Ruts

by Gary Corwin

Ruts. They’re predictable. They’re comfortable. And they’re deadly. Combining as they do, peaceful repose with minimal achievement, they have been compared to a grave with the ends kicked out.

Ruts. They’re predictable. They’re comfortable. And they’re deadly. Combining as they do, peaceful repose with minimal achievement, they have been compared to a grave with the ends kicked out.

They are, nevertheless, often appealing because they help us avoid thinking. But they also cheat us of the possibilities that only come with mental exercise. While they make the journey easier, they seldom make it more meaningful. Little of substantial and lasting value is nurtured in a rut.

"But what do ruts have to do with the missionary enterprise?" you ask, with your tongue firmly planted in your cheek. "Not as much as you might suggest in your more jocular moments," I might respond.

Yes, mission structures are rife with ruts, and yes, there is a lot of need for personal and institutional change. But, have you noticed? There’s a whole lot of very exciting stuff going on out there.

Last summer I participated up dose in several "rut crossings." (That’s the only way to beat the dreaded things, by the way, and something we’ll say more about later.) My own experience seems to suggest at least three contexts in which ruts can be crossed in mission.

First, ruts can be crossed on an institutional or organizational level, often radically altering both ethos and structures. Second, teams or groups can cross ruts, often on an intellectual or perception level. Third, we can cross ruts on a deeply spirtual and emotionally moving personal level.

An example of the first type took place in June at the Triennial Conference of Wycliffe Bible Translators / Summer Institute of Linguistics. It was my privilege to participate as one of the invited outsiders who gave input to the 400 gathered delegates during the first two days of the conference.

Here a venerable mission agency transformed its clear and single-minded purpose of 65 years, i.e. Bible translation, not by changing or replacing the purpose itself, but by radically altering its methods and means. Their desire was to more fully engage the mission resources God has so graciously provided through the believers and churches of all six continents. Through a plan called "Vision 2025" Wydiffe/SIL hope to greatly accelerate the pace of translations by multiplying the translation force through training, partnership, and facilitation. This was institutional level "rut crossing" at its best.

I saw an example of the second type in July in Eastern Europe. I was part of a leadership team sent from our home church. Our purpose included lots of ministry, but was primarily to assess the strategies and relationships that teams from our church had developed over the last seven years. While there was plenty to be encouraged about in what we found, the "rut-crossing" aspect came with regard to our church’s partnership with a missionary couple who were doing evangelism and church planting in the nation’s capital.

Before we went we had harbored concerns about the kind of missiology that was being employed by this couple. They had more or less "parachuted" in alone some six years before with no knowledge of the language and no one there to greet or orient them. Furthermore, our admitedly stereotyped picture of missionaries from their homeland was that they might be the only nationality that could compete toe to toe with Americans for prizes in cultural insensitivity, pushiness, and agenda imposition.

What an encouraging difference the reality was. Here were highly motivated, relationship-oriented missionaries who had learned the language well and were working tirelessly to empower those they had won to Christ. They have already launched a church planting movement and powerful discipleship training efforts, while cordial relationships with both the Orthodox Church and other Evangelical Churches have been maintained.

What a joyful "rut-crossing" this was, as the reality of the Spirit’s work shattered the missiological assumptions and expectations that had heightened our concerns going in. This visit reminded me not to let even my "time-tested axioms and assumptions" become ruts that need to be crossed.

The final level of "rut-crossing" is felt in a deeply spiritual and emotionally moving personal way. For that reason it is not appropriate to attempt a description of the details here. What I will share is the overwhelming conviction of recent months that self-sufficiency and self-will is a rut easily fallen into, and that it must be crossed over by a constantly nurtured renewal of our love affair with Christ. Only a fixed and adoring gaze upon Jesus will carry us through.

What is "rut crossing" then? Recognizing that more of the same will only produce more of the same. If different outcomes are desired, whether they be organizational, in our leadership teams, or in our personal walk with the Lord, we must be willing to turn. When we are willing, ruts are relatively easy to cross. Without a turn, however, they are as long as the road.

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Gary Corwin is associate editor of EMQ and missiologist-at-large for Arab World Ministries on loan from SIM-USA.

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