Missions Myths & Misnomers
Jul 24th, 2007 by lorenozanne
One of the biggest ways the enemy prevents or hinders the spread of the Gospel is through misconceptions about missions.
When we believe these common myths, the church becomes ineffective in its calling. We are products of our culture, but we as believers have a responsibility to discern when some things are unBiblical, and then make the conscious choice to exchange our cultural lens for a Biblical one. Our actions are the natural outflowing of our core beliefs. The way we do missions is the litmus test of the way we view missions.
Following are some of the most common Missions Myths and Misnomers. How would you answer these errors?
1. The Mandate or imperative command in the Great Commission is “GO into all the world…”
Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15
2. Unevangelized people go to Narnia. [People who don’t have the Bible in their language, or don’t have access to the gospel.]
John 3:18; John 3:36; Mark 16:16; Romans 1:19-20
3. God sends people to the mission field as a punishment, or a test of their faith. [plus, they eat rodents and I am lactose intolerant.] I can’t be involved in missions.
Romans 15: 20-21; 16:26 Habakuk 2:14 It’s not about us. II Pet. 3:8-9
4. Missionaries are special people with a special calling from God. Some people are called to missions but I am not. I did let a missionary ride on my jet ski though.
I Cor. 3:5-9; 1 Cor 12:12-14 catcher vs pitcher unique gift sets.
5. People here in the United States need the Gospel just as much as people in India or Vietnam, or Uzbekistan. [Smokescreen. Issue is not about need, but access.]
Rom. 10 13-17; Psalm 67:1,2,7 1 of God’s Mechanisms Acts. 8:4
6. Every major prophecy has been fulfilled for the return of Christ to take place.
Matt. 24:14& 9 ; Mark 13:10& 13 Revelat. 7:9,10* Revel 5:7-10
* here “people, or tribe”, means people groups, not whole countries.
7. The goal of short term mission trips is to get people on foreign soil, and out of their comfort zone. They are not very effective in terms of impacting the host culture long-term.
This is wrong at two levels. The ultimate goal of short term trips is never to get people out of their comfort zone, but rather to enlarge it. Secondly, 85 % of all long-term missionaries are in missions as a direct result of being on a short term trip, which gave them a Biblical world view.