Why Our Mission Is So Critical

Richard Fox of Yale University observes that evangelicals have created a “pantheon of Jesuses” from which we pick and choose the one we need based on felt needs.

Chuck Colson says that our churches have become “retail outlets” with members as “consumers” and Jesus as the “product.”

Dr. Timothy George warns, “The erosion of Christ-exalting faith threatens to undermine the very identity of evangelical Christianity.”

One of the nation’s leading pastors wrote recently, “The reason the Church is having so little impact on our nation is because Christ is having so little impact on His Church.”

No wonder the George Barna Group summarized recent demographic research this way:

Overall, Christian ministry is stuck in a deep rut. Too many Christians and churches in America have traded in spiritual passion for empty rituals, clever methods and mindless practices. The challenge to today’s Church is not methodological. It is the challenge to resuscitate the spiritual passion and fervor of the nation’s Christians.

The American Church Research Project (2008) concurs:

In reality, the church in America is not booming. It is in crisis. Its renewal and restoration must begin with an awe-inspiring encounter with Jesus Christ—the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Messiah and Lord. Returning to Jesus as our central focus is critical to the health and growth of missional churches.

Proclaim HOPE! defines this sobering crisis as a “shortfall”—a debilitating deficiency in how multitudes of Christians see, seek, and savor God’s Son for ALL that he is, which leads to a shortfall in how we speak, show, serve, and share God’s Son for ALL that he is. We may be “PURPOSE-driven” in commendable ways, but multitudes are not yet truly “PERSON-driven.”

Many of us need to be awakened to a renewed vision of the greatness and glory of the person of God’s Son. To be “person-driven” makes one “promise-driven,” then “passion-driven,” and then “purpose-driven.” But when Christ’s Person is not exalted among us for ALL that he is, believers often find themselves exhausted in trying to serve his purposes.

We have one great hope in the face of this core “crisis of Christology.”
It is what Proclaim HOPE! describes as an
AMERICAN CHRIST AWAKENING.
Let’s define the terms.

A “Christ awakening” (as we define it) takes place whenever “God’s Spirit uses God’s Word to reintroduce God’s people to God’s Son for ALL he is.” Or again, we say, “A Christ awakening involves the whole church (local or national) becoming wholly alive to the whole vision of who Jesus Christ is today.” Here’s our third definition: “A Christ awakening manifests itself when a congregation of God’s people becomes so saturated by God’s Spirit with the glories of the Lord Jesus that they begin to saturate their community with the gospel of God’s Son.”

Historically, we know that such a fresh work of the Holy Spirit results in measurable changes—first for believers, their churches, and their outreaches. Out of those transformations, however, come increased advances of Christ’s Kingdom within the culture at large as well as among the nations. Whenever Christians wake up to fresh hope, passion, prayer, and mission focused on the full extent of the supremacy of Christ, they rise to serve the King of Glory in whole new ways.

Calling it “nationwide” indicates that Christ awakenings can become God’s gift to all streams of the Church throughout a nation (and thus able to impact the life of a nation as a whole).

Calling it a “movement” highlights how Christ awakenings spread from individuals to individuals, churches to churches, cities to cities, even one region to another.

The term “reintroduce” points to the change of heart and mind every Christ awakening brings as God’s Spirit uses God’s Word to turn God’s people around and move them toward a fresh encounter with God’s Son.

This requires a unique paradigm shift in worldview. As vital as it is, we no longer stop with the truth of the “centrality of Christ”—that is, his right to be at the center of who we are, where we are headed, what we are doing, and how we get blessed. Instead, our outlook on everything is now shaped by the grander truth of the “supremacy of Christ.” Roles are reversed. Believers build their lives in Christ based on his right to keep us at the center of who HE is, where HE is headed, what HE is doing, and how HE gets blessed.

That is why God-initiated awakenings always arise, in no small measure, from the sustained efforts of what Proclaim HOPE! calls “Messengers of Hope”—clergy and lay leaders alike who spread biblical truths and promises focused on Christ’s majesty and supremacy within their spheres of influence. Proclaiming at every opportunity the ascension of Christ and his ongoing, redeeming reign right now, Messengers of Hope stir fellow Christians to be reconverted back to God’s Son for ALL that he is. Their efforts are key not only to igniting but also sustaining any emerging Christ awakening movement.

This is the heart of the vision and mission of Proclaim HOPE!—warning God’s people of this deadly crisis, inviting them to awake to Christ and the full extent of his supremacy, and helping them discover more about Christ, experience more of Christ, and become
more for Christ.