Missions For Reformation: “Come Back and Help Us”

A week before we moved to Mongolia, we met with a leader of a sending organization. “I can’t believe we are still sending missionaries there,” he said. He explained that Mongolia has been reached with its 1.5% Christian population. He argued there are better places to send missionaries and resources.

The priority and ambition of proclaiming Christ in unreached areas is biblical. Paul’s series of questions in Romans 10:14–15 show his ambition to preach Christ in the regions that had not heard of Jesus Christ: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” These questions compel the church to prioritize sending missionaries to unreached areas.

But missions should also include sending workers to reached areas of the world to train indigenous leaders and do the work of reformation where Christianity suffers from corruption in doctrine or practice.

The Need for Reform

In the early 16th century, the area now known as Germany would have been considered reached. It was Christian. The church was present and a significant part of society. But Christianity, in that day, needed reform. Indulgences were sold with the promise of lessening eternal punishment. Relics were thought to give grace. What if the situation of the early 16th century German-speaking region described the reality of a nation today? Would missionaries be sent to that area to confront the corruption and false doctrine and proclaim the true gospel? Or would that area be passed by because it was statistically considered reached and had access to the gospel?

The Example of Liberian Christianity

Many countries in the Global South that are considered predominantly Christian are in deep need of reformation. Liberia, another country I lived in for nearly a year and a half, is an example of this. According to a 2013 census, Liberia is 85% Christian. From a statistical standpoint, this is incredible and encouraging. But a closer examination paints a different picture. The prosperity gospel heavily influences the Christianity of Liberia. It is also blended with traditional tribal religion.

When meeting with a group of Liberian pastors, they pleaded, “Missionaries need to come back to Liberia and help us restart from the beginning.” One of these pastors described his experience visiting one of the churches in the bush of Liberia. In the middle of the service, the local shaman, called the “devil,” came into the village and called all members of the traditional religious society to go to him. The church stopped mid-service when the shaman called, and all the church members, deacons, and the pastor stood up and went to him. He then recounted a visit to another church. As the pastor of that church went up to preach, she did a traditional dance. She was both a pastor and a shaman herself. While these are extreme examples, they are indicative of the pervasive syncretism that plagues the country.

The prosperity gospel also influences the church in Liberia. Most churches use the prosperity gospel terminology of “sowing your seed” when giving tithes and offerings. Positive confession drives the philosophy of ministry. Pastors seek to sell blessed items such as salt, oil, and handkerchiefs. Some prescribe particular ways of dancing over these elements to achieve a “breakthrough” to success. Others sell miracles of healing, exorcisms, and curses to put on enemies. Unsurprisingly, when I was teaching about church history, one pastor mentioned that the corruption of the pre-Reformation church sounded similar to Liberia.

By missiological categories, Liberia is considered a reached country. It could even be considered more “Christian” than America. But Liberian Christianity needs reformation and a recovery of the true gospel.

This need for reformation extends beyond Liberian Christianity. Consider, for example, that the Rwandan genocide of 1994 took place in a country where 90% of the population claimed to be Christian. There is a pressing need, not just for missions to the unreached but to areas considered reached. Even in places where Luther-like national figures are recovering and proclaiming the true gospel, they often request fellow laborers.

Engage in Missions of Reformation

While Paul’s ambition was to preach the gospel where Christ was not known (Romans 15:20), he appointed Titus, one of his missionary companions, to Crete to work for reform in an existing church. Paul’s letter to Titus reveals that the young churches of Crete needed reform in doctrine and practice. Paul told Titus to complete the unfinished task and appoint qualified elders in every city of a reached area (Titus 1:1–9). Not only that, but Paul describes the need to reform the doctrine and practice of the church, “Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith.” What was left unfinished in Crete was training and appointing elders and reforming the church.

However, some today consider Paul’s mission strategy in Crete a waste of resources. Many today would say Titus should be sent on elsewhere. When I first went to the mission field, it wasn’t easy to convince some missions organizations that my passion for training local pastors for churches was legitimate. Once, after explaining my desire, the recruiter of a large missions organization quickly replied, “We don’t have any need for that.” In rightly emphasizing Paul’s ambition to go to those who have not heard the name of Christ, we have sometimes failed to recognize his strategy to establish healthy churches in already-reached areas.

The priority to the unreached is right and good. Still, we should recognize the need for trained and qualified missionaries who can help bring reformation where necessary and answer the call of nationals: “Missionaries need to come back and help us.”