A Mission for the 21st Century

'How should old mission agencies adapt to the challenges of reaching the world in the 21st century?'

That is a question with which Andy Lines is having to wrestle. Last year Andy became the new General Secretary of Crosslinks, formerly known as the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society, and EN interviewed him recently to see, among other things, what his thoughts were.

Background: In his own words Andy Lines comes from 'a pretty privileged' home. His father was a director of the old Triang toys company. When he was 14 and at boarding school at Wellington College, his father died, and this made him think seriously concerning what life is about. On one of the Scripture Union Iwerne Minster camps he was soundly converted under the ministry of David Fletcher and others.

Having won an Army scholarship, Andy went to Durham University to read politics and then spent most of the 1980s in a Tank Regiment in what was then West Germany. There were massive temptations in the army in the areas of drink and sex, but by God's grace and with persistent follow-up from Christian leaders, Andy managed to survive as a young Christian officer and learned many useful lessons.

From one army to another

EN: From the Army you went into mission work in South America. How did that come about ?

A: I wanted to use my army experience to go to other places and do other things. Under the auspices of the army I opted to go on Operation Raleigh, a civilian project in Peru. I was asked to lead a team of 27 young people (five or six of whom were Christians). We lived together in the jungle of North East Peru for three months. We were helping with the resettling of mainly evangelical refugees from the civil war in the southern mountains of the country. The work included building bridges, installing water pumps and offering some medical help. We were working alongside some Dutch Presbyterian missionaries and there my eyes were opened to the possibilities of how I might use my army experience for God.

EN: What was your next move and how did the army experience help?

A: Well, I married Mandy, one of the members of the Peru team! Then, having fulfilled my obligations to the army, we went to All Nations Christian College for two years. I think the skill I had learned in the army was to do with leadership training. As young officers we were constantly looking out for men who would be future leaders. And that stood me in good stead for what I eventually went to do in Paraguay. Also I suppose that I learned in the army how to survive as a Christian on a fairly limited spiritual diet. That was useful too in other missionary situations.

South America

EN: What did you do in Paraguay?

A: Having spent some time in Spain to learn Spanish we went out to Paraguay in May 1991. We were based in Asuncion, the capital and linked with the Anglican churches there. We learned that the job description you are given often bears no relation to what you eventually end up doing. We were told we would be involved in middle-class evangelism. I actually took on the formation of a small Bible training Institute for lay leaders in the Paraguayan Anglican churches. Two Paraguayan colleagues and I ran evening classes. We followed the Read, Mark, Learn scheme from St. Helen's, Bishopsgate, with about 30 students, mainly women.

The great obstacle we faced was that in a post-dictatorship society, there were many people who had never been expected to think for themselves. They just wanted our notes verbatim. But when they found that, with God's help, they could interpret the Bible for themselves, they began to grow.

I was there with Mandy and our three children for eight and a half years. I was ordained there, and for the last three years I pastored an English-speaking congregation, as well as running evangelistic Bible studies in Spanish.

I suppose that my theme was putting into practice the personal discipleship and persevering follow-up that had been so crucial to me coming through my college and army days. So often, even in Britain, you get evangelism without the subsequent necessary follow-up.

Crosslinks job

EN: Since then you have come into the work of Crosslinks.

A: Yes. By 1999 we felt it was time to come home and be nearer to our widowed mothers and broaden our children's education. Eventually I was approached by the search-committee of Crosslinks, and since last year I have been the General Secretary.

EN: Crosslinks began in 1922 as the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society. What does it do now?

A: BCMS was founded on doctrinal issues. Those issues were the person and work of Christ and the authority of Scripture. It was first invited to be involved in the Canadian Arctic, but subsequently its work spread to places like Iran, China, East Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, Myanmar and India. It is a missionary society which has sent out doctors and other professionals, but there has always been an emphasis on the Bible and theological training.

EN: As new General Secretary what ideas do you have for the future of Crosslinks?

A: I have come from outside the society so I am on a steep learning curve. I am not a great visionary, but our logo says 'God's Word to God's World' and I suppose that is my basic vision. God's Word never changes, but the world changes rapidly and I think that is where I need, without denying the good work of the past, to bring a new thrust. I have to ask: 'What should world mission look like if we were starting from scratch in the 21st century?' And then I must ask: 'How can we as a society best facilitate that?'

Any answers?

EN: Do you have any answers to those questions?

A: I believe I am getting there. First, the old idea of the great white missionary going out to the heathen has rather come home to roost. The church is growing marvellously in many parts of the world while Britain itself is in need of the gospel. Already Crosslinks is involved in responding to requests to place Asian evangelists in appropriate settings in this country.

Second, Europe is very much on my mind. It is a costly place in financial terms. But it is where the gospel is needed today perhaps more than anywhere else. So we must not only send people into Europe, we must help train Europeans in their own countries to work in Europe. That is quite a difficult package for which to get support from British churches. They tend to like having a missionary of their own in the field.

Crosslinks has great connections in Africa. Most of East Africa has been evangelised, at least in an initial way. The great need there is for training leaders and for discerning which are the best people to train. Sometimes people are put forward just because they are friends of the present leaders rather than because they have real calibre.

We also have opportunities in Southern Africa, Angola and Mozambique. Entry into Portuguese-speaking Africa raises possibilities of links with my old mission, the South American Mission Society. There will probably be a pilot project soon to investigate the viability of working together in some areas. We also have opportunities to work in Ethiopia within the Orthodox church. Although at present they are a little suspicious of evangelicals, we are still producing literature. Then there are opportunities opening up in such disparate places as East Asia and the Republic of Ireland!

EN: Is there a particular philosophy of mission you see as strategic?

A: The great strategy is encapsulated in 2 Timothy 2.2. You need a Paul to teach a Timothy, then Timothy must teach the next generation and then that generation must teach the subsequent generation. I would love to see the Crosslinks work touching university students and them getting a vision for the world in the next generation.

Some people say that the decadent church in Britain has little or nothing to offer the flourishing churches of the Southern hemisphere. But that is not true. First of all not all the churches of the Southern hemisphere are flourishing, though they have tremendous things to teach us by way of evangelism and sacrificial service. But I think that we still have a great responsibility in the area of theological training. The churches in the South often survive on quite a low level of Bible teaching and they yearn to have leaders trained more thoroughly in the Scriptures. There needs to be more interchange between the different parts of the world, not only North to South and South to North, but also South to South. I am sure that South Americans have a great deal to teach our African brothers and sisters. The church in Africa is still more culturally European than it needs to be. The South Americans have not yet been so culturally influenced and have their own way of doing things.

EN: Is there one last word you have for us?

A: Most of all I long to see evangelical Christians in Britain really getting behind committed evangelical mission societies and Crosslinks is one such society.

An interview with Andy Lines of Crosslinks