Presented to OCGA in Spring 2020 By Jesús Londoño Missiology Department COMIBAM

After hearing many ask the question: “Is there a future for missions?” I dare to propose that the question can be better formulated if we speak of "our future in mission", because the future of the mission, according to what the Bible teaches, is not at stake. The future of mission is God's because it is His mission (Missio Dei). We, by his grace, have been invited to be part of His plan as agents of salvation, but the results at the end of the story are in the hands of the God of the universe. So, if the question is presented in this way, it then opens a number of opportunities for reflection of how to move forward and think in new ways about the responsibility we have as agents of God’s mission, who we are and what our context and reality is.

In my perspective, to answer the question "What is our future in mission?" it is essential to take into account three elements when trying to decipher what is happening, and what will happen to missionary work in the short, mid and long term. These three elements are: a) the Christological model of mission as the model for all times and in all circumstances; b) openness to the movement and leading of the Holy Spirit as the one who directs strategy, time frames and all the details; c) discerning that each context and time is one that God, in his sovereignty, has allowed throughout all of human history.

In this way, the words spoken by Dr. Samuel Escobar, in an interview after the Lausanne Congress of 2010 in Capetown, about the future of mission are very appropriate. He said: "In my experience, it is important to take into account human plans and divine surprises in Christian mission. The careful and detailed plans of Edinburgh 1910 proved inadequate in the face of the two world wars, the totalitarianism of right and left, and the end of European colonialism. The clear distinction Edinburgh held between "Christian countries" and ‘non-Christian countries’ in defining mission lost its meaning in the face of the rapid paganization of Europe. The great surprise in those early decades of the twentieth century was the emergence of the Pentecostal movement, born in the world of poverty and marked by an openness to the work of the Holy Spirit and a great zeal for evangelization”.

Many say that we are living in unprecedented times, while others argue that we have already gone through several pandemics in human history. In any case, from a sociological-scientific perspective, it is not possible to draw a direct comparison between previous catastrophes and the present one. This is because the contexts and stages of human development are totally different and, therefore, the expectations about actions and outcomes in the face of situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic should also be different.

This leads us to a crossroads for which we do not have a map or any foreseen route to follow, which could aid us in making future plans. At the moment, it is very difficult to say what we will or won’t be able to do from one day to the next as missionaries because we are living in a moment in time dominated by “uncertainty”. Very few dare to make suggestions or proposals for the immediate future because we are navigating the day-to-day and hoping to find a reference point or Archimedean point that will allow us to visualize and project the future. This is the path we are navigating at the moment as participants in God’s mission.

Another challenge we face in constructing a plan of missionary action for the future revolves around the challenge of day-to-day life. The blows dealt to mission in the areas of the economy, community life, social relatedness, and the loneliness of missionaries, among others, do not allow much space for the agents involved in the missionary process to think about the next steps. COMIBAM recently shared a report from missionary-sending agencies and churches that shows that missionaries on the field are struggling to maintain their financial support. Because many churches are not able to hold in-person services due to government ordinances, their gross income has dropped dramatically and consequentially their ability to give as well.

On the other side, there are a multitude of voices coming from a number of contexts that, in a certain measure, are contributing to the general confusion mounting among different actors in the missionary process (churches, organizations, missionaries, etc.). Currently speculation is running rampant, many are spouting apocalyptic discourses, from the most conservative to those who only look to stir up fear and confusion. There are also voices that call the church to urgently pursue the task of evangelization, often bordering once again on an activism that, with divine permission, has been put on hold because of the current crisis.

Thank God there are also voices that call for stillness, a renewed personal connection with God, and deep study and meditation on His Word. In order for us, as agents of mission, to decipher and understand the circumstances we are living in and, therefore, take action steps, it is critical for us to understand the heart of God. Stillness does not necessarily mean to be still. It speaks of an attitude of waiting in the presence of God for Him to reveal His will. It refers to those who obediently wait because they want to continue being a people who follow God’s lead rather than those who rely on their own abilities to try to save a plan, which in their eyes, seems to be sinking.

Therefore, I dare to propose that we are not facing the end of the mission as we have known it, but a new stage which, as the history of the mission shows, has always served to propel us towards reflection and change. God has continually permitted these cycles throughout history in his dealings with mankind.

Beginning in Genesis, we can see that God created all things to have a lifecycle, regeneration, and renewal, which would be primordial for life itself and the fulfillment of the different purposes. Thank God for the day and night that help us to regain strength and restore vision and purpose. It was not in vain that the prophet exclaimed, "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT), reminding us of those cycles or stages of renewal in God's grace.

It is time to restore, regenerate, renew, refresh – and why not rekindle the missionary fire, our understanding of this new time and moment in history, the contextual strategy to our latitude, the diverse and new ways of doing mission, the acceptance of the mistakes of the past, the imperative need for unity and not competition – and so many other things that should come to our mind when we are faced with a challenge as overwhelmingly enormous as the present one.

The time between the death of Jesus and Pentecost comes to mind. It was a time of terrible pain and great uncertainty for the disciples who thought everything had ended. Those fifty days served to bring them to pray, to reflect, to remember the words and deeds of Jesus; and to wait for the starting gun to his "new reality". "Once, while he was eating with them, he commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift that he promised, as I told you before” (Acts 1:4 NLT).

So with much humility and a little bit of madness, I dare to project "our future in mission" without centers of power and control at the global level, nor at the local level, with a much more aggressive decentralization at the organizational, strategic, and methodological levels; a return to simplicity and organic work that keeps us in balance with comprehensive objectives, taking care with big statistics, and the over-emphasis on some countries or regions rather than others.

Furthermore, I foresee that in the future mission will gain ground and strength through fraternal networks, rather than the work we do, which will help us to focus on a missionary work that is more personal vs. massified. The so-called "social distancing" will force us to place the "person" back at the center of our programs, which will result in personal discipleship becoming the most relevant way to introducing Jesus as Savior.

The columns of a mission in and post-pandemic will go through strengthening native churches and leaders. There is no more time to stay in the leadership of the mission fields. We have to decrease as a missionary force for them to increase. At the same time, we must return to the depth and urgency of interreligious dialogue with a discourse that is not confrontational or overwhelming, but that maintains biblical belonging and relevance, being agents of peace and not religious discrimination.

We have the responsibility to work to redefine the Church as the body of Christ that goes beyond being a religious institution to return to the Novo testamentary roots of the community. Also, we must ask the difficult but necessary question about the relevance of mission agencies and their role within the mission in the framework of the new realities. It will be essential to make a careful and contextual review of the ideological and theological agendas that come from other latitudes or that have been the result of a cruel and overwhelming globalization that has pushed us to address issues that are not a priority in our context and not in the missionary work from our perspective.

I cannot visualize our future in mission by making great long-term plans as in the past, but rather by walking cautiously hand in hand with God and providing short and midterm goals and objectives, living day to day with an analytical and reflective attitude, and being attentive to those "supernatural" doors that God is going to open as we walk: "as they go...". (Matthew 28:18). The mission will continue to be global, but the strategy of movement and travel will change, forcing us to find new ways to remain present in all nations. So, it is a good time to remember Jesus' words: "And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20b - NLT).