Holistic

Day 33 

A high school classmate who writes a blog wrote about the “holistic” approach to evangelism, which involves caring for the whole person, not just for their spiritual needs. He asked for responses, so below is what I wrote with some expansion.

Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel . . .”(Mark 16:15)

Paul: “I am determined to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and him crucified.”(1 Corinthians 2:2)

The believer’s role as an ambassador on this earth is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (i.e. He was God who became Man, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life {John 3:16}.)

Compassion for people’s physical needs is indeed Christlike. That compassion can lead to a tremendous ministry. I am not at all against caring for those needs. HOWEVER, my concern is that much of today’s”holistic missions” is focused on giving people bread, or fighting for “social justice”, or giving them a vaccine, or building them a house – i.e. meeting physical needs. Let me reiterate, these things are good things, and I’m not encouraging anyone to stop doing them. But when they become the focus and the Gospel is left out, or minimized, or reduced to a mere “Jesus loves you, so here’s a bag of rice”, that is hardly holistic. It is, in truth, hardly loving. Any unsaved moral person can do that, and many do. I’m afraid that often when we aim to be “holistic”, we may end up instead becoming “unbalanced”, leaning too much in the direction of an individual’s felt needs.

We must never forget that we have something of eternal value to offer.

We need to realize that these people, for all their other needs, are on their way to hell. A lack of sharing eternal bread is a grave error that I’ve seen and heard from many (and especially) short term mission trips. To use the old illustration, you’re painting a sinking ship when you neglect the gospel – you may fill their bellies, tell them nice (even “spiritual”) stories, or protect them from the wind and rain, but have you done anything to make them aware of their greatest need? Our primary purpose, as seen in the Great Comission, is a spiritual one.

Paul was a man with deep love and compassion for others, and yet his primary focus was not ridding the world of evil and injustice. As he stated in the letter the Corinthians, his goal was to glorify Jesus by spreading his gospel. His goal was to see the lost saved from hell by God’s grace.