#93. When the Standard Bearer Faints

Mission and Crumbling Empires

Welcome to “Global Witness, Globally Reimagined.” You get a glimpse here of the kind of work that I do both at Church Mission Society and Missio Africanus where I help students of all levels (from unaccredited courses to PhD) explore the theological (and missiological) implications of the rise of World Christianity. In the newsletter, I focus on the subject of global witness in the twenty-first-century context. Every Thursday, I share a thought that has spoken to me in the week, one or two resources that I trust will be helpful to you, and three exciting quotes about mission to give you something to think about as you go through your day. I pray one of these will energise you.

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1. Thought I Can’t Shake Off

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When I started learning to preach as a teenager in Malawi, I was (for a few months) a bit obsessed with Isaiah 10. It is a chapter of “woes” — God’s judgment would come upon Israel at the hands of the Assyrians. God would consume “the glory of Israel’s forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth” (v. 18, KJV — it is translated differently in other versions). The phrase “when the standard-bearer faints” — the image of the standard-bearer fainting — stuck with me in ways I cannot understand today. The chaos I imagined happening in battle or a triumphal procession without the standard-bearer seemed unbelievable. I still have several sermons I preached on it back in the 1990s. I tried to convince my listeners that as followers of Christ, we never live for ourselves alone. Whatever we do, as we go through life, we are always holding a standard (banner/ensign) for at least one other person. If we faint, those around us may be affected. Of course, we are one Body of Christ; we thrive together, and we suffer together (even when we do not realise it).

There is a lot of fatigue around us … I heard this word too many times yesterday; more than a handful of my friends called to lament, “I am tired. I am exhausted. I cannot do this anymore. … ” I always responded, “You can be tired. Please, take time to rest, but do not faint.”

Back in the 90s, when I preached this sermon, I listened to a lot of Twila Paris music, and her song, “The Warrior Is A Child”, always rejuvenated me. Part of it says:

Lately I've been winning battles left and right
But even winners can get wounded in the fight
People say that I'm amazing
Strong beyond my years
But they don't see inside of me
I'm hiding all the tears

They don't know that I go running home when I fall down
They don't know who picks me up when no one is around
I drop my sword and cry for just a while
'Cause deep inside this armor
The warrior is a child

But I think there is more to the fatigue that I saw yesterday. There is too much chaos in the world; we all feel tired. Even those that are causing the havoc seem exhausted.

I wondered, in the grand scheme of things, if what we are witnessing is the long overdue crumbling of tired empires. I have seen it here in the UK since 2016. The bigger and better empire, British Empire 2.0, that Brexit wanted to unleash on the world is yet to happen. There is no rebound in sight. When we isolated ourselves as a nation, we shrunk. British evangelical witness around the world took a serious dent and lost a considerable amount of confidence. Our missionary footprint among the nations continues to suffer until today. Yes, we are an affluent church, but money cannot buy spiritual impact.

We were once standard-bearers. Now we strive to hold the standard among our own people. Another empire is bearing the standard now. Soon, it will be passed on to another community.

As our empires tire (of doing good), may we not faint with them. May we continue bearing the standard for all to see. Millions of brothers and sisters in the Lord around the world need us. Let us not attach our witness to our empires — the conversion of Constantine is not the best thing that has ever happened to Christianity.

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2. Resources I am Enjoying

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Podcast: RAW Mission: A British-Nigerian Missionary to the Middle East

In this episode of the RAW Mission podcast, host Matt sits with Ola, a Nigerian Briton who grew up in the UK. Ola’s childhood was eventful, with youthful exuberance getting the best of him and seeing him expelled from school and entangled in the drug scene in London before coming to Christ as a young man. He then became a rap artist before sensing the Lord calling him to the nations. Ola shares honestly about the difficulties of moving to the country of his parents and grandparents to do church planting before spending many years in the Middle East. Malaria, threats of curses, and debates with Imams were some of the confrontations he had to deal with. I hope we can glean missional lessons from Ola’s story, that the Spirit can partner with anyone, including those who least expect, perhaps due to their history or societal perception, to become witnesses for Christ.

He also has a powerful word for the diaspora black churches in the West.

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3. Quotes I am Pondering

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• African has learnt a lot from European theology and Europe in turn may need to learn a few things from the types of immigrant charismatic communions working in their midst … instead of feeling threatened by these new mission churches and rejecting their criticism of “mainline” Protestantism as fundamentalist and culturally irrelevant. — J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, "In the Power of the Spirit: Towards a Pentecostal Theoretical Framework for Missiology in Africa," in Africa Bears Witness: Mission Theology and Praxis in the 21st Century, ed. Harvey Kwiyani (Cumbria, UK: Langham Global Library, 2024), 59.

• Missio Dei reflects the nature and activity of God’s involvement in and with the world, pronouncing the good news that God is a God for people, and that the church is a privileged participant in such activity. — Rowanne Sarojini Marie, "Mission and Development," in Africa Bears Witness: Mission Theology and Praxis in the 21st Century, ed. Harvey Kwiyani (Cumbria, UK: Langham Global Library, 2024), 90.

• Missiology in general does not seek to engage God as its direct object of analysis, but the missional praxis of the church. — Chammah J. Kaunda, "Neo-Prophetism and Rebranding of Missio Dei in African Christianity," in Africa Bears Witness: Mission Theology and Praxis in the 21st Century, ed. Harvey Kwiyani (Cumbria, UK: Langham Global Library, 2024), 119.

I pray that you will be faithful to the work God has for you this week.