I recently read an article from RELEVANT Magazine entitled: Is Missions About Words or Deeds? from Brett McCracken’s blog. Click here to read it: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/mission/features/22492-is-missions-about-words-or-deeds. I have been thinking about it ever since…I won’t recap the entire article because I hope you will read it. Its title alone discloses much of its content. The article discusses the recent shift in missions from evangelizing and preaching to that of social justice and service.
I love McCracken’s quote in the article and it really got me thinking and remembering, “I’m all for social justice. I’m passionate about it. Christians have to be serving people and loving them not just in word but in deed. But man, if I hear another well-fed TOMS-wearing evangelical kid quote St. Francis (“preach the gospel always and if necessary, use words”) one more time as a justification for their unwillingness to utter a word to anyone about Christ as the one true hope, I don’t know what I’ll do…”
In Jesus’ ministry on this earth, He met both the spiritual (word) and physical need (deed). He taught the Word but didn’t send the crowds away hungry (deed). Just one example is the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14.At AIM Real Life training camp in January, before the teams set out (mine for Kenya), the leaders challenged us with this: “Are we peace corp workers, or are we missionaries?” For my team, this almost became our anthem, a word we wanted to live out each day. We formed relationships, and preached the gospel both in word and in deed. I believe the Lord honored this by graciously allowing us to see so much fruit, so many people coming to Jesus, by God’s grace and for His glory alone!
I agree with the article’s author. It is unneccesary to debate the greater importance between word or deed in missions. The answer is: both. Why can’t they be intertwined? Why don’t we serve and let people know the reason we do, and share with them the love and hope we have in Christ? If we fail to do this, I’m not sure people will always recognize Jesus… Why does Christ’s love have to be disguised and the message of the gospel unspoken? Something to think about…
