9 Barriers to Developing an Apostolic Imagination

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The mind drives actions. What we think affects how we live. A vision for reaching the nations at home and abroad must be influenced by the paradigms and thoughts we encounter in the Scriptures. However, cultures and contexts, traditions and temptations, and comfort and conformity frequently interrupt right thinking and action. This post notes nine key barriers that must be addressed in order to rekindle the apostolic imagination. These are not mutually exclusive but woven together to create a great challenge for the Church.

Mission vs. Missions: A Theological Shift

The distinction between mission and missions has shaped modern missiology. The concept of missio Dei, popularized in the 1952 Willingen Conference, reframed mission as originating from the Trinity, not the Church. Theologians like Karl Barth and Johannes Hoekendijk emphasized God’s activity in the world, sometimes prioritizing social action over evangelism. This shift led to a broad view of mission, encompassing everything from church planting to social justice. Now, the Church often fails to prioritize apostolic labors, assuming all activities are equal. This theological shift moved the Church's perspective from an emphasis on proclamation and disciple-making.

The terms mission and missions lack biblical wording, leading to fluid, context-driven definitions. David Bosch noted mission is "undefinable," shaped by cultural and historical factors. This elasticity blurred the Church’s focus. Bosch’s Transforming Mission (1991) argued contemporary contexts, not Scripture alone, define mission, creating a gap between biblical practices and modern applications. This reliance on cultural hermeneutics hinders a return to the apostolic imagination, as the Church struggles to bridge the first-century context with today’s realities.

Theological Shifts and Liberal Influences

From the 18th to 20th centuries, theological shifts towards liberalism, pluralism, and inclusivism diminished the focus on apostolic work. The Bible faced anti-supernatural critiques, and Jesus’ atonement was reduced to a moral example in some circles. William Ernest Hocking’s Re-Thinking Missions (1932) reflected this, prioritizing societal improvement over conversion. Such trends de-emphasized the exclusivity of Christ and apostolic labors, favoring presence-based witness. These theological drifts continue to challenge the Church’s ability to reclaim a bold, proclamation-centered mission.

Evangelism vs. Social Justice

The debate between evangelism and social justice has long divided the Church. John Stott's assertion that urgent material needs may supersede evangelism opened the door to prioritizing social action. The 2010 Lausanne Congress highlighted this tension, with John Piper emphasizing eternal suffering over temporal relief. The Church’s drift towards social justice; while vital, such often overshadows the apostolic priority of disciple-making, diluting its missional focus.

Pastoral Hegemony

The dominance of pastoral ministry has overshadowed apostolic functions. Pastors focus on sanctification and equipping established churches, whereas apostolic teams prioritize cross-cultural evangelism and church planting. In the Majority World, missionaries shifted from apostolic to pastoral roles, assisting with church development rather than pioneering new works. Ralph Winter noted 90% of missionaries now engage in technical or educational tasks, reflecting a pastoral model. This shift stifles the apostolic imagination, as the Church applies maintenance-oriented strategies to contexts requiring bold, evangelistic outreach as five billion remain unreached.

Theological Training Limitations

Theological education, rooted in pastoral needs since the Reformation, often neglects apostolic preparation. Seminaries prioritize preaching within worship gatherings, not the intercultural contexts apostolic teams encounter. Seminaries prepare pastors for established church ministries. When they train missionaries, likewise, the mature church model remains as the foundation of the pedagogy. Apostolic workers are often left to figure it out on their own, or approach their missionary labors from a pastoral perspective. While formal missionary training programs have grown, they remain secondary to pastoral education, limiting the development of leaders equipped for apostolic work among unreached peoples.

Equalization of Evangelism

The Church often views all evangelism as equal, ignoring the need for intercultural outreach. Ralph Winter’s E-2 and E-3 evangelism (cross-cultural and radically cross-cultural, respectively) addressed this, emphasizing the need to reach unreached peoples beyond local church gatherings. The apostolic imagination requires recognizing that sharing the gospel within one’s cultural context (E-0, E-1) is insufficient when global cultural barriers persist--even when those global barriers are found within one's neighborhood.

Domestic vs. International Dichotomy

The historical divide between “home” and “foreign” missions, rooted in Christendom’s worldview, misaligns apostolic priorities. Globalization and migration moved unreached peoples to Western nations, yet the Church often limits apostolic work to overseas contexts. This dichotomy restricts apostolic labors, as the Church fails to address cultural, not just geographical, barriers to the gospel.

Good Intentions and Technology

Technological advancements and good intentions have fueled short-term mission trips, with 1.6 million U.S. Christians participating by 2005. Many people focus on relief or education, not apostolic tasks like evangelism or church planting. This shift, driven by a desire for quick results, diverts resources from long-term disciple-making among unreached peoples.

Instant Gratification

The Western emphasis on instant gratification has infiltrated missions, favoring quick, measurable outcomes like building projects over the often slow work of disciple making and church planting. Edwin Zehner noted a growing evangelical preference for practical, immediate results. This mindset smothers the apostolic imagination, as the Church prioritizes rapid accomplishments over the patient, Spirit-led labor of apostolic mission.

Conclusion

Rekindling the apostolic imagination requires addressing these barriers—realigning mission with biblical priorities, clarifying language, resisting theological drifts, appropriate coupling of social justice with evangelism, rethinking pastoral dominance, reforming theological training, prioritizing cross-cultural evangelism, dissolving artificial dichotomies, redirecting good intentions, and valuing long-term impact over instant results. By rediscovering what Alan Hirsch called the “Apostolic Genius,” the Church can faithfully engage in God’s mission, proclaiming the gospel and making disciples in every context.

For more on this topic see my book Apostolic Imagination: Recovering a Biblical Vision for the Church's Mission Today