America Marcet

Americans hate to lose anything. Whether it be a ball game, money in the stock market, a court case or an election, our competitive spirit, ingrained in each of us from childhood, pushes us to want not only to excel but to dominate. When it comes to the global sphere, we are even more intent. In the economic, intellectual, cultural and military realms, Americans have not only striven to dominate but have not rested content until finding ourselves as the last remaining superpower. We are a domineering-centered nation, believing that our ways are the best—not only for us but also for the rest of the world.

We evangelical Christians are conditioned by this competitive, ethno-centric environment in which we are immersed. It is no wonder, then, that the American church has taken upon itself a spirit of global dominance. In some instances, American churches’ motivations for mission have been less than pure. Indeed, some have been characterized by cultural triumphalism and a sense of technological or intellectual Western superiority.

Much of this mindset is an outworking of our place in history since winning the last Great War. Over the past 50 year

Physical danger and threat to life loom in most of the least-reached and unreached parts of the world where we do mission. Is it any wonder that today’s missionaries think twice before committing themselves long term to these volatile areas?

Today’s American church still maintains a vital edge in missions, but we are not alone nor do we dominate the task. America’s edge in reaching the remaining unreached peoples of the world will be borne out as we use our God-given resources effectively in partnership with the other two mission players. n Five biggest threats to American missions that could render us ineffective: 1. Growing belief that non-believers are not really “lost.” 2. Growing tendency to do mission by proxy—substituting our money and technology for flesh and blood missionaries. 3. Increasing compassion-depleted church, especially exhausted by adjunct concerns such as ecology, reconciliation, social justice, abortion, etc. 4. Increasing fragmentation between churches-agencies-schools in the sending process. 5. Slowness in moving from traditional mission models and structures to meet new global realities.

s, just as American military might and commercial culture have come to dominate the globe, the American church has come to dominate the world of missions. Granted, European missions continue to exist and make their impact. However, by sheer strength of numbers, American missions has taken a superior place in the global missionary enterprise. We have sent more missionaries, spent more money, offered more prayers, developed more programs, utilized more technology, and opened more people groups to the gospel than any previous generation of believers in the history of the Church!

Greater effectiveness does not necessarily mean being more efficient. Sadly, some are efficiently doing antiquated things that are no longer relevant in today’s world. Rather, we need to constantly be asking ourselves if we are having a greater effectiveness in achieving the ultimate goal of the Great Commission, which is bringing the unreached, under-reached and nominally reached peoples of the world to Christ.

5. Slowness in moving from traditional mission models and structures to meet new global realities.

Over a decade ago Marshall McLuhan, who saw our world as increasingly small and ever shrinking, optimistically labeled it a “global village”—a community where no inhabitant was far from another and where harmony might prevail. Time, however, has revealed that bringing the world closer by technology did not, in fact, bring it together in a corresponding spirit of harmony. Rather, counter trends have made this an increasingly dangerous and volatile world. Thus a search for a more accurate metaphor is needed.

Given the dual phenomenon of people feeling technologically closer on the one hand, yet increasingly hostile on the other, a more probable description of our world today would be to compare it to a sports stadium—a Liverpool soccer stadium to be most exact. While the two teams (good vs. evil) compete on the field, the stands are brimming over with unruly and hostile fans. Not only are they intent on jeering the fans on the other side of the field, but they also periodically break out in verbal assault and violence toward the fans around them in increasingly dangerous bedlam. This is the kind of world into which we now send our missionaries.

Some topics in this essay:
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