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Thousands of delegates from nearly 200 countries sat in rapt silence as the chief missiologist rose to his feet to open the second world congress of the Great Commission Council. An imposing figure, the chief opened his long-awaited oration with unforgettable words: "The Great Commission will be fulfilled within the lifetime of most of us sitting here tonight!"

Armed with the latest figures and computerized maps, he showed that the unevangelized have dropped to less than 20 percent of the total population for the first time in history. The audience applauded when he reported, "We now have 760 million 'Great Commission Christians' actively sharing their faith—a 150 percent increase since 1970."

Apocryphal? Partly. There is no Great Commission Council or chief missiologist, but the speech's tone has been evident at many missions conferences I have attended, and the facts are accurate (see David Barrett's Statistical Table on Global Mission: 2000 and Patrick Johnstone's Operation World [1993]).

But let's continue with the story.

The missiologist revealed a similar numeric cornucopia for Scripture distribution, Christian agencies and workers, use of the mass media, and income for global missions. But he saved the best for last. He boldly predicted that the remaining unreached people groups can be met by moving only 0.4 percent of the Christian workforce to countries in the 10/40 window.

"The end is in sight at long last!" he proclaimed.

Bedlam erupted in the great hall. Then a diminutive African delegate headed to the platform and reached for the microphone.

The audience quieted down. Her countenance was heavy with sorrow. "I am from the country that has been considered by many of you to be the greatest example of success in world missions," she began. She told how the church was planted over a century ago, and how today 85 percent of the people call themselves Christians. Much of the growth came from evangelical and Pentecostal churches, which exceed 25 percent of the total. Excitement grew in the hall as she described high interest in Bible study and prayer.

But then she asked, "Do any of you know where I am from?" Many guesses were called out, all of which were wrong. She finally said: "I am from Rwanda"—the same country in which, in 1994, 600,000 Tutsis and 400,000 Hutus died, many of them slaughtered with machetes as they huddled in churches.

"In all of your zeal for evangelism, you brought us Christ but never taught us how to live."

If the end is in sight, how do we explain Rwanda, as well as other so-called Christian countries where unrestrained materialism, oppression of the underprivileged, and deterioration of moral values increase annually? Surely these are not the consequences envisioned by our Lord when he said, "Go and make disciples … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18–20). To put it bluntly, something has gone wrong with the harvest.

To be sure, the church has always held its treasure in an earthen vessel. Blemishes are inevitable, no matter what we do. Nevertheless, the missions community must shoulder its share of the blame for the current state of affairs. The problem, I believe, is that we are perpetuating paradigms of world missions, some of which date back to the late 1800s, some of which are more modern creations. Tragically, many of the results that we enthusiastically applaud deviate pretty far from what Jesus taught and demonstrated by his life.

Legendary evangelist Dwight L. Moody correctly captured the mood of evangelicals at the end of the 19th century when he declared, "I look upon the world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, 'Moody, save all you can.' " Dreams of transforming society with the gospel had been dashed after the Civil War (since society would be transformed only by Christ when he returned in glory). This left only one option: a single-minded focus on evangelism as the mission of the church.

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August 7 2000, Vol. 44, No. 9