Missional Arrogance

I run into something quite frequently that is becoming a bit disturbing to me. I see it among pastors and church planters, and among those involved in outreach ministry and missions work. I've even found myself guilty of it from time to time. I may be coining a new phrase here to identify it: I'm calling it "Missional Arrogance".

Missional Arrogance is that attitude that says that my church, or my ministry, or my mission work is more vital and more relevant than anything anyone else is doing. It tends to look down upon others who's work is deemed "less inspired."
It's what you hear from church planting pastors as they compare their new work to the works of the many pastors who have been laboring in that same field for years. You hear it among those involved in missions and outreach ministries (yes, even prison ministry) when they talk of how everyone should be doing what they're doing. And they would be if they just weren't so selfish and lazy. You see it in those who are so busy in their ministry that they have no time for people.

Missional Arrogance is a sin. It displeases the Lord just as any prideful way does. And it is diametrically opposed to the way Jesus conducted His ministry work.

Jesus was on a mission from the Father. He never lost sight of that missional call. But He never became arrogant in His calling either. He remained humble enough to speak to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) and to Zaccheus in a tree (Luke 19). The Apostle Paul said it was humility that made Him obedient - even as He faced His death on the cross. There was no missional arrogance in the way our Lord went about His ministry. Instead, the Bible says, "He had compassion upon the multitude because they were as sheep without a shepherd."

"Oh Lord, forgive us of our Missional Arrogance. Forgive us of thinking that we are indispensable to the Kingdom work. Forgive us for looking down upon others - others whom You have not called to the same work as us, and others who haven't quite found their way in the works You may be calling them to.
Father, in conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ, impart humility to us even as we go about the work You have called us to. Help us to realize once again that it is an undeserved honor to be called a minister of the gospel. Amen"