Through Al's experience you have learned how far we Christians are from attaining the goal the risen Savior set for us. We have not preached the good news to all creation (Mark 16:15), because billions of human beings lie outside the influence of our preaching. We have not made disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19), because 10,000 cultural groups have not been sufficiently penetrated by the gospel. Unfortunately, there is a wide gap "between World Evangel-ism, which is working away at the job, and World Evangel-ization, which is getting the job done. Finished! Period!" (Board for Communication Services 1986, 5).

In response to this news, some readers might object,"You said in Chapter 1 that missions was a joyous topic, that being a world Christian was life's most thrilling activity. But Chapter 2 was one of the most unsettling stories I've ever read. Joy! You have to be kidding. I just feel frustrated, guilty, and burdened."

Frustration, guilt, and a sense of burden have hindered the mission joy of many Christians, leaving them overwhelmed, incapacitated, and discouraged. If you are frustrated, you are not alone. I, too, have been baffled by the immensity of the task. If guilt is gnawing at you, you are not the only one who has felt that way. I wrestled with mission guilt for many years. If you feel burdened, remember that all world Christians bear a burden for the lost, but they have learned how to cope with it.

In this chapter you will learn how the Lord overcomes our frustration, removes our guilt, and helps us bear the burden. As you read, "may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 15:13).

The Frustration that Saps Our Energies

Frustration is the anguished feeling of helplessness that Al experienced on the train leaving New Delhi. He longed to escape by closing his eyes to the vast, mind-boggling challenge. This is not unusual. Even the veteran world Christian occasionally feels overwhelmed by the magnitude of the work to be done.

We need to learn how to overcome our frustrations, so that they do not suffocate our desire to see the day when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14). So let's learn how to deal with three common frustrations.

1. I thought we were almost done

This attitude is expressed in the complaint, "You mean we aren't almost finished? I was under the assumption that we had reached almost all the world. "

Some call this assumption "The Comfortable Doctrine." It makes us feel successful and obedient. We assume that if some unbelieving person wants to know about Christ, he needs only to walk a few miles to the local church and inquire. In many parts of the world, this is false, because (1) there is no local church; or (2) the Christians who meet there speak another language, have a different culture, or belong to a different social class than our hypothetical inquirer.

Many lay people and pastors believe the comfortable doctrine, sincerely assuming that it is true. I confess that I myself was guilty of this misconception during my first four years as a pastor. The comfortable doctrine is very popular for three reasons.

1. There is the statistical mirage, mentioned earlier, of thinking only in terms of political entities Christians have entered (195 of 215) and not in terms of ethnic groups with thriving indigenous churches (only 14,000 of 24,000).
2. In the 1950s and 1960s rising nationalism influenced the course of world evangelization. While colonies clamored for self-rule, in like manner national churches campaigned for independence from missionaries and Western mission boards. Droves of missionaries were called home, and many Christians concluded that the age of missions had ended. In general, independence has benefited the churches overseas. However, instead of sending the missionaries home, the mission boards should have reassigned those who were willing, to new pioneer mission work among unreached peoples.
3. The comfortable doctrine is just that--comfortable. To reach all nations, we would prefer to believe that little or no effort is required on our part. In contrast, the truth that Al learned is quite uncomfortable and calls for personal involvement and sacrifice.

"A world Christian isn't smarter or better than other Christians. By God's grace he has made a discovery so unsettling and unacceptable to him as a disciple who loves his Lord, that he will never be the same. He has discovered the great gulf between what our Lord asked us to do for Him and what we are getting done. By faith he has thrown himself into the breach. He has accepted the Great Commission of Christ and by faith has chosen to help" (Board for Communication Services 1986, 13).

To be a world Christian requires courage to face stark reality. It demands dedication to Christ, a dedication which refuses to allow the distressing reality to continue.

2. It's impossible!

When we attempt to cram the image of 4 billion lost people into our hearts, it is more than we can fathom. Great is the temptation to surrender and conclude "It can't be done! It's just impossible to preach Christ to all the world! "

Many Christians have fallen prey to such thinking. For a time they are moved by the great need and challenge of reaching the lost. But after a while a sense of hopelessness, perhaps accompanied by a cloud of depression, sets in. The burden grows so heavy that these Christians begin to look for other tasks that seem more manageable. They rationalize their flagging interest in world evangelization: "Why wear myself out on a job that can never be completed? Christ must have been deluded to think it was possible."

The question to ask, however, is "Who is deluded, we or Christ?" Jesus never even hinted at the possibility that the Great Commission was unattainable. "It all comes down to: Either Christ was deceived in believing that the job can be done, or we are deceived in believing that it cannot" (Fenton 1973, 63). We tend to be fearful and doubtful when we think of the billions that need to hear the gospel. Do we have the forces to reach the world for Christ? "It can be demonstrated mathematically that all of our Lord's churches in the Western world, and all of His rising churches in the Third World, these put together can get the evangelization job done'' (Board for Communication Services 1986, 6).

Professor C. Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena estimates that less than 1 percent of believers have the gift of being able to live in another culture and be a missionary. This may seem low, but it is sufficient to do the job (Wagner 1983, 68). According to the U.S. Center for World Missions approximately 200 million Christians in this world are seriously concerned about sharing Christ with others. If one out of every 200 were to become a cross-cultural missionary, this would provide one million mission reinforcements. With that force we would have one worker for every five thousand unreached persons (Bryant 1985, 44).

The statistics indicate that there would be sufficient missionary personnel to reach the whole world if the church would mobilize all its forces for that purpose. When a war of the magnitude of World War II is being waged, you don't win by playing at it. To win you must mobilize all your forces and utilize all the resources and citizenry of your land. The spiritual war against Satan and the unbelieving world will require even more dedication and concentration of effort. But the war can be won.

Who else is on our side? Why God Himself with His powerful, life-giving Word and Sacraments! Trusting in Him, we can persevere against all obstacles and win. One last frustration calls for our attention.

3. I can't save the world

When faced with the teeming millions of Christless people, many Christians have responded, "The numbers boggle my mind. What can I do? I want to help, but I can't save the whole world. I can't even save a thousand.''

Folks who think like this react in one of two ways. Most become so burdened that they just give up. Others burn themselves out, driven by an inflated sense of personal responsibility. But the world Christian need not fall into either of these traps.

Answer this: How many people has God ordered you to lead to faith in the Savior? A million? A thousand? Ten? The Lord never said, did He?

Surely, God wants all people to be saved, but He never handed you a Superman costume and ordered you to save them all. Rather, He calls you to fulfill a one-person-sized role in the vast spiritual war in which we are engaged. Although there were some outstanding heroes in World War II, it was not won by a handful of crack commandos. On the contrary, victory resulted from the efforts of millions of soldiers, sailors, pilots, marines, and supporting civilians who were faithfully at their posts day after day and obeyed the commands of their superiors with a "Yes, sir!"

In the same way, God wants you, and every Christian, to do what one faithful soldier can do, not to do the work of a whole battalion. This is a liberating concept. Even though the Great Commission is a mammoth undertaking without equal, God merely calls you to do a you-sized job. When you grasp this fact, the frustration dissolves, and you are freed to be a world Christian, doing your small but significant part in the grand effort.

What do I mean by a you-sized role?

• For a senior citizen in Ontario it means praying every day for missionaries in the Middle East.
• For a woman in Ohio it means receiving newsletters from a dozen missionaries so that she can edit a mission column in her congregation's monthly newsletter.
• For a man in Dallas it means patrolling inner-city streets one night a week to minister to runaways, drug addicts, and prostitutes.
• For a housewife in Seattle it means cooking meals at the Seamen's Center for foreign sailors who come to port.

Do you catch the implication of these examples? You don't have to go overseas to be a world Christian. You don't have to become a full-time overseas missionary to be a supporter of world evangelization.

When each of us plays a one-person-sized role, God the Holy Spirit coordinates our efforts with those of other like-minded believers. He sees that the amazingly vast enterprise is brought to completion. The mission challenge that confronted Al and confronts us is really not our challenge at all. It is the Holy Spirit's challenge. He is the field marshal; we are His forces. Though the task before us may boggle our minds, it does not boggle His mind in the least. He has been orchestrating the campaign for thousands of years. He still does it today.

Liberated from the Superman complex, you can toss the leotards and cape into the trash and pull on the comfortable work overalls of the average world Christian.

Chapter 3 continues in Part 2 of 3.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.