We now come to the final post related to my reflections on the report of evangelical concentrations in the U.S. and Canada. I wish to wrap up this series with a word of caution and suggestion for our next steps.
Caution: The Dangers of Research
I believe it was Dayton and Fraser (Planning Strategies for World Evangelization, Eerdmans, 1980) who warned us of the potential problems with research. Following this series of posts, I believe we would be wise to ponder their words.
- Research Can Lead to the Belief that Something has been Accomplished. The only thing that has been accomplished with my report is that the 15,000 feet perspective has been shared. Just because we find ourselves amazed at the lostness in the U. S. and Canada does not mean people have come to faith in Christ. The Kingdom has not grown because our perspectives have been changed. We cannot be satisfied with numbers and a PowerPoint presentation (albeit a groovy ppt presentation).
- Research Can Lead to the Belief that Someone Will Respond to the Need. The temptation for all of us is to think that since the need has been revealed, someone somewhere will do something about it. We must not believe this thought. What if each of us, while doing nothing, believed the other person was going to do something missional in response to this report? We each need to ask ourselves, “What am I going to do now to help advance the gospel in these areas–now that I know what I know?”
- Research Can Lead to the Belief that Social Science Will Solve Our Problems. This problem causes us in the highly scientific West to think that all the Kingdom needs is better research and, voilà, our problems are solved. May we never think such things. While the Lord has graciously provided us with tools to better understand our contexts, we must recognize it is by His Spirit both wisdom and power come for missional advancement. May we not trust in chariots, horses, or social science to solve the challenges of our day (Psalm 20:7).
- Research Can Lead to Self-Sufficiency. Along with the ability to understand our contexts better, and develop church multiplication strategies, comes the temptation to forget about God. May we recognize no research, planning, strategizing, or laboring for the Kingdom is to be done apart from the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Next Steps?
It is my hope and prayer that you will begin to consider prayerfully how you, your church, ministry, denomination, etc. can respond to this report by:
Developing Spirit-guided strategies for the multiplication of disciples, leaders, and churches in the most gospel-needy areas (and most receptive areas–be watching for a near future blog post on receptivity and strategy development) in your contexts, and throughout the U. S. and Canada.
Moving beyond 15,000 feet to study the realities in your contexts. Remember, the closer we get to the ground, the closer we get to reality.
Encouraging better missiological research in your Church and/or denomination and quickly sharing your findings with other Great Commission Christians.
I think I know how I’m planning on responding to the research findings. How about you?