I’ve seen the future, it’s Venezuelan, Nigerian, Brazilian, Afghani, ...

Nov 21

I was on a call to my Argentinian friend Oggie Martin a few days ago. He’s an apostle to the Latino world of 600 million people. Wherever he goes, the gospel gets out, and the fruit is growing disciples, reproducing churches, and more workers.

Oggie’s come up with a plan to reach Spain via Venezuela. Venezuela is on the brink of collapse. There are few jobs and not much in the way of government support. To survive in Venezuela you need to start a business. Oggie has Venezuelans he’s trained to make disciples and plant churches, they don’t have any money. So one of them set up a bakery and supports himself by baking bread. He doesn’t have a lot of spare time so his whole life is ministry. Whatever he’s doing, wherever he is, he’s connecting, sharing, making disciples, and planting churches. It’s going well, even better than some workers who have full-time support.

Oggie has that apostolic gift, so he sees the big picture. He thinks, what if we could teach others to support themselves by baking bread? Imagine the impact on Venezuela. Then he found out that because of the crisis, Spain has prioritized Venezuelan immigration. If a Venezuelan can get to Spain, the government will welcome them and provide housing and support to help them get on their feet. Oggie wonders, why not send Venezuelan missionaries to Spain?

Oggie is still thinking about it, but that’s how he thinks.

This is what we miss in the prosperous West—the simplicity of the core missionary task, and the reality that we are no longer the center of the Christian world. There are impoverished Venezuelans ready and willing to bring the gospel back to Europe. The same is true of the Nigerians, Brazilians and I almost forgot—the Afghans, Arabs, Iranians, and Pakistanis. Refugees are fleeing war zones and finding Christ in Greece. They’re learning to follow Jesus, share the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches. I’ve met them. It’s happening. Some end up throughout Europe. Imagine that, Muslim background believers making disciples in Europe. Others choose to return home and take the gospel with them.

The missionary mandate Jesus gave is clear, concrete, and simple—I didn’t say easy. A Venezuelan in Spain, a Nigerian in London knows what to do. They make contact with people far from God. They share the gospel, they baptise and teach new disciples how to obey Christ in community. They train workers. They know that Christ goes with them as they go to the ends of the earth.

In the West, we’re in a missional fog. We think we’re going to renew creation, restructure the economy, smash the patriarchy, transform the city, and promote universal human flourishing. Or at least campaign for those things on Facebook and Twitter. That’s mission from the perspective of privilege and power. You can’t do those things unless you’re a Westerner or part of an elite in a poor nation. We’ve drifted from the center—salvation through Christ that leads to discipleship in community.

Oggie’s Venezuelans have the passion to obey Christ’s command to make disciples. They are the future. Let’s go with them.