Church Planting or Development? Word and Deed in Biblical Balance

What is the gospel? Is it a verbal message of salvation? Is it a cup of clean water? Both? Is it wrong to dichotomize between the physical and the spiritual? What about the temporal and the eternal? In our obedience to the "great commission" should we focus on church planting or development?

For a while I have struggled with the balance of words and deeds as they relate to new covenant ministry. Then I read this quote and it put it all together for me:

Many people who say that evangelism and the Word are more important than mercy and deed base this on a belief that the "spiritual" (ministry of the word) is more important than the "physical" (ministry of deed). It is common to speak of "the priority of the spiritual," but is that a biblical idea? God created both the material and the immaterial halves of reality (Gen. 2:4-7). Both the material and immaterial came under the disorder and decay of sin (Gen. 3:14-19). Moreover, God plans to redeem both our spirits (Heb. 12:23) and our bodies (1 Cor. 15)-both the material and the immaterial. How, then, can we speak about the "physical" as being less important than the "spiritual"? Does God give one priority over the other?...

Having said this, we must nonetheless recognize that, from one perspective, the ministry of the word is the most radical ministry. What do we mean by that? "Radical" often is used to mean "extremist," but that is not the fundamental meaning of the word. The radix is "the root"; to be radical means to go to the root of a thing. We said in an earlier chapter that our alienation from God, our condition of being in a state of "condemnation" (Rom. 8:1-2), is the root from which all our miseries flow. Psychological brokenness, social injustice, and even physical disintegration are due to and flow out of our warfare with God. Thus, the more radical ministry to the condition of man is to proclaim the word of faith (Rom. 10:8-13). There is no more fundamental means to cut the root of sin and death than with the verbal message of the gospel.

Tim Keller, Ministries of Mercy, p. 114

Humankind's greatest problem is a "spiritual" one; separation from God. All other problems stem from our evil rebellion against him. So if our greatest problem is spiritual, then the solution is in kind. Thus, the gospel is a not a cup of clean water, but a cosmic reality of the person and work of Jesus who reconciles humankind with God through his death and resurrection. Carson says this:

Pundits have often noted that many in the Western world have become single-issue people. The church is not immune from such influences. The result is that many Christians assume the gospel (often, regrettably, some form of the 'simple gospel') but are passionate about something on the relative periphery: abortion, poverty, forms of worship, cultural decay, ecology, overpopulation, pornography, family breakdown, and much more. By labeling these complex subjects 'relatively peripheral' I open myself to attack from as many quarters as there are subjects on the list. For example, some of those whose every thought is shaded green will not be convinced that the ecological problems we face are peripheral to human survival. But I remain quite unrepentant. From a biblical-theological perspective, these challenges, as serious as they are, are reflections of the still deeper problem—our odious alienation from God. If we tackle these problems without tackling what is central, we are merely playing around with symptoms. This is no excuse for Christians not to get involved in these and many other issues. But it is to insist that where we get involved in such issues, many of which are explicitly laid upon us in scripture, we do so from the centre out, ie beginning with full-orbed gospel proclamation and witness and passion, and then, while acknowledging that no one can do everything, doing our 'significant something' to address the wretched entailments of sin in our world. The good news of Jesus Christ will never allow us to be smug and other-worldly in the face of suffering and evil. But what does it profit us to save the world from smog and damn our own souls? There are lots of ways of getting rid of pornography. For instance, one does not find much smut in Saudi Arabia. But one doesn't find much of the gospel there, either.

The point is that in all our efforts to address painful and complex societal problems, we must do so from the centre, out of a profound passion for the gospel. This is for us both a creedal necessity and a strategic choice. It is a creedal necessity because this gospel alone prepares men and women for eternity, for meeting our Maker—and all problems are relativized in the contemplation of the cross, the final judgment, and eternity. It is a strategic choice because we are persuaded that the gospel, comprehensively preached in the power of the Spirit, will do more to transform men and women, not least their attitudes, than anything else in the world.

D.A. Carson, For Such a Time as This: Perspectives on Evangelicalism, Past, Present and Future, p. 83

I think the fog over what constitutes the "gospel" can be cleared up by distinguishing between the "gospel" and the "effects" of the gospel. When we have been redeemed and are in a relationship with God, then this good news works itself out in all areas of our life holistically. The gospel changes more than hearts because it changes hearts first. But we do a deep disservice to people when we collapse evangelism and social good to the same level. Yes we should "do good to all people" (Gal. 6:10) and "be zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14) and "devote ourselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need" (Titus 3:14). But we should not forget what makes that all possible to begin with (2 Cor. 5:11ff).

One illustration a friend shared with me recently is the relationship between faith and works. Of course faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). But the precedence is not with works, it is with faith. Genuine faith makes good works possible: the purpose for which we are saved (Eph. 2:10). There is a lot of overlap between church planting and development, but they are not the same. Properly planted churches will have a heart for development, but if not, they are "dead."

What all people fundamentally need is the gospel, and what the developing world fundamentally lacks is not development, but indigenous churches. Meeting the development needs of the world is a job only the Spirit-empowered local church can manage in my opinion. So in our zeal for development we must contend that church planting is the biblical and strategic indispensable focus for the good of people, and ultimately, for discipling nations.

Related:

The Gospel Coalition Video Panel Discussion "Gospel Centered Mercy Ministry vs. The Social Gospel" (12 minutes)

"What do missionaries do?" by Michael Griffiths

The Resurgence And: Words and Deeds