A wake up call for missions: The world is moving to the city

The largest migration in the history of the world is quietly taking place and it will become a tsunami shift of the world's population in the next forty years: the world is moving from the countryside to the city in massive numbers. This shift threatens to catch the missions world unprepared.


Consider these statistics from 2005 related to foreign born migration to the cities. The percentage of the foreign born population in Miami was 50.94%, Toronto, 44.99%, Los Angeles 36.24%, London 27.05%, Brussels 26.58%, Dubai 82%. And this does not count all the internal migration taking place within countries like China to the city. China is set to resettle 400 million people from the country side to the city in the next 30 years.


Look at the populations of these cities of the world:
1. Tokyo, Japan - 32,450,000 
2. Seóul, South Korea - 20,550,000 
3. Mexico City, Mexico - 20,450,000 
4. New York City, USA - 19,750,000 
5. Mumbai, India - 19,200,000 
6. Jakarta, Indonesia - 18,900,000 
7. Sáo Paulo, Brazil - 18,850,000 
8. Delhi, India - 18,680,000 
9. Õsaka/Kobe, Japan - 17,350,000 
10. Shanghai, China - 16,650,000

11. Manila, Philippines - 16,300,000
12. Los Angeles, USA - 15,250,000
13. Calcutta, India - 15,100,000
14. Moscow, Russian Fed. - 15,000,000
15. Cairo, Egypt - 14,450,000
16. Lagos, Nigeria - 13,488,000
17. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 13,170,000
18. London, United Kingdom - 12,875,000
19. Beijing, China - 12,500,000
20. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,800,000

21. Dhaka, Bangladesh - 10,979,000
22. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 10,556,000
23. Tianjin, China - 10,239,000
24. Paris, France - 9,638,000
25. Istanbul, Turkey - 9,413,000
26. Lima, Peru - 7,443,000
27. Tehrãn, Iran - 7,380,000
28. Bangkok, Thailand - 7,221,000
29. Chicago, USA - 6,945,000
30. Bogotá, Colombia - 6,834,000

With some exceptions, traditional missions has flourished in rural mono cultural settings. In many ways it is easier and less expensive than tackling the growing major urban areas of our planet. It is also where the majority of the world's population lived until recent decades. Hard as this was, it pales in comparison to reading the multi-cultural complex urban centers of the future.


In addition, because the evangelical movements in the United States largely abandoned the cities of our nation for the suburbs and rural areas, there are very few personnel coming into mission organizations with experience of working in large, complex, highly populated, diverse urban areas.


What are the challenges faced for mission agencies in reaching these huge urban areas with the gospel? First, Gospel penetration will never happen without agencies and denominations working together in cooperation to reach the growing urban areas of our planet. Mission agencies and denominations have a poor track record of cooperating for the cause of the Gospel globally but until that happens we will not see significant Gospel penetration of the world's cities.


Coupled with this, many denominations in the United States (and globally) do not see the value in working with believers outside of their particular theological tribe. Our small kingdom hearts, compared to that of Jesus hold us back from seeing the synergies of working in cooperation with others who are Gospel centered and missional. For too many of us it is about the brand before the Bride. For Jesus it is about the Bride, not the brand.


Cities are complex. They are also the populations of influence. Their large immigrant communities are more open to the Gospel then when they lived in their traditional places with their traditional social systems. There is a higher level of education and often higher concentrations of evil. In addition, they are not mono cultural but multi cultural requiring multi-cultural teams and strategies. Unless we unlock the code of how the Gospel can penetrate these huge and growing population centers - and start today, we will again be playing catch up to a changing world. 


The Western church, indeed the global church and its mission agencies need to take up the challenge of cooperative efforts to penetrate these growing global cities with the gospel. The time to start is now!

Reading Scripture for the first time

It is amazing to me how much the “enlightenment” and the rise of “rational thinking” has impacted our reading of Scripture. What we call the enlightenment coming out of the dark ages had many advantages, allowing scientists, for instance to test their theories and come to grips with the real workings of our cosmos.

But it had other consequences as well. In a rational world, God does not break in and do the unexpected – yet any reading of the Bible shows that He indeed does. The rational world would believe that God operates according to a set of predictable rules. Yet how predictable is a God who comes to earth in the form of a baby, lives in squalid Nazareth and dies on a cross to pay for our sin of rebellion against Him? What sense does that make? It is so irrational that many refuse to believe. And a virgin birth on top of it!

Read Scripture to a child and they get it. They believe it. They devour it. They are mesmerized by the stories of an unpredictable God who is at once tame, fierce, predictable, unpredictable, doing the miraculous and surprising people at every turn. They have not yet been tainted by rational thinking that seeks to tame the untamable Aslan. 

Then listen to many messages from the “grown ups” including many pastors which turn the unpredictable into the predictable and find ways to deny the very power of God to break in and do what we don’t expect him to do. We tame God with our theology and make him fit our rationale box. Especially we tame the Holy Spirit because He is scary in his unpredictability so defining what He can and cannot do is paramount: especially if you want Him to fit your theological system.

God is not tamable. He is so far beyond our grasp and our understanding. If the edge of the known cosmos is 13 billion light-years away, he is infinitely further from that in our understanding of Him. What is amazing is that he still knows when a sparrow dies, Still intervenes in the lives of all who call Him Lord.

Still He surprises us daily with His grace. Demons are still cast out in His name, people healed miraculously in His name, lives changed dramatically in His name, the forces of evil in the universe pushed back in His name. Yet He acts according to His sovereign purposes and will surprising us with his timing and His wisdom which is beyond our understanding.

If we could reclaim the ability to read Scripture through the eyes of a child, unencumbered with our finely tuned theological systems (yes they have their place but they can also limit us) we might be surprised at the God we find. He would be more personal, more difficult to pin down, more powerful, more unpredictable in His intervention in human affairs and we would be more ready to see His surprises in our lives.

Some theologians will push back and say, "but we have 2,000 years of biblical interpretation since Jesus that needs to be kept in mind when we read the text." I agree that we have many insights from those who have gone before us. I also believe that we are often held hostage by the theological grids that we have been taught that keep us from seeing God in his full Glory. No theological system is perfect and many have significant deficiencies. What happened at taking Scripture at face value? 

Try reading the Bible as if you were reading it for the first time.  

Shallow CliffsNotes Christianity

As I survey the contemporary evangelical church today in the west I would often characterize it as shallow, lacking in substance, Christianity light and easy grace. In some cases, there is not much difference between a self help seminar (think Tony Robins) and what is shared in the name of God’s word from the pulpit – as if the Scriptures are primarily a self help manual that if followed will bring us prosperity and health. Certainly it should not get too personal or interfere with our lives.

Some will think this too critical and I don’t desire to be an angry modern day prophet who throws stones. And, I am sure based on past history that I will lose some Twitter followers over this blog. That being said, here are some of the things we don’t see among many western evangelicals that lead me to my conclusion.

One: suffering seems to be a lost subject and we are surprised when it surfaces in our lives. When it does it often causes Western believers to question the goodness of God and leads many to bitterness and doubt. Yet, Jesus made it abundantly clear that the way of the cross is the way of suffering. What does it mean when He says, “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23).” A cross is, by definition the metaphor for suffering and Jesus says it is a daily occurrence for those who follow Him. The Apostle Paul talked with emotion about sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings.

Two: Western believers as a group are, (how do I say it?), stingy with God. The average evangelical gives something like two percent of their income back to Him. Now, in case you think I have gone legalistic here, bear with me a moment. It is not about legalism but about value. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).

I believe that we have so cheaply sold what God did on our behalf, even though He gave His only son – to become sin for us so that we could know Him who knew no sin – and be justified through His righteousness and death on our behalf that our gratitude is shallow and our response is cheap. Second Corinthians 8 and 9 speak of giving as a direct response to His grace. If that is so our giving does not reflect much value toward His amazing grace but is often pocket change tossed into His hat on occasion. We simply don’t value His gift to us very much as evidenced by our response.

Three: American evangelicalism has very little to say about sin. OK, I don’t like the subject much either but Scripture has a lot to say about it in relation to a Holy God. The Scriptures talk about sin on 1365 occasions. But mostly this gets lost in the CliffsNotes version of Evangelicalism. After all you have to cut somewhere and this is most convenient place to do it.

Except, that without an understanding of my depravity I cannot understand God’s grace. Why did the woman in John 12:3 use all of her saving to pour pure nard on the feet of Jesus and then wipe them clean with her hair? She understood her sin and therefore the amazing grace that Jesus had blessed her with. Her desire to follow was directly connected with the grace she had been given and her acute awareness of her fallen condition. A sinless Christianity is a cheap parody of the true human condition – even those who know and follow Jesus. Paul described himself as the chief of sinners and that was toward the end of his life. It is what drove him to live in God’s grace on a daily basis.

Four: We are far more consumed with our, lives, careers, pleasures and interests than we are with joining God in His work in our world. Some of the blame here can be laid at the door of the church that has defined ministry as what happens inside its four walls with its programs. Thus, I minister when I bow to the church’s agenda and fill needed spots in their programs. But what ever happened to ministry being with the people I work with and live with or who hang out at the local tavern? Where was Jesus found most of the time?

That being said, in general, we are so consumed with our agendas that we lose sight of God’s agenda – which requires that we read His book, another lost art (I am heartened by the Eat This Book challenge that has thousands of believers reading through the Bible this year). When our life agenda takes precedence over God’s agenda we have reimaged God after our own image.

Five: American Evangelicals don’t truly believe that lost people are lost for eternity apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are more likely to share our latest weight loss plan than we are Jesus. Losing weight has its place, and I am vigorously pursuing that, but the Gospel is good news for time and eternity. If we do believe that lost people are truly lost apart from Jesus, we assume that it is the church’s responsibility to share the news not us.

When I tell my wife I love her but don’t demonstrate that love she knows my words are shallow and lack sincerity. When we tell God we love Him but don’t walk the walk of our talk we are guilty of shallow Christianity. What do you think when you consider the Western version of evangelicalism? There are wonderful exceptions of course but I fear that our version of Christianity is often far more cultural than it is Biblical.

Having written this, I am of course obliged to consider each of these five areas in light of my own life and practice: irritating but instructive. Come to think of it, maybe I’ll unsubscribe me from Twitter as well. I don’t like being uncomfortable any more than others.

The test of a leader's humility and openness

Both in my consulting role and my organizational leadership role I work with team leaders and their direct reports. One of the things I am always looking for is how honest, candid, direct and transparent team members can be with their leader. It is a barometer of several things: the health of the senior leader; the health of the team and the health of the organization as a whole.

How is this a barometer of the leader? Let's be candid. The only reason that certain issues cannot be discussed with freedom with a leader, whether in a group setting or one on one is that the leader's insecurities prevent it. To the extent that I as a leader am unwilling to hear candid feedback from others on any topic, the gaps in my own emotional intelligence are showing. Obviously I have something to lose by discussing the issue or have something to prove by being right on the issue. 

Leaders set the culture of openness or lack of it for their team. In our organization we have a stated goal that there are no elephants that cannot be named (elephants are issues that people are afraid to bring up). Once named it is not an elephant anymore but simply an issue to be discussed and resolved. We also operate by a motto of "nothing to prove and nothing to lose." If I have nothing to prove or lose I am free to hear whatever my team wants to discuss without needing to be defensive or right.

How is the the barometer of the health of a team? Very simply, when a team cannot engage in robust dialogue where any issue can be put on the table with the exception of personal attacks and hidden agendas, it cannot maximize its effectiveness. This is because it is often the topics that are off limits are the very topics that must be resolved if the ministry is going to be all that it can be. Every issue that cannot be discussed is an issue that will hold the ministry back in some area. 

I suggest that teams operate by a team covenant which spells out how they operate with one another, the ability to be candid and define the culture by which they will operate. Healthy teams deliver healthy ministry.

It should be obvious by now how this is a barometer of an organization as a whole: Healthy organizations are open, candid and humble organizations who are always looking to improve their return on mission and invite their staff to help figure that out. Closed organizations are fearful organizations. Open organizations are free and therefore invite the best from their staff in ideas, dialogue, feedback, innovation and synergy.

How well are you doing in the area of humility and openness. Can you talk about it as a team?

The value of outside input into our ministries

This week I spent four days with key staff and an outside consultant probing areas of necessary growth and development for our organization. As one who does a fair amount of consulting I know the value of an outside voice that asks good questions, challenges the status quo and can help a ministry team think outside their usual parameters. They also bring the dimension of knowledge of what others are doing.


Too often in ministry we isolate ourselves out of fear (what if others discover what I don't know) or out of hubris (we don't need outside help). In either case we and our ministry loses. Humility and a commitment to learn is the attitude of healthy leaders and  they welcome the voices of others who can challenge prevailing thinking, ask the hard why questions, clarify issues that are not truly clear and help develop new ways of thinking, new tools for success and in doing so bring new insights to the table.


A consultant can be a fellow pastor or ministry leader that you respect and who has obvious expertise. It can be someone who you pay for their services. In my case, it is someone who normally consults for large businesses  in lean manufacturing and lean management who is helping us with what we call a Ministry Excellence initiative. We pay the going rate for his services and have over the past two years of relationship benefited immensely.


Humble leaders and organizations are committed to continuous learning, regular evaluation, ministry results, clarity of purpose, healthy teams and culture - all for the sake of seeing a maximum return on mission for Jesus and the mission He has called us to. 


To those who have never had an outside voice speak into your ministry I would say, overcome your fear or pride and try it. You will be surprised by the insights you gain and the ideas that are generated. All of us get stuck in our own ruts, habits, and assumptions. An outside voice can help you find new paths.

Game changing attitudes

I often encourage ministries that I consult with to look for the game changers that bring major ministry breakthroughs rather than a tweak to the system. We are constantly on the lookout for those in our ministry. What we often don't think about are the game changers we can initiate ourselves - in our attitudes - which can change the whole equation of our lives and impact the people around us. These game changing attitudes come right out of our relationship with God, the work of the Holy Spirit and us.


The game changer of living in God's sovereignty.
All of us face challenges that bring anxiety, uncertainty, and sometimes fear. The reason that they are so threatening to us is that unlike other circumstances, there is nothing we can do about these ones. They are beyond our control and therefor our ability to sway their outcome.


Unless....we choose to live with the dynamic truth that as His children, God is sovereign over all the events of our lives and He can be trusted to meet our needs, intervene on our behalf and be present in the midst of our circumstances. Read Romans 8 for confirmation on this. Those who choose to live in the reality of God's sovereignty over our lives and circumstances experience great peace because they have chosen to leave in God's hands what belongs in God's hands.


The game changer of choosing to live with joy.
One of the fruits of the Spirit, Joy is a powerful antidote to all of the pessimistic talk we encounter, the complaints that so many have and the tendency to look at life from a human rather than a divine perspective. 


As one of the signature traits of the Holy Spirit, joy is accessible to all of God's people in spite of their circumstances. It is rooted in the sovereignty and goodness of God who promises to meet our needs and to be present in all of our circumstances. Joy comes from faith in our God. The harder it is for us to choose joy over sadness, the greater its impact on our hearts for we have chosen the route of faith and trust rather than that of doubt and discouragement.


The game changer of choosing to live with kindness.
Another one of the Spirit's signature traits and one that touches every relationship that we encounter on a daily basis. We live in a harsh world where people dismiss others easily, treat them according to their mood, speak words that diminish and wound and perhaps worst of all, use people rather than love people.


When we choose to live with an attitude of kindness we produce all sorts of ripples because we are bringing God's love and kindness into each interaction. It changes everything. Kind people are purveyors of God's love and grace and magnets to those who come into contact with them, craving the acceptance inherent in kindness.


All of the fruit of the Spirit are game changing attitudes: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, goodness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). Each one changes our outlook on life in a major way and impacts how we interact with every individual during our day. They are truly game changers that we can choose in the power of the Holy Spirit to appropriate and live out every day in every situation. They don't tweak anything. They change everything.

Meaningful reference checks for potential hires

Any of us who lead teams or organizations need to do reference checks from time to time as we bring on new staff. For most, one of the last steps is that of checking references but too often we don't take this step as seriously as we ought to. In fact, in two instances in recent years, two of my staff members were hired away by others without talking to those who could have given them candid feedback. In both of these cases, it was not a good fit for the other organization. Had they asked we could have saved them some pain as the issues were known to us.


In looking for references we ought to look for people who know the candidate well, works or has worked with them and who can give objective feedback rather than simply give their friend a thumbs up. The more one trusts the one giving feedback the more confidence one has in the information shared.


A word of caution when checking references for a potential hire. When one gets to the reference stage we are usually very much wanting the hire to go through. Thus we can be tempted to gloss over concerns we hear in our desire to fill the position. All of us, however, are made up of strengths, weaknesses, along with a dark side. Knowing the most about your potential hire, positive and negative will give you the best means to both evaluate the hire and to manage the individual once hired.


Asking the right questions in order to elicit the information you need is critical. Here are some of the questions that I have often used


I will share the position the potential hire will fill and then ask, "where do you see this as a fit and where might there not be a fit given what you have observed over the years?"


Would you hire or rehire this person?


Would you want to work for this person? Why?


How would you describe the strengths and weaknesses of this individual? What would you describe as their dark side?


How have you seen this individual negotiate conflict or differences of opinion?


How would you describe their leadership style? 


In group settings, what role do they play? Are they better working collaboratively with others or doing work by themselves?


What can you tell me about the health of this individuals family relationships?


What personal or professional growth have you seen in this individual in the past five years?


This individuals largest challenge in this role will be....?


Would you describe this individual as:
          Defensive or non defensive
          Open about themselves or closed
          Easily angered or almost never angered
          Optimistic or pessimistic
          Self aware or unaware
          Well liked or not well liked
          Disciplined or scattered
          Empathetic or unempathetic
          Collaborative or non-collaborative
          Authoritarian or collegial in relationships
          Patient or impatient
          Gracious or lacking grace
          Diplomatic or undiplomatic
          Flexible or non-flexible
          Controllers or empowerers


Are there any questions you think I should have asked but didn't?


Do you have any red flags that I should know of?


What is the strongest reason you think I should hire this individual for this role?