One of my favorite questions to ask these days in small groups, classes, blog posts, and informal conversations is: “What is the Gospel?” I keep asking because I’m convinced our present understanding of what the gospel is and what it’s meant to do is inadequate. Sometimes I wonder if I’m jousting at a gospel that doesn’t even exist. Maybe this inadequate definition of the gospel I keep skewering is a product of my imagination.

Then I read a report like what follows from a friend of mine who is working in Siberia this summer and my conviction is renewed. So I’ll ask again: What is the Gospel?

The Lord has also shown us the heavy need for ministry in this region of the world. Every day, the effects of alcoholism and drug addiction are apparent as we wander through the city and surrounding regions. I know a small church leader in a nearby city whose morning activities include picking up the syringes and needles so the children in the neighborhood will not step on them while playing. Stumbling men and women are seen every day, throughout the day, seeking the answer to their hopelessness in a bottle or two. Homelessness and poverty are rampant ? elderly, infirmed, and children are seen frequently looking for some assistance in meeting their basic needs. Even those not in these extreme circumstances find it difficult to meet their needs ? the salary for normal jobs (programmers, laborers, businesspeople, teachers, medical personnel) is not much to live on. We have visited regions here that all of the best businesspeople, students, teachers and civil leaders have left for Moscow or bigger cities, leaving the homeless, elderly, infirmed, and substance addicted. Think for a moment about our brothers and sisters in Christ here trying to minister to their fellow countrymen in these circumstances. It is a very difficult situation. Surely the Lord?s message of Hope is central to His work here.

American mission efforts in Siberia tend to be focused on church planting ministries, with a model of finding locals and Americans to create church families and develop a structure of worship, teaching, and prayer. These are good efforts and have been met with varied success here. There are some church plants that are thriving and some that are not. Unfortunately, much of the American support is tied to numeric results of conversions and numbers of church members. (Emphasis mine) For churches that are in areas of incredible hopelessness and distrust of “Christians,” focus on conversions may not be as important as developing effective ministry to the hungry, orphaned, widowed, broken hearted, and the next generations. The soil needs preparation here ? tilling through building trust, developing relationships, and demonstrating the love of Christ in tangible ways.

As long as we are evaluating our missional success solely in terms of conversions and the size of our churches, then we’re demonstrating that our “gospel” is only a fragmant, maybe just a splinter, of what God has in mind when he says “Gospel.” Looks to me like Russia is not the only place where mass conversions are needed. There are also many Christians, including myself, who need to be converted to an enlarged understanding the gospel.