As the mission movement emanating from China’s church comes into its own, and as the global church engages with this movement, questions arise as to what this collaboration should look like.
In Part One of this series, we considered the question of what is missing when mission becomes primarily a management exercise, when means become confused with ends, obscuring the church’s ultimate purpose. We alluded to the fallacy of focusing on a few obvious missional activities with measurable outcomes to gauge the success of this movement while ignoring other, less tangible, aspects of how God’s people are called to glorify him in the world. Here, we take a closer look at what Christ said about how his disciples would glorify the Father.
Beginning with Belonging
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:7–8)
To reflect Christ’s glory requires an intimate relationship with him, out of which flows the disciple’s relationship with self, with other believers, and with the world. The metaphor of the vine and branches makes it clear that the fruit being spoken of here is not the result of human effort. Fruit is, by definition, an outgrowth of the vine. To abide is to remain, to be at home, to find one’s place in Christ.
Alan Fadling, author of A Non-Anxious Life, writes,
Jesus speaks often about remaining, staying, and living from union rather than from striving. When leaders abide, they stop sourcing their worth from outcomes, approval, or performance. They lead from a sturdier center and their presence itself becomes formative.
God is glorified as Christ’s followers become disciples, showing through their fruit—their true identity in him. The command here is not to bear fruit, but to abide. The work of the branch is not bearing fruit, but growing, which takes place organically as it draws nourishment from the vine. The fruit is a byproduct of the abiding: no abiding, no fruit.While this fruit may be seen in outward indications of discipleship, the fruit does not constitute the disciples’ identity. Their identity is found not in doing for Christ, but in being in Christ; not in productivity but in relationship; not in busy activity but in complete dependence on Christ, without whom they can do nothing. Their obedience is evidence of their love for Christ; it is not an end in itself.
False Identities
In the abiding, disciples are formed in the likeness of Christ, just as a branch is formed in the likeness of the vine. If a disciple is abiding in someone or something other than Christ, they will be formed by that person or thing. Abiding in a strategy or a program may produce an illusion of productivity, yet without spiritual fruit. One who is abiding in their identity as a missionary may pour all their effort into doing missionary things—language learning, adjusting to a new culture, making personal sacrifices to live in a difficult environment and turning their back on the comforts and familiarities of home. Yet they remain unfruitful. Abiding in one’s relationship to an organization or to a particular leader will result in formation in the image of that organization or leader.
On the field, an unbalanced emphasis on results exacerbates these false identities. In many cases the absence of spiritual fruit results not from sin or from a lack of Christian commitment, but from workers being forced to work outside their areas of gifting or ability in an effort to appear productive. In the name of “dying to self” they go along to get along, doing what is required to fit in, seeking to please God through their sheer obedience, yet the joy promised in John 15:11 is nowhere to be found. They find it difficult to love their fellow workers, not to mention the people to whom they have been called. Peace is far away; they become impatient with others and with themselves. Attempts to become more disciplined, more self-controlled, and more obedient only fuel the downward spiral into despair and feelings of worthlessness, as do exhortations from leadership to sacrifice themselves on behalf of the mission.
No Plan B
The solution is not doing more or adopting a new strategy, but rather an authentic return to abiding in Christ. This can be threatening to the worker, who fears rejection by the team or by those who sent them out. It can also be threatening to leaders, especially when their own identity is wrapped up in achieving previously established goals, which may need to be reexamined or at least put aside temporarily in order to yield to the Spirit’s work. It is threatening to organizations when their “brand” is tied to these outward signs of success. Yet there is no Plan B. To refuse Christ’s invitation to abide is to pretend there is another way of doing Christ’s work apart from remaining in him.
While they may appear as obstacles to fulfilling the mission, these struggles can be God’s way of doing a new work in his servants so they can participate fully in the larger project of living out his glory among the nations. Perhaps the reason why progress appears to be so slow is not that the workers need to go faster, but rather that they need to slow down, pay attention, and submit to Christ’s formative work.
Sorting out questions of calling and identity takes time. Leaning into physical limitations and emotional trauma requires compassion for oneself and from others. Allowing the Spirit to put his finger on attitudes and behaviors that do not reflect Christ’s glory requires humility and an environment of emotional safety. Only as workers entrust all these things into the Father’s loving hands, recognizing these issues not as disqualifiers but as invitations to the very places Christ desires to make his glory known, are they then free to pursue all that Christ has for them in life and ministry.
What Love Requires
Spiritual disciplines like honoring the Sabbath, practicing solitude and silence, prayer, meditation, and confession can open the way for this work to take place. If these become just another program or a duty, however, beneficial spiritual practices can give way to legalism. Those who are task-oriented might add these to their to-do list and go through the motions without truly engaging the work of the Spirit. Others with a contemplative bent might abide in the practices themselves, yet resist Christ’s work in their lives, employing the disciplines as a means of numbing out and ignoring obvious areas for deeper Spirit-led growth and transformation. For these reasons, using spiritual practices as a metric for growth falls short.
Returning to the metaphor of the vine, Christ’s measure of fruitfulness is love. Disciples are to be known chiefly by their love for one another (John 13:35). Likewise, the fruit of the Spirit Paul lists in Galatians 5:22–23 is all experienced in relationship. This is both the condition and the source for whatever lasting work takes place on the field: love for Christ and for one’s fellow servants.
Often intangible yet essential, love as a measure of fruitfulness can be assessed by looking at how workers submit to one another, by the quality of their family relationships, and by how their decisions affect those around them. Are they known—to use the language of Romans 12:10—for their brotherly affection and eagerness to show honor? Are spouses talking to each other? Do children know they are loved and valued? Do workers have healthy ways of resolving conflict?
Differences in culture and personality will shape how this looks in each context. What may be considered loving in one culture may appear obnoxious, uncaring, invasive, or condescending to those of another culture. As Gary Chapman’s groundbreaking work on love languages demonstrates, people’s preferences for giving and receiving love will color how they put the Great Commandment into practice. Especially in multicultural teams, working through these diverse expectations is a difficult but necessary process. At its most basic, love requires discovering what loving others as oneself requires in a given set of relationships.
When “results” metrics dominate, it is easy to turn a blind eye toward relational dysfunction and harm, assuming such collateral damage is merely the price to be paid for the work getting done. Yet honoring results over people devalues them, belying the Gospel message that Christ loves each one infinitely. It is in the messiness of relationships that Christ’s love is developed in the lives of his servants. It is here that a watching world catches a glimpse of God’s glory, as broken people are restored in the image of him who came to reconcile all things to himself.
This foundational principle of abiding may seem obvious. Yet for many workers, Chinese and non-Chinese alike, it will require a radical shift. To truly live and serve from an intimate and vibrant relationship is not easy; it transforms the worker, the team, and the community. It provides the foundation upon which collaboration in mission can take place. In Part Three of this series, we will return to this theme as we look further at Christ’s teaching on how his followers are to glorify God on earth.
