When Jesus’s ministry began to overshadow John the Baptist’s ministry, it was natural that some people began to worry about what might happen to him. He answered those concerns with what ought to be every Christian’s motto: “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30). In the history of missions, the failure to practice this intentional humility and the failure to practice what we might call both a submission to and assimilation into the will of Jesus Christ has been a comedy of tragic errors. One of the major flaws of missions in the past has been its insistence on ‘civilizing’ the native peoples. Rather than exalting the saving work of Christ, Western culture was prioritized. Sadly, far too many missionaries understood evangelism as a means to convert someone to a culture rather than an expression of concern for the souls of individuals. This, therefore, meant turning ‘uncivilized peoples’ into proper subjects of whatever crown was controlling that land. By necessity, this model of missions needed the heavy-hand of colonial authority in order to achieve its best results. In some places, the effects of this model are still seen today. For instance, most former Spanish colonies today have a very successful veneer of Christianity. Unfortunately, on closer inspection, one sees that this Christian veneer is merely overlaid upon hearts that are far from God. Such is the ‘success’ that comes with heavy-handed missionary methods—mouths that confess one thing and hearts that confess something else.
It took altogether too long for even Protestant and, more so, Evangelical missionaries to realize the mistakes and spiritual abuse that take place when heavy-handed missionary methods are utilized. But even long ago, there were some who saw the brilliance of the Gospel as something outside culture. It was Paul the Apostle who led by example and sought to “become all things to all people” (1Cor 9:22). The fact is that the Gospel is something neither Jewish, nor Spanish, nor French, nor German, nor English, nor American. The early church struggled with cultural issues when it came to equitable practice, but theologically they knew and proclaimed the Gospel as something relevant to the human condition, something relevant to the sinful heart, no matter the culture.
Throughout the history of missions, when missionaries and evangelists began to admit that the Gospel speaks to an indigenous culture better through indigenous means, that is, through local words and customs, always then a breakthrough would come. Missionaries who began to consciously remove their own cultural barriers would find that the people among whom they worked could better and more clearly understand the true message of the Gospel. Furthermore, when missionaries began to teach and train locals in their own languages and cultures, they found that local believers were more than capable to develop their own expressions of the Gospel which, although different from the missionary’s expression, were still faithful to the message. And thus, it became that when it was the locals who took the Gospel to their own people it was no longer a symbol of foreign domination but an indigenized expression of truth. By these methods, the Gospel spread like wildfire, unable to be contained.
All this brings us back to John the Baptist. Are we willing for Christ to be exalted over our own ministries? Are we willing to lay aside all our planning, all of our schemes, and all of our know-how so that Christ might increase? It is the only method of missionary work that continues to achieve success. In fact, Christ is able to do far more and far better than we could ever do, if only we learn to become less so that He can become more—we just need to get out of God’s way!
