NOTE: This article is adapted (and updated) from an extensive article the author did in 2013: A reflection on contemplative mission. Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care 6 (1), 76–81. All Scripture from NIV unless otherwise noted.
My mission history has been mostly activist; I assume most in my field of ministry would be similar. We each accepted our call of ministry as a call to action, a charge, a task. Recognizing that I needed rest, I sought to establish spiritual practices or retreats to recharge, renew, and rebuild my energy for the task at hand.
Over three decades of cross-cultural mission engagement, I have found that contemplation is a source for mission rather than merely a place of renewal. As a result, the trajectory of my missional encounter has increasingly gravitated toward the pole of knowing Christ more deeply, of allowing his presence to flow in and through me.
I think that many in my shoes have come to the same conclusion. Mission leaders, especially evangelicals, have this profound sense of completing the task the Lord has given us “to make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19), to tarry until “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world” (Matt 24:14) before the end would come, and to aggressively finish what Christ set before us to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Being raised in the American spirit of pragmatism and the Protestant work ethic, I found the challenge of completing this great task quite natural and appealing. It gave me an identity and focus. All of this is good. However, that same spirit and drive often led to workaholism and burnout, so searching for a place of solitude, rest, and peace was also important to me.
The more I engaged in mission, the more I realized the importance of simply knowing Christ, resting in him, and relying on him for the task. My role, while primarily still activist, became far more effective as I turned to the practice of contemplation. Many passages in the Bible support this truth. In Psalm 46:10, God says “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations.” Jesus proclaims in Acts 1:8 that it is only by the Spirit that we will be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. Even more compelling are the bold statements from Jesus in John 15:4–5 that we must abide in him, for apart from him, we can do nothing!
Evangelicals seem slow in the acceptance of this central call of abiding in Christ; it is only recently that we see a fresh call to couple spirituality in mission within evangelical circles. For the longest time, at least in U.S. evangelicalism, mission has been central to our call, but a mission that was less contemplative in nature.
It is interesting that the Lausanne Movement notes this importance, especially in their reflections on Christian leadership. According to the Lausanne Leadership Development Issue Network, the current lack of mature leading pastors could have negative consequences:

Having Christ–like leaders is not a luxury but a necessity. Providing opportunities for leaders to grow is absolutely critical to a healthy, vibrant, transformational and multiplying Church. Unless we find, make available, promote and multiply the very best in leadership development opportunities throughout the globe, the results will be tragic. The staggering weight of poor leadership will hold back the advance of the gospel.1

In a 2010 Lausanne Leadership Development survey, leaders list “the most pressing issues facing Christian leaders in [their] nation as personal pride, lack of integrity, spiritual warfare, corruption and lack of infrastructure.”2 The global survey also indicates the most frequent cause of failure in Christian leaders to “finish well” as a Christ– centered leader includes: 1a) burnout; 1b) abuse of power (tied); 3) inappropriate use of finances; 4) inordinate pride; 5) lack of growth in their spiritual life, and 6) sexual sin.3
The Lausanne Working Team paper on Leadership Development summarizes:

When growing in areas of character development, discipleship, worldview and modifying core values, however, experiential learning has a great deal to offer. Factors that make this type of learning most effective include a motivated learner: •     Who wants and needs to change. •     Who gets to try out something new or apply it in his/her life and work situation. •     Who gets feedback on how he/she did when he/she tried. •     Who then has the opportunity to make sense of it through seeing results. The leader/learner who has the opportunity to participate in this type of experiential learning has, by far, the greatest chance of actually changing his/her beliefs and behavior. Excellent leadership development must include but go beyond just acquiring information and include this type of experiential learning.4

Knowing and seeing these realities, my paradigms for ministry began changing at the turn of the century. I had been reading the likes of Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard, and Richard Foster while serving as the founding director of the Office of World Mission at Azusa Pacific University. After I left the university to serve as the Global Outreach Pastor at Rolling Hills Covenant Church, I began to see many changes in global mission that resulted in my addressing two areas: spirituality in mission and coming alongside key leaders seeking development. These topics were identified by the Lausanne Issue Network as well.
Later, after serving a year in Istanbul, Türkiye and seeing the challenges in mission firsthand, it became clear to me that building leaders (making disciples) was crucial to the success of global evangelism. As I met with Turkish pastors and missionary leaders, I sensed a deep cry for further spiritual depth, deeper character formation, and solid biblical foundations as a prerequisite to church growth and kingdom expansion.
Not long after that, I heard about A3, the ministry within which I now serve. Rob Martin, then the executive director of First Fruit, Inc. said of the ministry, “If you want to change a country through strengthening the church, look at A3. They do it right!”
The more I looked at the focus of A3’s ministry—forming spiritual roots as a precursor to reproduction—the more intrigued I became.
A3 believes the needs for Christ–like leadership include the following:
1.     Christ–like leaders who lead with vision, character, and competence.
2.     Leaders who are better equipped to lead their congregations and networks in countries where Christians are persecuted.
3.     Leaders who are less likely to end ministry due to burnout or moral failure.
4.     More leaders with the vision for multiplying ministry that enfolds new believers around the world.
A key lesson graduates of the “A3 Leader Development” program learn is how to nurture their love relationship with God, and subsequently, how their “ministry flows out of their being.” This theme consistently emerges from interviews with graduates. They are challenged with much more during the two–year program, but this paradigm shift alone revolutionizes their personal life, family life, and ministry. It is the foundation for becoming a more Christ–like leader.
Transformation in society, in the city, in the state, in the neighborhood, and in the church always begins with transformation in the lives of individuals—and this usually ignites from the transformation of the leader. As a person is changed from the inside out—namely growing in Christlikeness—there is potential to make more meaningful impact.
This is the type of mission longed for around the world. Mission must flow out of a strong spirituality that builds great character, formed on the bedrock of living in a love relationship with Christ. A mission devoid of this depth of spirituality is doomed to fail.
That is why leaders like Matthews A. Ojo from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, call for a deeper spirituality.5 Professor Ojo is concerned about the spread of Christianity missing in–depth discipleship and spiritual formation. Ojo states,

Lastly, there is a disconnection between Christian spirituality and the quest to provide leadership for the continent and thus offer hope to millions of hopeless Africans. Leadership in Africa with the exception of a few has not been exemplary or sacrificial. It has not been the Nehemiah model nor the Jesus's model nor the Pauline model, but that which resembles the traditional African tribal chieftaincy structure with all its privileges and power but less of trust and accountability... Unless the above disconnections are addressed, it is doubtful if Christianity could impact positively and substantially on the nation and the society in the twenty first [sic] century.6

Another study prepared for Edinburgh 2010 notes similar problems in the Asian church, specifically the Chinese “Back to Jerusalem Movement.” The study points out the lack of spiritual depth in the missional movement leading to problems in implementation, fruitfulness, and ultimate success. Kim Kwong Chan in his study “Mission Movement of the Christian Community in Mainland China: The Back to Jerusalem Movement” states:

Chan recognizes that the Back to Jerusalem Movement, generated as it was by visions and a special mission mandate to the Christians of China, has done much to motivate mission both in China and abroad. Nonetheless, one also senses Chan’s concern that that [sic] motivation leads to a mission emphasis and practice that is in many ways spiritually and ethically malformed.7

In the same article, David Singh contends for a stronger spirituality following the models of Sadhu Sunder Singh and Narayana Vamana Tilak from India, who focused more on the transforming encounter and relationship with Christ than the importance of church expansion:

By moving from an institutional and polemical model of Christianity and Christian mission to one that is based on discipleship and enlightenment while engaging people personally, devotionally and sacrificially, Singh believes that a mission more reflective and formed by the Indian context could be realized.8

As their paper concludes:

Regardless of what we call it, we have certainly seen that authentic discipleship is crucial to sustain effective mission. Mission spirituality cannot exist without authentic discipleship—a discipleship, a path, that specifically addresses mission and that necessitates mission as an integral part of the path.9

Rene Padilla put it this way:

Christian spirituality is a gift and a task. It re-quires communion with God (contemplation) as well as action in the world (praxis). When these two elements are separated, both the life and the mission of the church are deeply affected. Contemplation without action is an escape from concrete reality; action with- out contemplation is activism lacking a transcendent meaning. True spirituality requires a missionary contemplation and a contemplative mission.10

In my years of mission and reflection, I find this to be very true: mission without spirituality lacks depth. Thankfully, the new forms of spirituality in mission being forged in the evangelical world are a welcome and much–needed correction to the pragmatism of our past. I have grown in this myself as I moved from more of an activist spirit in my early years of mission to one that recognizes Christ’s presence is what is most important: without him, we can do nothing! The move toward contemplative mission is the way of the future, but as Padilla warns, a focus on spirituality without mission is also incomplete. Both are crucial in the advance of God’s mission on earth.

Check out From Banned Book to Bestseller at William Carey Publishing.