From Tim Gombis:
I think that one thing that keeps evangelicals from missional encounters is that we have the illusion that we must first be equipped before we do anything.
Remember, the pattern in John 4 is that God sustain us with his own life when we take the initiative to encounter others in relationships of mutuality and with the aim of serving.
Evangelicals talk a lot about being “equipped” for ministry. We tend to imagine that we need to have all the right tools, get all the right teaching, and only then do we go out and get involved in our communities. I wonder if we think this way because we want to guarantee that we’ll get results. Or, perhaps we want some assurance that we won’t fail.
One unintended consequence of this way of thinking is that we have many Christians who soak in plenty of Bible teaching in their churches but never get (or take) opportunities to act redemptively in their communities.
Let me be clear, I think equipping is important. After all, he gave those of us in ministry to equip people for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). At the same time, Tim Gombis is right to point out the work of the Spirit in our lives. Jesus didn’t say to the Samaritan woman in John 4, “Hey, before you go back to town, you should spend 6 weeks going through the latest evangelism training.” She didn’t do that. She felt compelled to go and tell them about Jesus and a revival broke out. No training. No equipping. Just a changed person talking about Jesus.
Please, don’t let this lower your bar of equipping but rather raise your bar of the power of the Spirit’s work.
