The Mission Field

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest," Luke 10:2

October 26, 2006—From Kennetha Bigham-Tsai

I was recently asked about my views of the mission of the Church. I can best answer that question by sharing two vignettes. In 2003, during the run-up to the war in Iraq, the Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism (GRACE) called a forum to provide open discussion between religious leaders who held differing opinions about the war.

They invited to this forum those who were both for and against the war. The audience consisted mainly of anti-war activists and others from the community. The religious leaders who had spoken publicly in favor of going to war did not show up at the forum. So the rest of us had a dialogue with each other and with people in the audience.

The nature of the discussion was astounding. We were asked over and over by members of the audience why the Church seemed so ineffective at stopping this war. There was disappointment by many in that room about a perceived failure of the Church to provide a witness to social justice and peace that was consistent and effective.

What I came away with from that conversation was a sense that here were people thirsty for water in a dry land—people who were specifically looking to the Church to give them something to drink. I came away with the conviction that here was an incredible mission field waiting to be harvested by the Church if we could just find ways to be effective witnesses for social justice and peace.

Another vignette. I was at a recent meeting at which the discussion centered on the decline of mainline denominations. The speaker noted that while mainline denominations are shrinking, some evangelical churches are growing by leaps and bounds. Why? Many church-growth experts believe that it is because these churches provide excellent educational programming. Others credit their success to the use of contemporary worship styles. But still others believe that their growth is due to success at meeting the deep spiritual needs of people. It is this last reason that makes me sit up and take notice.

I believe that people have a deep need for an honest and meaningful encounter with God. People long for spiritual nurture—for growth in Christ—for spiritual "meat" that will get them through the hard places in life. What the Church must do—what our church must do—is to meet these needs. Here again is another mission field waiting to be harvested by the Church.

And so that brings me to the conclusion of how I understand the Church’s mission. The Church is called to go into the mission field, so to speak, and to reap a harvest for God by providing a consistent witness to social justice and peace and by meeting spiritual needs. This is holding together of the call to love God and neighbor--to nurture personal piety and develop ministries of social justice and missions. This is how I see the mission of the Church. And I see this church as uniquely placed to carry out that mission. I’ll tell you why in my next letter.