The Anti-Manichaeist

I received a free dvd from George Verwer of Operation Mobilization that involves a sermon he gave on how his notion of mission has developed and what are the serious global scourges that he believes we as good samaritans should be addressing.

Verwer begins the video with a prayer that we will be able to respond in a proactive way to the problems of today, rather than with the resignation of God’s “frozen chosen” ones. He cites how a third of the world today profess faith in Christianity and that, while not all who profess the faith may not truly know God, he states that nominal Christians tend to be more open to the Gospel. He describes how God often works in two or three steps with an illustration of how many in India had to come out of Hinduism before they would come to Christianity.

He uses Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan, as the base text for his understanding of Mission. Jesus responded to the self-serving legalistic question of “who is my neighbor?” with a subversive story that called on Israel to show mercy to others(nations and individuals). He transitioned from there to describe how initially he felt only called to evangelize and give out Bibles and tracts with his organization, since there were other organizations like World Vision that took care of that other stuff. It took leaders like Tony Campolo and Samuel Escobar and a deeper understanding of the word of God to completely change him and make him see that he could not pass by people beaten up on the side of the road or just give them a tract or a Bible.

As such, he believes we need to try and meet peoples dire needs, but not if we are already over-committed. In that case, we need to contextualize his message and just take it into our hearts as part of our spiritual dna that we can pass along to others. An important reason for us to care about these issues is that it will appeal to Non Christians. When we sympathize with the issues others care a lot about and show some discernment of why they matter, we will find they are more open to talking about Jesus. In the post-modern world we live in, we need to affirm the good things that nonChristians do and avoid coming across as constantly negative or clubbing nonChristians with quotes from the Bible that they do not understand. Verwer believes that we Christians are responsible for a good deal of why there is so much prejudice among many against Christians. We need Holy Spirit discernment to understand our prevalent culture and be willing to see the potential for good in many cultural developments, like video games, and a willingness to change non-essentials like the songs we sing to reach out to others.

And so having set out his view of Missions, he describes the seven “persons” he believes that are on the road today in our world.
1. At Risk Children There are a billion children at risk today and many of them are dying, abused or sold into various forms of slavery.
2. At Risk Women Verwer touts the True Grit book mentioned earlier.
3. The Extreme Poor whom Verwer believes that God has a bias to. He mentions the Dalits, or Untouchables of India, many of whom are turning away from Hinduism and by the 100,000s are becoming Christians. In India, his organization is becoming involved with human rights, protecting the human rights of both Christians and Muslims in India. We need not just to evangelize, we need to build the kingdom everywhere, though this requires that we find a specific place to focus on and to get guidance for our actions. But if we capture the vision in our hearts, it will allow us to respond to do our part.
4. HIV/AIDS There are 40 Billion people with HIV. Verwer is going to go to Uganda with Patrick Dixon. The problem with the epidemic is that there is a lack of finances for combatting it. Verwer describes how his organization combines aid with the message of salvation and describes how many who are dying respond to the message of the Gospel, but that there is still a need to mobilize for prevention.
5. Thirsty Person: 30% of people do not have access to pure water. We need to pray for the release of money to help improve the quality of many people’s water supply.
6. Planet Earth/Environment Verwer describes how by listening/talking/sympathizing with others where you can about the need for creative solutions to the environmental problems of our time, we may be able to reach out to others.
7. Lukewarm Christians are the greatest problem of our time. The problem here is not to struggle with lukewarmness, but rather when we succumb or give in to lukewarmness and disappointment. We need to learn to survive, adapt to circumstances, become God’s marathon runners. This can include reaching out to people who may be lonely during Christmas. We must not let ourselves be overwhelmed, but we also need to realize that even a small thing done for those lying on the side of the road can have a transformational effect. For it’s “easier to cool down a fanatic than to wake up a corpse!”

Too much enthusiasm will never be a problem( so long as it open to the need to learn from our own and other’s experiences)!

You can contact George Verwer by email at
George at verwer point om point org
Operation Mobilization
Box 17, Bromley, Kent
England BR1 3JP
Tel (0) 20 8777 5268

dlw