Missions Outside the Box
By Michael G. Loftis, President
North Americans are far too impressed with packaging. Of course, advertisers do their part to convince us we can have our problem solved for the low, low price of so many dollars and ninety-nine cents. We are further lured by the convenience of having the wonderful item neatly organized, pre-packaged, shrink-wrapped, and shipped special delivery to our door.
Our disappointment begins after we open the impressive looking box and begin removing all the packing material. How many times have we discovered too late that a key part was missing or that the designers simply had not anticipated the way we needed to use their product? So we go digging through the garage to improvise with something outside of the box.
When we speak of doing missions outside the box, we are speaking about functioning according to God’s creative character for He never gets trapped into a box when seeking to accomplish His plan. How many times have we gone to our knees in prayer when our “box” approach to ministry failed miserably? It is usually at that point that God’s power and creativity begin to really stand out in our world.
God has been communicating His creative power to mankind for centuries. He spoke through Isaiah the prophet, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9). God certainly does not allow us much room for thinking we could fit Him easily into a box.
As we view the task of missions in the twenty-first century, we must understand that we are approaching a huge undertaking that involves approximately 12,000 ethno-linguistic people groups worldwide. Many of these people groups live in remote areas accessible only over difficult terrain and through difficult political permissions, and are discovered to be illiterate with no written language. How could anyone conceive of attempting to reach people like these using a process that would fit into a box?
Indeed, missions is anything but factory assembled, shrink-wrapped, and shipped next-day air. Yet, as we seek to utilize God-given creativity to take the gospel to the nations, the gospel’s dynamic, saving message remains ever the same. As you read the following pages, rejoice with us at the amazing creativity displayed by the Spirit of God in leading the church to take that eternal truth to the ends of the earth.
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