13. Proclamation + Social Concern and Action
Can the biggest change in one’s life and theology come after that person is sixty years of age? Yes, and it happened to me and it happened to the movement that I helped start, Operation Mobilization.
We need to go back to John Stott, Billy Graham, and the 1974 World Congress on Evangelism in Lausanne, Switzerland, where thousands of Christian leaders from across the world met. I had a small seminar on the subject of Literature Evangelism and I think I missed some of the key messages. There was a great debate going on about how these two fit together and in the end the famous Lausanne Document declared they must come together: social action and proclamation. Many articles and books came out for and against the decision, but this Congress, plus many other people’s books and movements changed the course of history. Keep in mind that some churches and missionaries were already way out front in combining these two aspects of ministry. Just look at General Booth and the Salvation Army!
Years before this, Operation Mercy had begun under Bertil Engqvist, a major leader in OM from Sweden. I remember giving the go-ahead on this especially with the hope that most of the funding would come out of Sweden.
Afghanistan was one of the key nations in our vision from the very beginning. This kind of ministry was the only way to function in that nation and also among the refugees over the border in Pakistan where Gordon Magney (founder of our work there and now buried in Kabul) carried on the work with his wife, Grace. They had an amazing ministry of caring for all kinds of physical needs and trying to bring the gospel at the same time. Not an easy task.
Joseph D’souza, who was the leader of the work in India, was one of the pacesetters of the whole movement to bring about this huge change. The Good Shepherd slum work with clinics and schools was historic in our movement, and now there are over 110 much larger schools across the nation especially for the Dalit children who are so often denied a proper education. Over 200 million in India are considered untouchable. Many believe it is a form of slavery. We are not speaking of low caste people (of which there are hundreds of millions more), but those of an even lower social status—outcasts. Our concern for these people helped change the course of our history. This situation should not exist in what is called the world’s largest democracy, but it does, and in God’s mysterious way of working in one of the world’s messiest situations, hundreds of thousands of these people are coming to Jesus.
During my exercise walks I have been listening to Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace?, especially the part about segregation. We now wonder how that generation, including some professing Christians, could have been so blind, racist, and hateful. It seems unreal.
The new generation in South Africa is amazed at what their parents believed and practiced (praise Jesus for every exception) in those days known as apartheid. When they watch films or read the history they find it hard to believe and often feel ashamed.
Here is my big question to all who read this: what issues today do we have so wrong that future generations will stand in amazement at our blindness, prejudice, laziness, or stupidity? Wow, now there’s a finger pointing at me!
I believe one of these issues is untouchability. This system has created a group of people who are living in a form of slavery and apartheid with hyper-segregation. As this goes on, it affects the daily lives of over 200 million people, mainly in India, but other nations as well.
Where do you stand on this issue? What are you and I doing about it? We should ask ourselves the question: what will our children and grandchildren be saying about us in the future?
I lived in India and missed it, but I thank God for those who helped me wake up so that one of the major goals in my life is to see this changed.
The next step for some of you may be to read Joseph D’souza’s book Dalit Freedom Now and Forever.
In 1998, at our annual leaders conference in South Africa, I announced that in five years I would step out of the international leadership of the movement. That took place in the summer of 2003.
As I transitioned out of leadership some were thinking, “That Verwer, Mr. Proclamation-Evangelization, he’ll never change!” Imagine their surprise as God moved me to embrace this theology of ministry. I saw it clearly in the Bible and in history. This has changed the way I think and speak and live. It especially changed how I use my time and money. In our Special Project Ministry, which Peter Maiden and the leaders of OM felt I should keep and lead as part of OM, we began to get involved in more projects connected with global social concerns from the AIDS crisis to the impure water problem and every possible struggle connected with poverty. I realized as I moved down the road of more concern for human rights that this must include the rights of the unborn. Linked with Patrick Dixon we flooded out a couple hundred thousand copies of his book AIDS Action in many languages. With Randy Alcorn we moved tens of thousands of copies of Why Pro-Life? In some languages it was the first Christian book on that subject ever put into print. God opened doors to share this message all over the world, even on television, radio, and the Internet.
There is not space in this book to go into the details of the challenges and changes that faced us all in the movement as this took place. It has not been an easy marriage, but of course marriage never is. Some felt that basic evangelism was being pushed aside and that social action and relief projects were totally dominating the movement.
Debates took place and papers were written. The whole work seemed to become more complex and messy. The pressure to raise funds for crucial needs and crises seemed to be off the charts. Looking back, the provision of funds for so much great ministry in answer to prayer constantly amazes me. I am not sure that anyone knows how much bigger the annual budget is now in comparison to what some call the “old days.” It’s doubled a number of times. I sense we still have a good balance with evangelism and church planting still being at the very heart of what we do. The books and audiovisuals that come out of OM are clear. For example, in the case of my own ministry and special projects I speak about all these things, but since mine is a relatively small amount of money compared to OM’s total income, I feel that most of it should be used for reaching millions with the gospel.
I am especially encouraged with the ship ministry and the way it keeps reaching people with the gospel—especially using literature. Over 40 million people have actually been up the gangway, and tens of millions more have been reached in onshore outreach and church ministry.
What moved me in the direction of social concern? First of all it was a deeper study of Scripture—both the Old and New Testament. Men of God like John Stott and others of a similar mind were a huge influence. Even some with whom I did not agree caused me to search my heart and be ready for radical change.
Yes, OM has become more complicated and some don’t like it and have abandoned us, but others are being raised up, especially of the younger generation to carry the work forward. One of the most encouraging things in the movement is the army of younger leaders from close to a hundred nationalities that God has raised up to carry the vision and the work forward.
My own life and the lives of Drena and our small staff have also become more complex. We seem to have less time to do things we used to do. We have discovered a whole series of different obstacles as we walk down this road, but in the end we are cast on God as we have always been. We have seen amazing answers to prayer, and thanks to some great books we know more about how to handle unanswered prayer. If you are challenged by this in your life, I recommend God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Greig, the founder of the 24-7 prayer movement.