The New Look of Christian Missions

Excerpts from

Lighthousetrailsresearch.com

The New
Look of Christian Missions

By Roger Oakland

October 26, 2008

Originally
published by

Lighthousetrailsresearch.com in
December 2007

“I don’t believe making disciples must equal making
adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable
in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become
followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist,
Hindu, or Jewish contexts.”1
– Brian McLaren

Emerging spirituality is changing the way missions
is being conducted. The idea is that you can go for
Jesus, but you don’t have to identify yourself as a
Christian or part of the Christian church. This
concept spills over into some missionary societies
too, where they teach people from other religions
they can keep their religion, just add Jesus to the
equation. They don’t have to embrace the term
Christian. At the 2005 United Nations Interfaith
Prayer Breakfast, Rick Warren made the following
comments to 100 delegates who represented various
different religions:

“I’m not talking about a
religion this morning. You may be Catholic or Protestant or
Buddhist or Baptist or Muslim or Mormon or Jewish or you may
have no religion at all. I’m not interested in your
religious background. Because God did not create the
universe for us to have religion.”2

While he did go on afterwards and say he believed
that Jesus was God, the implication was that your
religion doesn’t matter to God, and being Buddhist,
Mormon, or whatever will not interfere with having
Jesus in your life. Donald Miller, author of the
popular Blue Like Jazz, puts it this way:

“For me, the beginning
of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out
Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a
nonpolitical mysterious system that can be experienced but
not explained.”3

In Erwin McManus’ book

The Barbarian Way, he
refers to “Barbarians” in a positive light and says
that this is how Christ-followers should be:

“They [Barbarians] see
Christianity as a world religion, in many ways no different
from any other religious system. Whether Buddhism, Hinduism,
Islam, or Christianity, they’re not about religion; they’re
about advancing the revolution Jesus started two thousand
years ago.”4

A May/June 2000 issue of Watchman’s Trumpet
magazine explains what this new missiology really
entails:

“Several international missions organizations,
including Youth With a Mission (YWAM), are testing a
new approach to missionary work in areas where
Christianity is unwelcome. A March 24, 2000, Charisma News Service
report said some missionaries are now making converts but
are allowing them to “hold on to many of their traditional
religious beliefs and practices” so as to refrain from
offending others within their culture.”5

The Charisma article in which Watchman’s
Trumpet reports elaborates:

“Messianic Muslims” who continue to read the Koran,
visit the mosque and say their daily prayers but
accept Christ as their Savior, are the products of
the strategy, which is being tried in several
countries, according to Youth With a Mission (YWAM),
one of the organizations involved.”6

The Charisma story reports that a YWAM staff
newsletter notes the new converts’ lifestyle changes
(or lack thereof):

“They [the new converts] continued a life of
following the Islamic requirements, including mosque
attendance, fasting and Koranic reading, besides
getting together as a fellowship of Muslims who acknowledge
Christ as the source of God’s mercy for them.7

When one of the largest missionary societies (YWAM)
becomes a proponent of the new missiology, telling
converts they can remain in their own religious
traditions, the disastrous results should be quite
sobering for any discerning Christian.

In an article titled “Christ-Followers in India
Flourishing Outside the Church,” the following
statement is made regarding the research of Herbert
Hoefer, author of Churchless Christianity:

“In striking research undertaken in the mid-eighties
and published in 1991, Herbert E. Hoefer found that
the people of Madras City are far closer to historic
Christianity than the populace of any cities in the western
Christian world could ever claim to be. Yet these are not
Christians, but rather Hindus and Muslims. In their midst is
a significant number of true believers in Christ who openly
confess to faith in fundamental Biblical doctrines, yet
remain outside the institutional church.”8

The article expands this idea that one does not need
to become a Christian or to change his religious
practices; he just needs to add Jesus to his
spiritual equation:

“However, some might argue that this [the “smothering
embrace of Hinduism”] is the danger with the ishta
devata strategy I am proposing. It will lead not to
an indigenous Christianity but to a Christianized
Hinduism. Perhaps more accurately we should say a
Christ-ized Hinduism. I would suggest that really
both are the same, and therefore we should not worry about
it. We do not want to change the culture or the religious
genius of India. We simply want to bring Christ and His
Gospel into the center of it.” (emphasis added)9

Herbert Hoefer’s research is quite interesting. His
idea that rather than “changing or rejecting” the
Hindu and Muslim culture missionaries should be
“Christ-izing” it.10 He says there are thousands of
believers in India whom he refers to as
“non-baptized believers.” Reasons for the believers
not becoming baptized vary, but usually it is
because they will suffer financial or social loss
and status. Hoefer admits that these non-baptized
believers are not Christians, and usually they do
not choose to call themselves that. In many of his
examples, these non-baptized believers continue
practicing their religious rituals so as not to draw
suspicion or ridicule from family and friends.
Hoefer explains one story:

“[There is] a young man
of lower caste who earns his livelihood by playing the drum
at Hindu festivals and functions. “All this is what I must
do,” he said, “but my faith is in Christ. Outside I am a
Hindu, but inside I am a Christian.”11

Another family of the Nayar caste consisted of a
wife, her husband and one son. Hoefer describes
their situation:

“[H]er husband and son have been believers in Christ
for eight years. They both had studied in Christian
schools and learned of Christ. The husband’s father
had a vision of Christ, and one brother also is a
non-baptised believer. The husband does not join his
wife in coming to Church, but he occasionally joins her for
the big public meetings. They do not have family devotions,
but worship Jesus along with the Hindu gods in their home.
Their approach to the Hindu festivals is to carry them out
but to think of God, not Jesus specifically.”12

I am not here to judge whether these non-baptized
believers are truly born again. That is for the Lord
to decide. My concern lies with the way missions is
changing and how the Gospel is being presented. To
say that someone does not have to leave their pagan
religion behind, and in fact they don’t have to even
stop calling themselves Hindu or Muslim, is not
presenting the teachings of the Bible.
And the apostle Paul, who ended up dying for his
faith, exhorted believers to be willing to give up
all for the sake of having Christ:

“I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and do count
them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians
3:8)

The implications of this new missiology are serious
and, what’s more very unbiblical. Mike Oppenheimer
of Let Us Reason ministries has done extensive
research and analysis on the new missiology. In his
article, “A ‘New Evangelism’ for the 21st Century,”
Oppenheimer states:

“Can a Christian now
call himself a Muslim? The word Muslim is made up of two
words, Islam and Mu. Muslim does not just mean submission;
it means submission to the God Allah; not the Lord Jesus
Christ or Yahweh. Can a Muslim be called a Christian and
walk with Allah? This seems to make no doctrinal or
practical sense, unless they change the names and the
meaning. This only brings confusion. Why do this when you
can introduce Yahweh as the true God without any baggage and
shuffling around in names, nature or descriptions? The
answer is that you may not see the same results. This is
what this is all about isn’t it, results; pragmatism, the
end justifies the means.”13

In a book by Oppenheimer and Sandy Simpson titled Idolatry in Their Hearts, they show how
widespread this new missiology has become. Listen to
some of the comments made by a few new missiology
proponents:

“New Light embodiment means to be “in connection” and
“information” with other faiths…. One can be a
faithful disciple of Jesus Christ without denying
the flickers of the sacred in followers of Yahweh,
or Kali, or Krishna.”14 –Leonard Sweet

“I happen to know people who are followers of Christ
in other religions:15
–Rick Warren

“I see no contradiction between Buddhism and
Christianity…. I intend to become as good a
Buddhist as I can.”16 –Thomas Merton

“Allah is not another God … we worship the same
God…. The same God! The very same God we worship
in Christ is the God the Jews–and the
Muslims–worship.”17 –Peter Kreeft

Oppenheimer and Simpson present page after page of
documentation showing this paradigm shift in
Christian missions. They ask the question, “Can one
be a Hindu or a Muslim and follow Jesus?” They
explain why the answer is no:

“One cannot be in relationship with Jesus within the
confines of a false religion. One must leave his or
her religion to follow Jesus, not just add Him
on….

“This broadens Jesus’ statement of
the road being narrow into a wide, all encompassing concept.
What is concerning is that these same kinds of statements
are also made by those who are New Agers that hold a
universal view. Alice Bailey said, “I would point out that
when I use the phrase ‘followers of the Christ’ I refer to
all those who love their fellowmen, irrespective of creed or
religion.”18

With Rick Warren saying your religion should have no
bearing on your spiritual life, Erwin McManus saying
he would like to destroy Christianity, and
missionary societies telling new converts they can
have Jesus without Christianity (or baptism), the
results could be devastating and will very likely
undo the tireless efforts of many dedicated
missionaries around the world. These Bible-believing
missionaries have risked their lives and given up
comforts and ease to travel around the world sharing
the good news that becoming a Christian (having
Jesus Christ come into your heart and life) is the
way to eternal life. Now, right behind them, come
emerging church missionaries who say Christianity is
a terrible religion, and Christians are out to
lunch–so just become a Christ-follower, and you
don’t even have to tell anyone about it. In fact,
you can still live like you always have.
To the many who have suffered persecution and
martyrdom over the centuries for being Christians
and being courageous enough to call themselves that,
we now must believe they suffered and died
unnecessarily–after all, they did not need to
confess Jesus as the only way. And they didn’t need
to renounce their pagan religions. We also find that
the following words of Jesus do not fit into this
emerging church paradigm:

“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

There is a powerful story in the Book of Acts, in
which the apostle Paul had been arrested for
preaching the Gospel. He was brought before King
Agrippa and given the opportunity to share his
testimony of how he became a Christian. He told
Agrippa that the Lord had commissioned him to preach
the Gospel and:

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith
that is in me. (Acts 26:18)

Agrippa continued listening and then said to Paul,
“Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian (vs.
28).” Paul answered him:

“I would to God, that not only thou, but also all
that hear me this day, were both almost, and
altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” (vs.
29)

If Paul had been following the emerging mentality,
he would have told Agrippa, “No need to become a
Christian. You can remain just as you are; keep all
your rituals and practices, just say you like
Jesus.” In actuality, if Paul had been practicing
emerging spirituality, he wouldn’t have been
arrested in the first place. He would not have stood
out, would not have preached boldly and without
reservation, and he would not have called himself a
Christian, which eventually became a death sentence
for Paul and countless others.” (from chapter 10,

Faith Undone)

Available at

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=212

Notes:
1. Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy, op.
cit., p. 293.
2. Rick Warren at the 2005 United Nations Prayer
Breakfast, September 2005. For more information
about the prayer breakfast, see “Rick Warren Speaks
about Purpose at United Nations” by Rhonda Tse (Christian
Post, September 14, 2005,
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20050914/21340_
Rick_ Warren_Speaks_about_ Purpose_at_ United_
Nations.htm); quote in this book is from transcript
of Warren’s talk that was provided to Lighthouse
Trails Publishing.
3. Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz
(Nashville,
TN: Zondervan, 2003), p. 115.
4. Erwin McManus,
The Barbarian Way
(Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005),p. 6.
5. “Youth with a Mission Experiments with New,
Unscriptural Missions Strategy” (Foundation, Watchman’s Trumpet, May – June 2000,
http://www.feasite.org/WTrumpet/fbcwt004.htm#Youth%20With),
p. 39.
6. Andy Butcher, “Radical Missionary Approach
Produces ‘Messianic Muslims’ Retaining Islamic
Identity” (Charisma News Service, March 24,
2000,
http://web.archive.org/web/20010818051517/www.charismanew
s.com/news.cgi?a=285&t=news.html).
7. Ibid., quoting from a report in “The
International YWAMer,” YWAM’s staff newsletter.
8. H. L. Richard, “Christ-Followers in India
Flourishing Outside the Church,” a review of
Churchless Christianity by Herbert Hoefer (Mission
Frontiers, March/April 1999,
http://www.missionfrontiers.org/1999/0304/articles/04f.htm).
9. Ibid.
10. Herbert Hoefer,
Churchless Christianity
(Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2001 edition),
p. xii.
11. Ibid., p. 17.
12. Ibid., p. 16.
13. Mike Oppenheimer, “A ‘New Evangelism’ for the
21st Century” (Let Us Reason ministries, 2006,
http://www.letusreason.org/Curren 33. htm).
14. Leonard Sweet,
Quantum Spirituality, op.
cit., p. 130.
15. Rick Warren, “Discussion: Religion and
Leadership,” with David Gergen and Rick Warren
(Aspen Ideas Festival, The Aspen Institute, July 6,
2005, http://www.aspeninstitute.org); for more
information: http://www. lighthouse
trailsresearch.com/newsletternovember05.htm.
16. David Steindl-Rast, “Recollection of Thomas
Merton’s Last Days in the West” (Monastic Studies,
7:10, 1969).
17. Peter Kreeft, Ecumenical Jihad, op. cit.,
pp. 30, 160.
18. Sandy Simpson and Mike Oppenheimer,
Idolatry
in Their Hearts (Pearl City, HI: Apologetics
Coordination Team, 2007, 1st Edition), p. 358