Lausanne World Pulse – Perspectives Articles – The Tale of Two Brothers: Innovation in Missions and Church Planting
By Elizabeth Childs Drury
April 2010
”Yes—plus the fact that he was planning to shift off all responsibility to the nationals instead of doing it himself,” another would grumble indignantly. “That is certainly not the way he was raised.”
“His hard-working parents would not have approved, that’s for sure.”
“And what about Billy, for heaven’s sake? Whoever heard of raising venture capital for ministry?”
For “the ministry,” as defined on Bible Boulevard, neither Ron nor Billy was a good fit. To discover this truth, Ron had to quit his job, travel around the world, jeopardize his marriage, raise thousands of dollars, and face discouragement. And even after all that, he never found his stride. Billy, not despairing over his incompatibility with traditional notions of ministry, thrived as a witnessing Christian in business, but received neither affirmation nor prayer support for his efforts.
The harvest is plentiful. But the workers? They may be sitting in shareholder meetings or inspecting an industrial production line. They will increasingly look a bit different than they did a generation ago. May the mission and church-planting worlds continue to innovate—and to affirm the diversity of abilities that contribute to success.
Endnotes
1. Garrison, David. 2004. Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World. Arkadelphia, Ark.: WIGTake Resources.
2. Rundle, Steve and Tom Steffen. 2003. Great Commission Companies: The Emerging Role of Business in Missions. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
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Elizabeth Childs Drury is a Ph.D. student in intercultural education at Biola University. She has an M.A. in linguistics (University of South Carolina) and a B.A. in English (Southern Wesleyan University in Central, South Carolina). She and her husband, Scott, have four young sons. |