American church: The definition of a mission field

Over the last year I’ve become increasingly aware that the American church is fast becoming a mission field for “the church”. This is evident in the substantive change in language by church leaders who are pushing for becoming missional, emergent, or NT restored. The American church has unfortunately met these changes with harsh language and great opposition. The irony to this whole scenario is the labeling of the American church as a mission field is based on meeting essential criteria set by the American church for determining what constitutes a mission field. These standards are fairly universal among denominations in the American church. According to the American church there are 6 essential characteristics that constitute a mission field. When 5 or more are met this constitutes a valid mission field and efforts begin to “missionize” that field. Let’s examine each field in the context of the American church.

1. There is a substantial presence of religions other than Christianity that are present in the community. This should seem “a no brainer” exclusion but it’s not. According to a survey of the American church by Barna only 9-11% percent actually hold a Biblical worldview. As a result the American church resource groups such as Focus on the Family has created programs (The Truth Project) that aim to help people understand what a Biblical view of the world means.

2. Languages other than “our own” are spoken, and the language of the church must be modified to have effective communication. The language of the body of Christ is reflective of the culture in which it is present. If we are in the UK, America, or Australia our dominant language should be the same; and if we are in Indonesia, Japan, or Sudan our language should be whatever communicates with them. Language by its very nature changes to accommodate changes in culture, times, technology, etc. This is evident since the beginning of language. The English spoken today is not the same as Shakespeare or Great Depression or today. Language evolves and adapts to the needs of the people who speak it. The language of the American church is increasingly going backwards. Rather than allowing their language to progress and adapt to effectively be able to communicate they are digressing to the point where they speak an ineffective version of the language. Which in turn means they speak a language “other than our own, and the language of the [real] church must be modified to have effective communication”.

3. Cultural worldviews differing from a Christian worldview prevail. Beyond the Barna study mentioned in #1 the American church is increasingly adopting other worldviews that can be in direct conflict to a Christian culture. Unfortunately too many American churches have become overly nationalistic, monopolizing, and political. They are more interested in power and prominence than doing the work of the Kingdom.

4. High levels of social need are evident within the population. One would think this doesn’t apply to the American church but I’m sorry to say it does. According to numerous studies by Christian and secular research groups the American church has higher rates of divorce, low income families, political [power and money] oppressors, and vicious cycles of poor community than the culture at large. The American church has become notorious for “feeding off itself” by recruiting and holding down its underprivileged.

5. There is a presence of marginalized people groups that have little Christian representation. This all depends on your definition of little. With approximately 10% of American church goes actually holding a Biblical worldview then I would think there is a substantial presence of people groups with no Christian representation. As far as the marginalized goes this is very evident on Sunday morning. Just look at most American churches on Sunday morning and you will not see very much difference. They act and look alike- no room for variance.

6. There are an inadequate number of “indigenous” churches to reach the population. There is clearly an insufficient amount of “home grown” churches who are reaching out to the culture and American church. As the American church goes to it’s temples it sorely misses the community of believers the real presence of Christ’s church in the world.

I don’t think there is any doubt that the American church is a 5/6 or 6/6 based on their scale. The real question is why don’t they send missionaries to themselves? Whether we like it or not the American church has become a wasteland for the gospel and in turn has become our “greatest mission field” as Jesus followers. These are the people we are called to love, share, plant seeds, help change, teach, train, and grow.

If you are as frustrated as I am about this I would simply point out II Timothy 2: 24-26 “The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will”. I think we have to change our perspective about those captive to the American church. They aren’t necessarily our brothers in battle but the opposition. Those made to the will of the Deceiver by being captive to everything but what matters most- JESUS!