Taking Away the Reproach of Barrenness

by Brian Fargher

Can the barren produce? My wife and I have been compelled to ask ourselves this question again and again during the past year. Upon our return from furlough the field council asked us to staff a barren station.

Can the barren produce? My wife and I have been compelled to ask ourselves this question again and again during the past year. Upon our return from furlough the field council asked us to staff a barren station.

The very name of the place had become a byword for barrenness. For eighteen years a witness has been given to these Muslim people, yet seemingly not a single one has responded. They don’t actively oppose the work, they are just fantastically apathetic. The doors are wide open and we continue a witness through the elementary school, night school. clinic, women’s classes, visitation, evangelism, and literature distribution. From the past year’s work we can honestly say, "We haven’t met a single adult who is even vaguely interested in anything to do with the Gospel." To me this is odd. We could close up shop and ask to be moved. Is there any hope at all for such a place?

THE PROBLEM
A number of books have been issued in recent vears about the growth of indigenous churches. Their beginnings, progress and perfecting have been examined in detail. Men have carefully investigated what makes them "tick." It would seem that there is growing concern about their progress. Old ways are being challenged; standard policies are being questioned. At this we rejoice and hope to see progress. But judging from reviews rind various remarks by the critics who have done the investigating there are many persons who object to being questioned about their missionary strategy.

Is it possible then seriously to examine the question: Can the barren produce? To be sure, the critics would be even more vocal, and unpleasant things would be said about the investigator who dared to show by figures the amount of money and number of people that had been expended for meager or no visible results. I don’t propose to attempt anything like that. Let’s propose a few questions and suggest some answers and hope that others will add to this outline.

It may seem to some to be begging the question, but let’s first ask ourselves, Are barren mission stations necessary? There are plenty of them-no question about that. Should there be so many of them? We could even ask, Should there be such a thing as a barren mission station? Wouldn’t it be better not to have a mission station rather than one that professes one thing and by its works shows something else? These questions are directed at places where people have heard and rejected the Gospel, not new works.

The very fact that those who work in such places haven’t seen any results makes them accept this as inevitable, and then it is. Dr. T. Stanley Soltau in Missions at the Crossroads says, "Especially in Moslem lands, where the work has always been slow, it is easy for the missionaries, and the national Christians as well, unconsciously to assume an attitude of defeat or at least of small expectations. The fact that our God is the God of the impossible should continually be emphasized in the thinking of every missionary and Church leader." Can we find any scriptural support for the attitude that accepts no progress as inevitable? The story of Aaron’s rod in Numbers 17 should challenge us. The rod that God chose was revealed by its ability to bear fruit. The barren rods were the rejected ones.

An even more important question follows, and in some manner influences the answer to the former one. Does a barren mission station really concern me? I expect my children to grow into normal healthy kids and the slightest sign of retardation will immediately cause me grave concern. For ourselves, we see over a thousand patients a month going through the clinic about fifty impressionable young minds being taught in the school, and all the other usual activities being carried on, yet in almost twenty years nothing appears to have been acevitable What we think will show in what we do.

Those who pray for us should be informed of this need. What sadness and yethow much truth the following reveals: "Who can tell the number of lives that have been dedicated to Muslims, who, having gone to some field of service in full assurance that it was not hopeless, have yet been baffled, heartbroken, and have returned to the homeland to seek an outlet for their Christian zeal in other directions? They went out full of the joy of the Lord, but they could not stand up to Islam; they returned physically and, to some extent, mentally and spiritually wrecked, like soldiers who have returned from the battle front suffering from chronic nerve shock" (The Prickly Pear, Moody Press). Those who have anything to do with missionaries who work, or are likely to work, in such areas from teachers in missions departments, home mission councils, field authorities and the missionaries in the battlefront need to realize again that the situation is serious. The lives of men and women, the respect and impact of the Gospel we proclaim, are at stake. To he associated in any way with a barren area is a mighty challenge. How are we to meet it?

OUR RESPONSE
We have turned some facets of the problem to the light. The reflection we have received will depend upon where x, e are standing in relation to the light. Whether we admit it or not, we all have a philosophy of missions. This affects us more than we realize. Until we clash with conflicting opinions w e don’t always realize that our opinion isn’t the only one, and for that matter, may not be the right one. Dr McGavran, in charter ten of How Churches Grow gives six different philosophic that are current in areas where the church has been established. It would be safe to say that missionaries working in non-church areas hold either number two, "mission is a witnes,." or number six, "the winning of men and nations to Christ

Would it be safe to say most evangelical missionaries hold number six when they go to the field for the first time? Later they change to number two. Their preaching is fruitless they call t stand the feelings of self-reproach, so they change their philosophy They find a few isolated texts that "prove" the point and feel happy with the change. Need self-reproach or a change of philosophy be the only alternatives? Does either of them have any scriptural basis? Take a missionary who holds to number two, "mission is a witness." His aim isn’t to sow seed that will grow, but to shine as a light. He doesn’t really feel there is much hope for the people and his letters to those who pray convey that feeling. He shines. They pray that he will keep shining. He does. What’s the point?

If we hold philosophy number six ("winning men and nations to Christ"), then let’s not be two-faced about it. If we believe that we are out to see souls saved and a church established, then let’s say so. A missionary friend said, "We need to do some desperate praying." Jacob said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" (Gen. 32:26). "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily" (Luke 18:7, 8a ). If desperate intercessors concentrated their prayers on one such area and refused to be moved, what would happen?

In many areas acceptance of the idea "mission is a witness" has led missionaries to accept less than the best. We profess that we believe in a miracle-working God. We could all say Amen to this from the Editorial Committee of this quarterly: "Missionary faith is concerned almost entirely with supernatural values, principles and ideas. The real meaning of regeneration of men by the Holy Spirit can only be comprehended by faith" (Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 6). We believe that missionary work basically must be supernatural, but we put our trust in educating young minds into being Christians. What’s miraculous about that? The value of schools is not being questioned, but Ifind myself unable to agree with those who say, "Our only hope of establishing a church in this area is through the school." We often limit God’s work by expecting less than He wants to do. Many instances are found in the Gospels of results being in direct proportion to the faith that was exercised.

D. L. Moody wrote: "There is no greater honor than to be the instrument in God’s hands of leading one person out of the kingdom of Satan into the glorious light of heaven." With that we are in full agreement. Since the value of a soul can not be reckoned, it is outside the reahn of questioning, but does this justify the use of the term "hand-picked fruit" to cover up an all but barren work? This brings us to define what we mean by barren. The church can only grow and function when families are won to the Lord. For the purposes of this article, a work that has only women and children or mission employees to show as its fruit is to be regarded as barren. A permanent church can never be built on these foundations. "The whole object of missionary evangelism is the salvation of individual men and women and their incorporation in the body of Christ which is His Church," wrote A. T. Houghton (In Training). Unless the individuals who have made professions are capable of forming a church they cannot be classified as proof of the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

THE ANSWER
I suggest we need to develop three unique things if we are going to meet this challenge.

1. Unique Workers. It is obvious to all that missionary work in barren areas is not for everyone. Some can’t stick with it, some stick it out and that’s all, while others seem to make the wheels turn. It is a specialized work. Are we going to preparc workers for this special task?

Let us note one or two special things about someone who is going to work in such an area. He or she must know what it is to be led by the Spirit. How easy to depend on programs and methods and not on the Holy Spirit. This worker must be an evangelist. None of this hiring nationals and giving the orders. In order to promote evangelistic effort, the foreign missionary himself must be ready to set the example and lead. This worker must be able to say with Wesley:

Oh, for a passionate passion for souls, Oh, for a pity that yearns.
Oh, for a love that loves unto death, Oh, for a fire that burns.

This worker must be able to orientate those with whom he is working to a loving concern for the people. One inconsiderate and loveless worker will undo in minutes what others have toiled years to sow.

2. This unique worker needs a unique faith. He must believe not that God can do the impossible, but that God is doing the impossible even when every pointer shows the opposite. J. Oswald Sanders’ little book, Mighty Faith, is full of the challenge of faith. Every missionary should read it. The worker in such an area has to realize that progress will not be made by mighty preaching, tireless trekking, fervent pleading, winning friends, or lots of money and buildings; progress will be made by prayer. "When there is fruitlessness and frustration in our work, there is one cause, namely lack of prayer-lack of prevailing prayer," said Alexander McLeish.

3. The unique worker with a unique life needs something even more rare: unique prayer backing. The situation can not be better worded than has been done by J. Oswald Sanders: "In the fluctuations of the battle the key to final victory was in the hand, not of the fighters in the field, but of the intercessors on the mount." Do our prayer partners realize how important they are? Do missionaries realize how important their prayer supporters are? Once this is realized missionary prayer-partner communication becomes very important. The missionary will look to his correspondence in much the same way that a business firm looks at its advertising.

Above everything else, these barren areas need more prayer partners. "Rely not on a single prayer in matters of great concernment; but make it as public as you can by obtaining of others to pray for you-this being the great blessing of the communion of saints, that a prayer united is strong, like a well-ordered army; and God loves to be tied fast with such chords of love, and constrained by a holy violence." Thus wrote Jeremy Taylor in Holy Living, Holy Dying.

The situation is desperate; it is not hopeless. God is able to do the impossible. He waits for us to indicate that we mean business. The harder the ground, the greater the effort required. Are we willing, at any cost, to see God work?

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