Mission or Commission Mythtakes

In order to do our personal witnessing more effectively, I would like to share with you seven of what I call Mission or Commission Mythtakes. These are myth-conceptions that may hinder us in reaching our our neighbours, acquaintances, friends, fellow students, work colleagues, and strangers, etc..

Mission Mythtake #1 We are called to be soul-winners. I challenge this because we are called to be seed sowers with the Holy Spirit doing the winning.
It is not our responsibility to convert people. We are only responsible for what we can do, not what others do. Our responsibility is simply to share our personal gospel testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God. We don’t have to push, in fact, there is only one way to push a person, and that is away. Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32).

Mission Mythtake #2 We don’t need words to witness.
Our lifestyle is a witness whether we like it or not. However, simply observing someone’s lifestyle doesn’t bring about a conviction. By definition a witness is “one who testifies.” What if all the “witnesses” in a court trial only answered in a game of charades? Although our lifestyle needs to be consistent with the words we say, our lifestyle is not a substitute for saying convicting words.

Mission Mythtake #3 People aren’t interested
Many people are tired of shallow conversations and the rules of political correctness that make it taboo to talk about God. Matthew 9:38,39 and repeated in Luke 10:2) reads, “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

Mission Mythtake #4 I must have all the answers
The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Mission Mythtake #5 I must have a close, long-term relationship with a person before I can share the Gospel with them. While this helps, the gospel’s inherent power is not bound by our personal connections. God may bring people across our path for even a brief time by His sovereign design in order that we would share the message of Christ with them. A biblical example is the account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch as recorded in Acts 8:26-24) Sharing the gospel is a supernatural endeavour that requires supernatural power. That’s why the disciples were told to wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be God’s witnesses. That power is now available to every believer.

Mission Mythtake #6 I must wait for people to come to me, ask why my lifestyle is different and ask me to tell them about Christ.
Joe is a fisherman who has caught nothing yet. He sits on his verandah day after day waiting for a fish to jump out of the pond several blocks away, flap all the way up to his house and ask, “Hey Joe, where’s your fishing rod? I want to get on your line and hook right now.” Fishing for men requires initiative on the fisherman’s part, not the fish’s! Sharing the gospel with others is an active endeavour, not a passive one.

And lastly (though there are undoubtedly more), Mission Mythtake #7 I must tell everything I know about God in every situation.
Not every opportunity to share the message is going to be equal. In some cases you’ll have just a few minutes to talk, ask a question, share an idea, or simply listen. Make the most of it and relax. Colossians 4:5 says, “Be wise [and] make the most of every opportunity”. Try to discern how much a person is ready to hear. Jesus Himself said “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (John 16:12). Even with His disciples he did not feel compelled to unload everything at once.

Adapted from L. Hartley, Mythtakes of the Mouth, The Anglo-Catholic Leader (magazine), January 1976, Pp 11,12