether professionally or as a lay volunteer--must be done by someone. Otherwise the vision to support those on the field and to nurture potential missionaries, can die. If you have a part or full-time missions staff member, don't expect them to do all the work. Usually, a missions pastor is a multiplier of others who in turn do the work of the ministry (Eph. 4). They are so involved in administrative concerns that they count on others to do a good portion of the mentoring.

Each congregation will discover its unique blend of giftings, roles and time involvements, but the right mix of people needs to be found to make this type of local mobilization successful. Imagine God using you on a team of people who motivate dozens from your church to go into His fields!

Often, however, people with this kind of vision find it hard to limit themselves to their own church. They move on to the next step working…

Locally--in other churches

Beyond working in one church--yet still at the local level--is the person who has the vision of helping other churches in their area. Some people are gifted, trained or simply determined to work in a larger context. They might even do "cold" calling on the missions- interested person in a friend's church (see side bar Spreading Mission Vision Beyond Your Church below for suggestions). Others have helped to set up joint conferences with other churches, sharing the planning and resources with participating churches. Some churches agree together to support missionaries jointly, increasing the financial and prayer base and thus speeding up the process. Many of these ideas follow a pattern that ACMC has suggested and encourages. They consider it a trait of a mobilized church that it helps other churches in their area (again, see pg. 25 for information about ACMC).

This level of mobilization takes a person with the additional ability of working with people of different church backgrounds.

But a key concept that is foundational at any level is the idea of motivating people into God's global plan for all peoples. If you mobilize with goals short of this larger vision, it will not be stretching enough to keep people motivated. They must see the bigger picture.

Let me explain. Think about the role of a missions recruiter. (The role of the recruiter fits into our next category, but working with a specific person to challenge them to work with mission agency XYZ usually happens at the local level.) Most recruiters find they need to give a much bigger vision to people than that of their agency alone. Of course, they need to show how they are doing something about reaching that larger vision, but if they don't give the overall picture--especially to the younger people of today--they won't be effective.

In other words, if you are trying to mobilize for this cause, you always have to have a vision beyond what any one person can do. Share God's big dreams!

Regionally--in large or small areas

For years, most mission sending agencies have had people serving in what we call Regional Ministries. While there are probably several hundred who serve in this way with other agencies, we have about 20 members spread around the U.S. The sad fact for many regional agency representatives is that they too find it difficult maintaining

support for this type of work. It used to be that if you "came back from the field on home assignment" you lost support from churches. I believe that is beginning to change. Here is one reason why:

Bob Stevens at our Southeast Center for World Mission in North Carolina is a good example. One of his many mobilization ministries is overseeing the course, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (see page 18 for more information). In the last few years, Bob has seen more than 1,200 students take this full-blown college level introduction to missions class in 95 locations all over the southeast.

Behind Bob, helping to make his work possible, is a home office staff of four to five here in Pasadena. That's what it takes to get the 65+ classes going each year (with between 2,000 and 2,500 enrolled nationwide.)

You might be asking (especially if you haven't taken the Perspectives class), what good is a class for mobilizing? What difference does it make?

At least two different times we have formally surveyed those who have taken the course. High percentages say they support missions financially and in prayer--usually attributing an increase to the course. Thirty-six percent of the students say they are preparing for cross cultural missionary work. That means (if the percentages hold true throughout) that about 833 are planning to go as missionaries; 833 every year! Of course, some from the class go to their churches much better informed and help to excite a whole church.

Are regional mobilizers worth their support? Shouldn't we have more of them? While there are a number of people in these roles (like ACMC's regional representatives as well as lay people working on a large scale), there aren't enough yet. Dr. Ralph Winter has suggested that we need at least 1,000 people working nationwide in mobilization roles at all levels. This would include the next category as well.

Nationally--in support of local and regional efforts

People working regionally like Bob Stevens or locally like missions committee people need tools to do their job. If they had to spend all their time making videos of unreached peoples, or writing articles like this one, or developing curricula like Perspectives they would never get to the grassroots mobilization. This is what we do in Pasadena, what the home office does for ACMC, and what every mission agency (to some degree or another) does with its support staff.

A natural question is, "Why does everybody do this? Why not work together and cut down on the duplication" To an increasing degree collaboration is happening. But the critical mass of people in mobilization work is not high enough yet. Most of us have so many urgent and important things on our back burners that we don't have enough time to work together. At the same time, often its not feasible to work together because much of what an organization like ours does is by nature more general than a sending agency or denomination. But cooperation will continue to increase--especially if people are willing to back those who are doing it.

Internationally--through missionaries on the field

Beyond national mobilization is an idea we have been pushing for years, namely: that a missionary on the field can be the best mobilizer. It is very likely that the most important role a missionary working with Christians "overseas" can play is that of a mobilizer. What better way can you imagine for getting the whole church mobilized to evangelize the whole world than to work with the whole body of Christ? The missionary you support in a reached area working with Christians may be in the most important place he or she can be. They simply need to have the tools and training to begin to mobilize those believers. Then prayers and energies of many serious believers all over the world can be utilized to finish this task as soon as possible!

On the other hand, while the global church has an ever-increasing involvement in that task, we--the church in the U.S.--still have a part. One of the best things we can help that church with is this very issue: mission mobilization. We have a great deal of experience to lovingly pass on with a servant's heart. We are finding a growing desire for the tools we have created all over the world. There are now many things--from the Global Prayer Digest, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement materials, and even videos--that are being translated into various languages for use in international mobilization.

Perhaps you are saying, "We have been wanting to support people who are on the 'front lines.' We were trying to avoid supporting any more headquarters or administrative stuff--not to mention this strange thing called mobilization. But we're beginning to see it; tell us more."

Let me tell you about a friend of mine at church named Clarence. While I am an elder in my church, he is really my elder. Clarence is one of the heroes of days gone by. He was there on the beach at Normandy more than 50 years ago. He landed within the first 24-36 hours. He then spent the next weeks and months moving across Europe in the front lines. As he recounted the story to me, he remembered advancing, retreating and advancing again all the way across Europe.

In all those months, with all the activity, with bombs and guns going off all around, Clarence never once fired a gun. Instead he was with a tactical and communications unit. They kept up with the movements of the enemy, hearing the commander in conjunction with other units and deciding what to do next based on that information.

Think of the parallels in our spiritual war. Mobilizers and support staff are on the front lines in spirit. They can see and feel what the troops in battle are going through--even if from a distance. They are wholly committed to the task--just as much as the front line workers. Usually, they see a larger picture of what needs to be done than those ground troops. Missionaries on the field must focus on what is before them: the language, culture, needs of the people, etc. They don't have time to think about the global scene, international problems or--for the most part--the recruiting of new missionaries. They pray for this but they count on others; in home offices, recruiting departments and broader efforts inside and outside of local churches, to get them the help they need. Probably there are no other people who see the value of having mobilization and support functioning more than field missionaries. But let's move on to another aspect of this that most of us never think about.

Models for Mobilization

We have already mentioned some of the key men involved in the Student Volunteer Movement--probably the most effective mobilization effort in church history. We could look at the prayer groups that motivated and backed these efforts, like the Women's Missionary Societies. These were crucial in the effort.

But let's move to a more foundational time and person--Jesus Christ. Yes, He too was a mobilizer. While we don't have time or space to cover this in depth here (we hope to in a future article), consider this as you think through His life. First, let's look at things that Christ didn't focus on…

He didn't focus on church planting. If Jesus had been a church planter His sending churches would have called Him back. They might even say, "This doesn't look like a good investment of our ministry dollars."

Think about it for a minute. His ministry model was to invest in the lives of believers. First the large multitudes, then the smaller group of the seventy, then the twelve, then the three--Peter, James and John, and then more so on John.

He didn't focus on evangelism. It was too early for that. He was preparing these men and women for what they would do which, He added in John 14:12, would be greater works than He did!

He didn't focus on theological education. While there was a great deal of theology in what He taught, much of what He said and did was on-the-field training in the context of the life-walk He took them on.

Jesus did have a focus on a few crucial things…

He focused His ministry on the will of God. He touched day-to-day lives and fulfilled eternally pre-existent plans for His work in the world. He said in John 8:28-29 that He did things based on what the Father had shown or taught Him, things that please the Father.

This is important to us not just as we look at Christ, but as we decide what we will do. Since Christ did God's will there must be some connection with the methods He used. What were those methods? One was that…

He focused on the big picture more than anyone around Him. Yes, He healed people, but He left a lot of people sick as well. Sure He taught the crowds, but many people never heard Him or may have only heard Him once. In other words, there was more to do in the world than the Father willed Jesus to do Himself.

So what's the point? While Jesus did touch the front line now and then, He usually used that to teach a lesson. His focus was to mobilize others who would carry on beyond Him. While we need to have people who are "on the front lines," we must also have a focus on reproducing our lives in others. Paul had this same focus in the lives of people he discipled, like Timothy.

And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (2 Tim. 2:2)

Conclusion

The USCWM has often argued that we believe that the most neglected role in missions is that of the mobilizer. Whether it's a lay mobilizer in a local church, area, regional, national or international level mobilizer--if we don't have these people the movement will die.

As I was thinking through these issues, my wife said to me, "Doesn't it really boil down to God's heart, I mean, why don't we just obey God and finish the job?!" "Of course," I replied. "But often He uses people who know about something to communicate and motivate others to be involved. Some people are the conduit to get the 'rescue workers' on the job."

Imagine the internal workings of a city's emergency services. The police officers, fire fighters and paramedics are ready and waiting, but if everyone wants to be on the front lines there's no one to take the 911 calls and dispatch them, and no one to repair the emergency vehicles so they break down on the way there.

Having a front-line mission outreach without behind-the-scenes mobilizers is like having a 911 system without operators. Or like having a ground attack in a war without tactical and communications divisions giving input.

This is how we "do missions" at times. When our church is involved in getting missionaries out--we want them to hold important roles. We use words like: "overseas"--as if an ocean makes a difference, or "foreign field"--as if it needs to be a long way away, and "frontlines"--as if a support missionary is not needed. Try and get missionary backing for working in the U.S. with refugee populations and you will see what I'm talking about.

Not only are the support staff necessary (like the 911 operators), but if there is not a focussed effort by people here to inform and motivate the church about the remaining task, we will find ourselves wandering aimlessly. Several missions leaders have noted the aging missionary population and their aging prayer and financial supporters. It causes me to ask--where will my generation focus its outreach? What is the solution? I believe it must include mobilization.

If every person who is going to be a missionary leaves the people they know and goes "overseas," who will keep the vision alive for that missionary's work--not to mention the other peoples yet to be reached. There must be people who sound the alarm! People who declare, "This is what is left to be done." Without them, we lose sight of the big picture and have no idea how to prioritize missions efforts.

One mobilizer noted the following as an apt image of what mobilization is all about…

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple. But who can count the apples in just one seed?

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