Parent or BFF?

 Are you a parent or your child’s best friend forever? 

Visiting with Dennis Henderson this past week, pastor of the Sherman Bible Church, he showed me a video clip presentation from one of their services.  It’s about how that in the spiritual development of kids it is a partnership between the parents and the local church.   “Some parents expect the church to mold their kids spiritually," he said.  “They hope, that through our youth group activities, we will teach them values, but they don’t play their part as parents.  We believe the church has a role in teaching kids scriptural principles, but the greater part of spiritual development belongs in the home.  Kids need direction from their mom and dad, not a program in the church.”

Parenting is a challenging dance.  On the one hand, there are some parents who try to dictate good behavior and values into their kids.  With a strong grip, they are on their children’s case for everything, including church attendance, their friends and their choice of music.  On the flip side, some parents just want to be their kids to see them as their BFF, allowing them to make their own choices and having little input in spiritual matters.  Dennis said that some of the most destructive parents are those he calls children centered parents.  These are the ones whose whole life revolves around their kids.  My immediate thought went to a mother I met in California some years back.  We could hardly carry on a conversation with her because she was constantly calling or texting her kids.  She was so obsessed with her children she wanted to know what they were doing at all times.  Another mother I knew was so protective of her daughter that she made excuses when she became pregnant before marriage.  Today that daughter and son-in-law (God help him), live less than a mile from the mother’s house, as her life is child centered.  I have often wondered if anything happens to those kids how these mother’s would respond.  Would they be bitter against the God who gave them their children?

One of the best definitions of love I have ever heard is, “Love is meeting the needs of another.”  Meeting someone’s need, either as a spouse or parent, is neither ruling with an iron hand nor having an open hand providing everything for that husband/wife or children.   Both extremes are a sign of insecurity.  For the person who must control the family it is a sign that they are insecure in their authority as a parent.  For the indulgent, it is an indicator that they crave approval.

I asked Dennis if I could post this clip, as it is a good reminder that the best parent is one who gives intentional guidance to their children.  Parenting sometimes requires firmness, but always in love.  It is a reminder that the main role of a parent is being a parent, not being their BFF.

Team Time

My current writing project, It’s Tuesday.  Now What Do I Do? is a guide for first term missionaries.   Often new missionaries are not really sure how to get into culture and begin ministry when they arrive on the field.   Tuesday gives tips on what people can do their first year overseas.  In one chapter I discuss what NOT to do.  One thing I suggest a missionaries not do is spend all their time with people from their own culture.   An expatriate who is always with people of their own culture will have a hard time learning language and making friends with people of the host culture.   I am not suggesting they never visit people from their own country, but moderation and discipline needs to be applied if the missionary hopes to adjust to their new surroundings.

One trap missionaries get into that keeps them from getting into culture is team activities.  “Teams” are a popular concept in missions today.  Some organizations spend a great deal of effort in putting teams together believing that a team is more effective in ministry than individual effort.   Jesus had his disciples, Paul had his Barnabas, Silas, Luke and Timothy.   No one person has all the gifts for ministry and there is wisdom in developing teams to maximize efforts on the field.  I have observed, however, that sometimes team activities are so numerous that there is little time left for actually doing the work.   Because learning language is a chore and making friends with people who are not like you is challenging, it’s pretty easy for some people to just hang around the team, in fact team becomes THE ministry.  There are team meetings, team retreats, team prayer time and team dinners.  To have good teams there are team leaders, regional team directors and even team pastors. 

Adapting to new surroundings and adjusting to a new culture is not an easy task.  The enculturation process is hampered if we spend too much time with our colleagues.  The team should be in place for support in ministry.  Team activity can too easily become just busy work that keeps us from actually doing ministry.

Banana Missions Versus Mango Missions

 The “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18ff) is often referred to as the Missio Dei (Mission of God).   For over 200 years the church, principally from the West, has been a faithful instrument of Missio Dei primarily through, another good Latin phrase, missio ad gentes (mission to the nations).  If it were not for the focus on missio ad gentes countries like Korea, Philippines, much of Latin America and most of sub-saharan Africa would no doubt not have the Christian influence it has today.  In many parts of the world mission to the nations is still important, but increasingly, as the Christian population shift moves from north to the majority south, the emphasis of the Great Commission is missio inter gentes, missions among the nations.

I was reminded of the importance of missio inter gentes this past month working with my good friends at TENT India (http://TENTIndia.org).  I have been partnering with this non-formal program for eight years.  This past month I met a group of Meitei Christians from Manipur.  Though the Gospel has had success among the tribal people in Manipur, the Meitie are the majority population of 1.4 million people.  Only 0.21% of the Meitie claim to be followers of Christ, the majority are Hindus.  As I visited with ten couples at TENT they told me that they believed that there were not more than 15,000 Christians among the Meitie. 

As I listened to the marvelous stories of their conversions, as each one of them are first generation Christians, I was blessed to know that one of my students is now a key leader among the Meitie.  Of course I know that my role in this people movement is extremely small, the faithfulness of this brother as well as the training and support he has received from others far outweighs my contribution.  However the Meitie story is a reinforcement of missio inter gentes.  In restricted access countries like India, China, Bhutan, Laos the old paradigm of missio ad gentes is not viable.  Training nationals to serve among their nation, their ethnic people group really is the future of Missio Dei. 

The contrast of these two approaches, “to” versus “among” is what one has described as the “banana missionary” to that of the “mango missionary.”  The banana is yellow outside but white inside, whereas the mango is yellow both inside and out.  Not sure of the comparative fruit that can be applied to India, the Nuba of South Sudan or to the Mari people of Russia, but the implications are the same.  The role of today’s western missionary is to equip the nationals for ministry among their nation.  Not to start a church.  Not just to equip them for pastoral ministry, but how to take the message of Christ cross-culturally that the Mission Dei is accomplished.

Paternalism, Authoritarianism in Search of Servant Leadership

Observations From An Outsider

I recently had the privilege to be a part of the Global Alumni Reunion of SAIACS (South Asian Institute For Advanced Christian Studies).  I am not an alumnus of this institution nor was I an invited guest, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, teaching a module in cultural anthropology.  Since this was my eighth year teaching at SAIACS so I of course came in contact with many former students and enjoyed hearing the stories and history of the thirty years of this school.

For the most part the two-half day meeting was a love fest for Dr. and Mrs. Graham Houghton who established SAIACS in 1982.  It is natural and fitting on such occasions that the founder’s be honored.  Without pioneers there are no legacies.  My sense is that Graham did not have a vision thirty years ago for what SAIACS is today. He and Carol merely set out to develop a quality post-graduate program and through their perceived interpretation of “excellence” did indeed create a unique environment for theological and missiological scholarship in India.  Many of the SAIACS graduates have gone on to be leaders of denominational and mission organizations.  SAIACS alumni can be found teaching in many colleges and seminaries throughout the sub-continent. 

Critics will invariably point to the paternalistic and imperialistic flavor of SAIACS.  Established and directed for over twenty years by a New Zealander and initially funded by Western support, the criticism may have some validity.  However, because I have been visiting India since 1992, I have been exposed to many institutions run by nationals and have a better than average understanding on how things work.  I have met more than a few Indian run institutions that also are funded by the West.  To me, it is never how it is funded or even how much, but the stewardship of resources.  I have been with nationals who have used their resources, however acquired, with integrity and honor.  Like SAIACS, those institutions and programs breathe a Christ-like quality that rings true because there is no underlying feeling that Ananias and Sapphira have held back a portion for themselves. 

Leadership is less about skin color than style.  As an anthropologists and an outsider of SAIACS I am intrigued by style.  No matter what they say, the Westerner, be they British, American, Dutch or New Zealander will invariably be accused of paternalism, as it is the “ace in the hole” for nationalist critics.  I have seen paternalism at its worse in Africa and I can attest that it is alive and well even today.  Did SAIACS suffer under this ancient disease, which has it roots in imperialistic expansionism of three hundred years ago?  Certainly, but only in style, not in the classic form, not always that “whitie” knows best.  A far more common indigenous leadership style in this country is authoritarianism, where the pastor, bishop, president or principal rules with unequivocal and uncontested power.  Both paternalism and authoritarianism is a form of leadership, both unacceptably flawed and not the model that Christ set for His followers (Mark 10:42-45). 

Paternalism and authoritarianism are countered through egalitarianism.  In SAIACS, as well as other institutions of quality I have visited, the community meal is the icon that runs countercultural to a society that is imbued with pretention, caste status, wealth and privilege.   When the cleaning staff, faculty and students all sit at the same table eating the same food it is a powerful ritual symbol of equality.  Conversely an equally powerful is the institution where the staff, faculty and students are separated and do not eat together and the food is of different quality.  The community meal does not wash away all sins, but at least it is an attempt in breaking down paternalism or authoritarianism. 

As an outsider of SAIACS, with no vested interest apart from contributing to the over all quality of its program, the alumni have a right to feel proud, in both their history as well as their future.  The present leadership has done well in building on a foundation that was well laid; insuring, if they remain faithful to its core principles that SAIACS will continue to contribute in advancing the Kingdom in this needed area of the world.  In the end, as we were reminded throughout the weekend, “To God be the glory.” 

Jet Lag and Dreams

Dreams are weird.  Dreams can be mysterious, most often the nighttime subconscious are random thoughts that attempt to make a plot, but they are never quite cohesive. The actors in the drama are usually friends or families, an occasional stranger I suppose, but mostly the characters we knew, though they have been dead 10 years and you can’t think of a time you consciously thought of them in a decade.

My mom told me the other night she had a cramp in her foot in the middle of the night and in the midst of the cramp dreamed of my dad.  She was startled to see my dad at the foot of the bed with a rifle shooting at her foot, thinking it was a squirrel.  Dad passed away over a year ago but a cramped toe was enough for the subconscious to raise one from the dead to eliminate the critter that was causing my mom pain.

I’m presently in throes of the vortex of subconscious illusions, known to the traveler as jetlag.  The eleven and half hour time change compound my thirty-six hour journey from Siloam Springs to Bangalore, which is enough to dull the human senses.  Why, at 3 p.m. do I feel that I should be curled up in a bed in deep zone sleep instead of trying to have a conversation with my host colleague who is clearly wide awake, full of energy and is planning a get-together supper at a fancy restaurant after work?  When I am able to call it a day, hopefully about 8 pm, I’m out in an instant only to be eyes wide open at 11:00 pm.  I search for sleeping pills knowing that if I don’t quickly fall back to asleep I will toss and turn until 5 am, exhausted but must face the cruel morning sun without a chance to lie down again for another 14 hours.  Like a zombie I will see the day as a distorted series of events, neither enjoying nor comprehending what I do in my stupor.

In between the first wake up and the sleeping pill induced knockout, I dream.  Last nights dream was about an uncle that passed away two years ago.  At the funeral the daughters mourned by simultaneously telling jokes and arguing with each other.  We drove to a cemetery that resembled a hay field surrounded by a subdivision in one of the most exclusive resorts in Southern California. My uncle, according to my dream, bought these two hundred aces of prime real estate fifty years ago because he thought it would be suitable resting place.  The land had become so expensive that he sold off much of it in his latter years, but still possessed enough sod to cover his mortal remains.

An old girlfriend approached me at the cemetery and asked me if I had moved on since our breakup.  Not having a clue who she was I said yes, all the time trying to remember who she was.  She said she “needed closure,” which I suppose meant one last date, one last kiss.  I didn’t need closure, I confessed, and was quite happy and that any feelings on my part were nonexistent, especially since I didn’t remember her at all.

Now that it’s morning I review the three acts of my nighttime theater I wonder if anyone of it has meaning.  The funeral of distant relatives I’ve not seen in forty years, the girlfriend I obviously dumped but have no recollection of her existence, and my dad’s quirky remedy for cramps.  I am sure they are not dreams of any spiritual implications, nothing like Josephs dream of seven wheat sheaves bowing down to him, unless it is a sign from God that my uncle wants me to prepare a cemetery plot where in time it will be a good business deal for my children and that the strange girlfriend is a reminder to make things right with those I have offended and dad, though he is gone, still wants to control things as he did when he was alive.

Since jetlag dreams have no basis for rationality I can merely smile, take another pill and see if I can go back to sleep so when I do wake the world will make more sense.

It's Near, If You Have The Money

It took just took forty minutes to fly from Kitale up to Lodwar, the district city of Turkana in northwest Kenya.  On a bus the three hundred kilometer trip is about twelve hours as the roads have deteriorated dramatically over the past several years.  Accompanying me on the trip was Rev. Paul Gickuki, a longtime friend and pastor of his church in West Pokot for thirty-five years.  Overhearing his conversation on his cell phone he was telling someone that, “If you have the money, Lodwar is close.”

Paul’s comment reminded me of the power of money; not the common thought of power to wield power, but the power money has to make life just a bit easier.  The twelve-hour bus ride costs about $15, whereas the forty-five minute flight, round-trip, is $150.  Instead of jostling in a packed bus in ninety plus heat, the flight is clean, cool and enjoyable.  Flying to Turkana is not a necessity, but it does make the trip bearable.  In my case, if it were not for the flight I could not have visited the pastors in Turkana as my schedule was tight which did not allow for two twelve hour excursions.  Having resources means that a person can do more in less time. 

Everything is close, if you have the money and if you have a lot it you can do more.  A private or chartered flight would have been even more convenient as you could schedule your day(s) based on your time rather than on the airline’s schedule.  And, if the airline had mechanical problems or delays due to weather, rather than fret about whether you would miss that one flight a day into the bush and back, having money takes the worry out of whether you will make that international flight you scheduled that night in Nairobi. 

Someone has rightly said that rich people plan for next week or next month, while the poor plan only for the next day.  If you have enough money you can chart the future.  If you don’t have the resources you live each day the best you can.

In many ways missions is a money game.  The ability to create programs, to help those in need, to generate a vision based on the resources available is not a bad thing.  Money is a power, if used properly, which can advance Kingdom work in a positive way.  The lack of resources makes missions even more difficult in an already difficult profession. 

The power of money or the lack thereof, of course, is not absolute and it can be a detriment in missions.  The notion that one cannot serve because they don’t “have enough” resources should be measured.  Do we live by faith, really, or is it based on the funds that are either in the bank or forthcoming?  If the trip to Turkana is vital are we able to suffer the bus for the greater cause, or do we scrap it because it is not convenient?  Is the motivation for service hinged on what God is leading us to do no matter what we have in the bank?  These are important and difficult questions, but significant in the life of every servant of Christ.

Indeed, Lodwar is close if you have the money, but whether by plane or bus, the greater issue is not how near we are but how far we are willing to travel to serve Him.

Amazing Story of God's Work of Salvation

In my class at the Africa Theological Seminary is a guy who lived in Agra, India for seven years.  Wayasa was a Kenyan student studying there and he told me that, though he was a Christian before he went to India, he wasn’t living anywhere close to being a follower of Christ.  It was a pastor in Agra who discipled Wayasa to a fuller walk with Christ, to the point that he came back to Kenya and is now a pastor.  Another Kenyan, Dickson, studying in Agra was not a Christian but became a follower of Jesus because of this pastor.  And you think that is an interesting story, listen to the pastor’s story.

Hemet Patel is from a Hindu family who move to the U.S. when he was 12 years old.  After high school he joined the U.S. Airforce, though not yet a citizen.  It was through the faithful witness of American Christians in the Air Force that God used to bring Patel to Himself.  Disowned by his family, who was told by his father not to listen to Christians because they were Hindus, Hemet continued his spiritual journey by himself, eventually going to Bible college after he left the armed services.  Hemet married an American, though he never applied for U.S. citizenship, and have been living in India for the past 15 years. 

The working of the Lord is truly amazing.  A Hindu becomes a Christian through the witness of American Air Force guys who in turn leads Kenyans (a country that is 80% Christian), living in India (with less than 5% Christians) to Christ.  

A great lesson for those who are Christ followers; always be the best witness where you are to allow God to bring people to an understanding of wonderful salvation that is only through His Son, Christ Jesus.

Learning To Communicate

I only had a few hours before my flight back to the states, so I decided to go one of my regular hangouts, a basti (village) called Nizamuddin.  Nizamuddin is a Muslim colony where the famous saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin is buried.  Muslims from all over the world come Nizamuddin as there is a madrassa or school there to instruct Muslims on how they can be better Muslims.

In spite of the 105 degree heat and incredibly crowded narrow streets, I went to my favorite barber.  I love going to this shop as the brothers there know their craft.  When I get a haircut in the states I tell the cutters how I want it and in the end they cut it as they want and charge me $12.  These guys handle scissors and combs with precision, knowing exactly how to cut my thinning grey hair.  There is no joking, no conversation.  They smile at me when I come in, sometimes bring me tea in-between cuts.  The end of the trimming is near when I get a good neck and head massage.  Though the standard price is just $0.50 I give $1.00 and we all part company happy.

I wanted to buy a cotton kurta (long shirt) while in the busti and found a guy who was willing to deal and spoke good English.  While I was talking with the proprietor, two other guys came up to his stall.  They greeted me, “Salam Alakum,” which I replied, “Aalkum Salam.”

“These guys are from Kyrsgystan,” the shop owner informed me.

“Really,” I said with interest.  “I have visited Bishket.  Nice place.  What brings you to India?”

“We have joined the madassa for thee weeks.  In our country, though we are Muslims, we need more studies in our faith.  Are you a Muslim,” he asked?

Before I could answer he said, “Maybe not yet.  Later, Isha Alla (if God wills).

“No, I am a follower if Isa.” 

They were nice guys and they even invited me for a cool mango drink outside, which I would have gladly done if I had time.

Later I was with my Christian friend who lives in Nizamuddin and told him of my exchange.  An expert in talking with Muslims he said, “When they asked if you were a Muslim you should have said, ‘Do you mean do I worship the One true living God?  Yes, I do worship that Only God.’”

Every encounter with other people of other faiths is a cross-cultural communication moment.  Next time I get my head clipped in Nizamuddin maybe my conversation will give me a chance to affirm my submission to the One and only God and I can explain why I believe Isa is more than a prophet.  

Contextualization In Monoculturalism

Last month I caught up with Shanti, who was one of my students two years ago in a class I taught in South Asia.  In many ways Shanti’s story is common in this part of the world, but unique in its nuance.

Shanti is from the state of Manipur in the northeast of India.  Born into a Hindu family, she became a follower of Christ just a year before I met her.  Predictably the opposition to her conversion became an issue in her household.  Shanti’s father wanted to arrange her to marry a Hindu boy, but she refused.  Shanti’s pastor visited with her father and suggested she attend a training school that specializes in small trade projects for church workers and missionaries.  After completing her training she returned to her home and now works in her church.

I learned that Shanti’s mother and sister are now followers of Christ and her father has softened his attitude towards her.  At this stage she does not want to think about marriage as where she lives finding a Christian boy to marry would be difficult and her father, due to pride, would probably resist such a marriage.  Shanti is content to wait on the Lord and serve Him anyway He sees fit.

Though my passion is teaching missionaries from all parts of the world to take the Gospel cross-culturally, the teaching of how to communicate the Good News is not just for those crossing geographical boundaries.  For Christians like Shanti, who live in the midst of unreached communities, the lessons of how to contextualize the Gospel in one’s own family is relevant.   People movements are seldom, if ever, brought about in big evangelistic meetings.   Families and communities coming to Christ are more often a result of one person who tells one other person about the Savior.  In societies where the Gospel is restrained because of ethnic and religious opposition, it often the faith of one family member that becomes the catalyst for household conversions. 

Though we in missions often pray for the unreached people groups, in that prayer may we also remember Christ followers like Shanti, who faithfully live out their faith and share it with those in their own communities and, indeed, among their own family.

Is Missions An Old Mans Game?

To take off from an earlier post on missions and youth, I propose that maybe missions is more effective as an old man’s/woman game.

A few years back I was in Bolivia and met up with a guy in his mid-seventies.  He had been on the field for forty years and his sending agency wanted him to retire and return to the states.

“Why would I do that,” he wondered?  “I have some brothers and sisters back in the states, and of course some of my children, but I have no ties to the states.  I’d rather finish out my life here than some missionary retirement home in Florida.”

Carl’s support had dropped over the years as churches and donors dropped him to support younger missionaries.  He and his wife live on a modest income, but own their home in Santa Cruz.  Though this veteran admits he can’t physically do the things he did three decades ago, he still meets with pastors every day.  He counsels, encourages and teaches often.  What he has forgotten about missions is more than most first termers will ever learn. 

I’ve met many missionaries like Carl down through the years.  The eighty year old single woman in Kenya in 1978 who still drives the back roads among the Masai told me she has no plans on going back to the states as her “family” and friends all live in Kenya.  Or Marjorie who still rides a horse, though not as often, in the backside of Brazil for over fifty years.  Working with several organizations in South Asia the most effective national leader I know is in his eighth decade of life.  Apart from the physical challenges, these older folks are still making a significant contribution for the Kingdom around the world.

I am not suggesting that in every case older people are preferred over younger missionaries.  Of course the future of missions is to the young and not to those who are “too old to cut the mustard anymore.”  However, I can make the argument that, in some cases, older missionaries are preferable than those who are just now in their second decade of life.  Why?

First, life experience does count for something.  The young, in their twenty’s are, what a friend described as “pre-life” people, often have more zeal than knowledge.  In any profession those with experience are often more desirable in the workforce than those who just out of school.  Having once been a young person myself, I agree that it’s hard to have experience unless you are given a chance to prove yourself, but to put all your mission eggs in the basket of the young I think is unwise stewardship and not particularly strategic in furthering the Great Commission.

In the Western culture we adore the young and dismiss the old.  I think one of the reasons two week short-term mission trips are so popular is because the church can give kids something to do as they try to find their way in life.  Okay, good argument.  However, in most other cultures of the world, old age (anywhere between forty and eighty), are those who are respected.  Even Jesus didn’t have anything to say in His culture until He was thirty.  Youth is good.  Maturity is better when it comes to effectiveness on the field.

Third, older missionaries have the skills that will take the young at least ten years to acquire.  They have the language, have learned the rules of culture, the do’s and don’ts that only time provides.  Veterans are not enamored with the trends of missions that get everyone excited back in the states.  Senior missionaries year-by-year slog it out working with nationals, discipling new converts and building on a foundation they have established.  Why would any supporting church in the states diminish the efforts of seasoned missionaries just because they served for over thirty years?

I am very much aware that there are some older missionaries who should retire.  Just because they have seniority doesn’t make them effective.  Some old missionaries were not effective thirty years ago and are just comfortable being ineffective, as they grow older.  Since there are precious few mission dollars available, if an old retiree doing nothing is standing in the way of new career missionaries getting on the field, then, by all means, they should step aside and let the new generation take over. 

I am not yet a part of that old generation, but, admittedly, closer to them than the pre-life folks.  I’d like to think that when I get to that place in life, where the spirit is still willing but the body says it’s time to back it in, that I will have the wisdom to get off the stage.  My thoughts in this blog is that we recognize that missions is not just a young man’s game and that those who have been around a few years have much to offer.  That veteran may be the most strategic part of a churches outreach and is just as worthy as a young person and maybe more.   

Like an old professor of mine said, lying in the hospital, “Just about the time we learn how to live, it’s time to die.”  The wisdom and experience of the older missionaries makes missions an old man’s game. ­

How Missionaries and Politicians Are Alike

Riddle: How are missionaries and politicians alike?

Answer:  They both are always raising funds.

Politicians say they must continue to raise money to stay in office.  Television advertisements, bumper stickers, placards and direct mailing costs money.  Even though politicians have a salary, health benefits, travel expense and taxpayer funded office expense; to stay in office the folks in D.C. nevertheless continue asking voters for their votes and their dollars.

Missionaries, of course don’t have the perks of government “servants.”  For most cross-cultural workers, if they do have a salary, health insurance, a retirement package or office expense, they must raise funds from churches and donors.  Any ministry accomplished on the mission field, such as building classrooms at a Bible school, digging a well or printing study material, falls on the shoulders of the missionary to the find funds for such projects. 

Being a career missionary means one must also be a career fundraiser.  Why?

DONOR ATTRITION:  A missionary seldom, if ever, is able to maintain 100% of his/her support.  Each year the missionary receives notes from churches or individual contributors saying they will have to discontinue their support.  Sometimes it’s because of an economic downturn in the donor’s location.  Sometimes it’s because there is new leadership in the church and, though the congregation has supported the missionary for twenty years, the new pastor may decide they will drop that support because they don’t know them.  Or perhaps the church takes on a different mission philosophy or policy.  Whether the merits of donor attrition is valid or not is irrelevant, the fact of the matter is, donor attrition makes career fund raising a reality.

COST OF LIVING:  The price at the pump is hard on everyone, including those who serve overseas.  We all know that prices never go down, they just keep going up.  Housing rent, food, clothes, insurance, building materials and school fees increase.  Single donor support seldom increases.  Though the $50 a month support is regular, and certainly appreciated, its value is drastically depleted.  The buying power of $50 in 1992 now takes $81.82 in 2012.  Continual support raising is an attempt to keep up with inflation.

One reason there are fewer people committing to serving overseas as missionaries is this obstacle of fund raising.  I meet young people often who tell me they would like to be missionaries but they just don’t like the idea of going to friends and churches and asking for support.  It seems like a lousy system, but for career missionaries it’s the only system they have for living and working cross-culturally.

Being a missionary is an honorable calling and, unlike politicians, it is a profession that is driven by service, not by an attempt for power or economic advancement (that is not to say there are not honorable politicians, but their profession is often perceived as being more self-serving than serving the people).  Career missionaries are not in it for the money, power or economic advancement, they just want to serve Christ in taking the Gospel to those who do not know Him.

To those of us who support missionaries, individually and corporately through our local church, may we continually be sensitive to their financial needs.  May we never assume that because they are on the field they are doing okay.  May our prayers on their behalf be matched with realization that without our support they cannot carry on the task of the Great Commission.

IS MISSIONS A YOUNG MANS GAME?

Crawling under the mosquito net in the mud hut with thatched roof, I was bone tired from the five hours on a Sudanese bus in over 100 degree heat.  Listening to the conversation of the people outside my sleeping quarters, stretching to get the kinks out of my body,  I couldn’t help but wonder if I wasn’t a bit old for such endeavors.   Thirty years ago when I was working the bush of Turkana and Pokot such expeditions were normal.   Today I wonder if I decided to start fresh in South Sudan how would I do it, but even more, I wonder IF I could do it.

My time in Sudan was short, but long enough to hear the stories of tribes such as the Dingadinga, Topsa, Dinka and Nuer and other tribal groups living near the mountains on the Ugandan border, where primitive people live much like they have for centuries.  My spirit wanted to explore such places, to learn their customs, tell them of a God they know exists but fear the spirits with no knowledge of the One who created them.  Sadly, my body told me that my time for walking through the bush for days is past.  Such work is a young man’s game.  Sleeping on the ground, eating any food that is set before you, is a chapter that is closing in my life.  But is missions really a young man’s (and woman’s) game?  If so, then, statistically, the role of American missionaries in the world is waning, as fewer are signing up for career service in places like Sudan, the highlands of Kyrgyzstan or the lowlands of Bangladesh.  And, even if the young do sign on, a very small percentage will ever work in the many back roads throughout the world.  Not many Americans will take their families to remote cities away from the capital,  even fewer would put their children in a boarding school like Rift Valley Academy and be separated from their kids weeks at a time.   Of course serving God is more than roughing it and most the the good work Western missionaries are doing are in cities.

Reaching the unreached is a popular theme in the Western church.  We can pray for the Dinka, we can even send short-termers to visit them, but how will they truly be reached with the Gospel?

Probably the only hope for those hidden groups would be for a national missionary to reach them, but Africans are not that much different from Americans.  The style of living is different as there is still a standard of lifestyle for each person.  A guy from Kenya will generally complain about the food of the Sudanese, or the hot places where the people live. 

This past week I have met some Sudanese and Kenyans who truly have a passion for doing things that is absolutely necessary for successful ministry among a people group, i.e. learn their language, customs, cultures and live by the rules they dictate, not your own culture.  Though I cannot be on the field of play because of age, I can work smarter using the experience God has given me to facilitate the young man’s game.  And, for the time I have left on earth I pray that from time-to-time, the Lord will allow me to join in the game and tasting the experience of taking the Gospel who truly have never heard His Name.

Reflections: Respect for a Fallen Comrade

Yesterday I read about a colleague who passed away in Ethiopia of malaria.  Though I didn’t personally know him I had heard of him, first, as a missionary in South Africa and more recently his plans to serve in South Sudan.  His death hits close to home as we share similar experiences.

Malaria is one of those viruses that have consequences like having a bad flu.  A mild case makes you feel terribly uncomfortable, burning up with high fever yet with chills, or, as in this case, can kill you.  I’ve known several East African missionaries who have contacted malaria and many of my Kenyan friends have died of complications of malaria.   I have been hospitalized twice with the bacterial virus caused by mosquitoes.   When I heard this morning that he was very ill I could empathize. 

This colleague was one of those guys who, evidently, weren’t content with status quo, and adventure, which is common among many of missionaries who work on the African continent.  With an open door of working in the newly formed country of South Sudan, this brother was looking for new frontiers.  One can only admire such a spirit.  In an age when career missionaries from the West are fewer than anytime in modern missions, we all feel a loss of great magnitude. 

Rex was 61 years old, just a few years younger than myself.  At that age one thinks, not about retirement, but how many more years you have left before the inevitability of a decaying body can withstand the rigors of working overseas.  The end of Rex’s journey came sooner than he expected, and causes those still in the trenches if we will finish the race in old age or go out while still actively doing the things we love for the One whom we love. 

My heart goes out to Rex’s wife and family.  The loss is only tempered with the assurance that the God he served, for whatever reason, took him in according to His purpose.  For those who serve our Lord on a foreign field there is a bit of admiration for guys like Rex.  We all know the dangers of disease, conflict and persecution, and we know, too, that risk management is a thing we should pay attention to but there are neither guarantees nor avoidance of danger.

Words of consolation are futile at this point.  But my respect for Rex and many more just like him is immeasurable.  

Is There A Special Call To Missions?

People seeking God’s will for their lives often ask, “How does one really know for sure if God is calling them into His service?”  The short answer is, “I don’t know?”  As I review those early years of my journey, it seems to be more of an accident than a well thought out plan.  However, I believe the principles regarding how God uses a person, whether they are in the ministry or not, are consistent.

The first principle is that you must surrender to God’s leading in your life and love Him with all your might (Mt. 22:37).  Though I fell into my career path by default and decree from my pastor, my heart was in the right place.  I gave my heart to Christ years ago as a kid at Vacation Bible School, and that salvation experience was real.  Though I had lived the life of a prodigal, I never doubted that I was child of God—not even when I openly denied Him.  In my deepest moments of despair and debauchery, I had a secret longing to return to the One who loved me and gave Himself for me.  My resignation to giving my life completely over to him that February night was genuine.  Had I become a football coach (which was actually my lifelong dream), a farmer, or a clerk in a store, my life would have been just as fulfilling because I was committed to Him.  I have never believed that being in ministry was a supreme calling—noble, yes, but no nobler than any other career where one is doing what God has gifted them to do. 

There are some in the church who insist that there is a special call into ministry, and they use Bible personalities from Abraham to the Apostle Paul as their proof-texts.  I concede that God did, and probably still does in rare cases, call out people for special tasks.  I do not believe, however, that a special call is a pre-requisite for all who enter fulltime service.  One needs to be gifted for any task they pursue; but God’s special hand is not on every pastor, missionary, or evangelist.

The ministry has always been on a volunteer basis.  Most who volunteer are people with a deep desire to give their life to Christ to such an extent that they take on ministry as a career (1Tim. 3:1).  To seek a career in ministry, rather than being called to be a pastor, youth director, professor of Greek, or missionary, is not demeaning; in fact, it is pleasing to the Father that His children, through their own free will, desire to serve Him.  

In many ways, the teaching of “a special call for ministry” has been harmful to the church.  Some have abused the call by assuming a position that is not to be challenged--all the while claiming they are chosen by God.  The church would be better served if we abandoned the notion of the call and just accept it for what it is: a profession born out of a desire to serve Him.

(Excerpts from The Journey of a Post Modern Missionary now available on Kindle.

The Noble Task of Missions: A Case Study in Niger

The girls are married between the ages of 10 – 15 years.  Because they are children bearing children, often their frame just cannot give birth.  Some of these girls are in labor up to 10 days and if they don’t die in the process their babies certainly do and permanent damage done to the mother’s body.

I attended a men’s breakfast at the church we attend as a part of their mission conference.  A friend of mine, and former student, talked about his recent trip to Niger.   Cliff is a gadget genius and went to Niger, as well as some other folks from this church, to do some work at a Fistula Hospital in Danja (http://worldwidefistulafund.org/danjafistulacenter).  As he told the story of the child brides, the reason for the need of this hospital it was so compelling I came home and watched a PBS documentary on this subject. The video clip is about 50 minutes long, but it is worth the time.  Some people merely condemn culture, others serve culture, in spite of its many flaws.

If I had ten lives I’d want all of them to be involved in missions.  Missionaries get a bad rap from secularist, even from some Christians.  I know we don’t do all things right but when I see, read and hear the stories of missions and missionaries it truly is a life worth living.  

Short-Term Missions: It's A Life Changing Experience

I pulled this picture off of Facebook, it was produced by Experience Mission.  For a group that promotes short-term missions trips I thought it was pretty honest. 

Going to their FB page my eye caught the one phrase that drives me crazy.  One person wrote, “I went on a mission trip and it changed my life.”  It is the one testimony that every short-termer says.  I plead for originality, but it seems to be the only thing they know what to say.  No one ever says how it changed their lives, but going overseas for 10 days seems to have some impact.

A friend of mine in Nicaragua  wrote, “I maintain that short term mission trips, seminars, classes etc. (learning experiences) should be evaluated six months to a year after the event.  By then the shine has worn off and more of the truth might be evident.”  That’s a pretty good idea.   Maybe after 6 months that change of a lifetime will be more evident.

Ring, Ring...Make The Way Plain

One of my standard messages when speaking in churches is on John the Baptist.  Luke 3:3-6 reiterates the words of Isaiah who states that the role of the forerunner of the Messiah was to “make the way plain, to smooth out the roads, make the crooked path straight.”  It’s a cross-cultural communications outreach message entitled, “Make the Way Plain, Make it Easy.”

The role of every Christian witness is the same as JB.  We are to declare the faith in a manner that people who are not believers can easily understand.  We often don’t communicate the Gospel well because we use Bible-speak vocabulary with words like, “faith,” “salvation,” “born-again” and really get carried away sometimes with our lofty theological  verbiage by interjecting words such as “propitiation,” “sanctification” and “substitutional atonement.”  The words are okay if you have a Bible degree from the University of Martine Prison in Rome, or one who learned the word “saved,” before you could say Mama, but for the average non-churched secularist, Buddhist or Hindu, these words as are as foreign as Mork’s “Nano-nano.”

I remind my listeners that one way of making the way plain, easy for non-believers to accept Christ is NOT BE AN OBSTACLE.   I believe that for 2,000 years the institutional church has consistently set out to see how hard they can make it for seekers to be Christians.  The Judaizers wanted every male in the first century to be circumcised to enter the Kingdom.  Then came those who insisted that a requirement for salvation should be being baptized three times forward or walking five kilometers on your knees to pray to a dead saint.  The church is often not a bridge to Jesus, but more like a boulder on the highway to heaven.

You can imagine my surprise then, when just before I was to deliver my message recently that the pastor had a humble request.  “Please, sir, could you remove your wedding ring before you speak?”

What?  I haven’t had my wedding band off in forty-three years?  Why do you want me to violate my sacred vows to my wife and before God by removing my ring before speaking (I realize that is a bit dramatic, but you get the point)?

The pastor went on to explain that recently there was a lady who wanted to be baptized and join the church.  However, she wears a ring on one finger.  The congregation was in much distress and divided over whether she should be required to remove the offensive object from her hand before becoming a member of the body.  Their interpretation of “women should not be adorned with gold…”  (1 Tim. 2:9) requires that they wear no ornaments of fashion such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets or rings.  Since the pastor was in the midst of such a deep theological debate he felt he needed to be consistent in asking me to remove my insignia of devotion.

Of course I reluctantly complied.  Like the Apostle Paul was willing not to eat meat that was offensive to the church in Corinth, I, too, put away my preferences for the sake of the weaker brothers and sisters (1 Cor. 8:9-13).

So, how does one preach “Make the Way Plain,” to a church that would rather refuse membership to person who wears jewelry than allowing them entrance into a body of fellowship?  Very carefully.  I can admonish people to not be an obstacle without pointing my finger of judgment, with or without my ring being on it.   One learns grace at times like these remembering that just a few years back as a young pastor I taught some pretty silly stuff as well.

I have since learned that the congregation thought my message was wonderful and they would like to have me back for a conference.  Stay tuned for “Make The Way Plain, Part II.”

           

Two Hundred Years of American Missions

February 6^th is a big day in North American mission history.  It was on that day 200 years ago that the first American foreign missionaries were commissioned, most notable being Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice.  Sent out by the Congregationalists and knowing they would be interacting with the English Baptist missionary William Carey on their entrance to Calcutta, on their four month trip by sea to India Adoniram and his wife Ann studied the Scriptures on the subject of baptism.   Their study convinced them that the Baptist’s were right on mode and method and, so on their arrival to the sub-continent, the Judson’s were baptized by Carey.  Rice arrived in India sometime later and was distressed to learn of the Judson’s theological conversion.  However, after studying the subject Rice also became a Baptist. 

The British East Indian Company had little tolerance for missionaries by the time Judson and Rice arrived in Calcutta.  Carey was well established in India and the ruling colonialists could do little to expel him from the country, but they did refuse to grant the new batch of missionaries’ permanent resident status.  Blocked to remain in India, Judson and Rice resolved to go to Burma.

However, due to switching denominations, both Judson and Rice thought it proper to resign from the Congregationalist.  Rice was in poor health and it was decided he would return to the U.S. while the Judson’s continued their ministry in Burma. The Congregationalists accepted Judson and Rice’s resignation, with the provision that both missionaries return money invested in them.  

Not only did Rice have to raise money to return to the Congregationalists, he also had to seek support for the Judson’s and himself.  The issue of raising money for ministry work put Rice on a life long pursuit of funds, though for many years he thought it was a temporary necessity until he could return to Burma.  Rice is known for attempting to bring northern and southern Baptists together, but more than anything, raising money for colleges and seminaries.  Rice died with not much more that his horse and buggy, never married and never returning to the mission field. (read a more detailed account of Rice at this website).

Judson’s story is one of triumph and tragedy.  In the 38 years he served in Burma he translated the scriptures and shared the Gospel. It was six years before Judson saw his first convert and after twelve years there was only eighteen followers.  Humanly speaking, Judson paid a great price for his service overseas.  He was in prison for nearly two years and under a death sentence for being a British spy.  Two of his wives  as well as several of his children died in Burma.  Judson passed away at the age of 61 of a lung disease and was buried at sea (read more).

As I reflect on this historical event of 200 years ago I am in the southern part of India teaching.  In my class are three students from Burma.  One of the issues that always comes up in my class is should supporting churches and missionaries invest time, energy and resources in areas that are most receptive and/or is it a waste to go to fields that are resistant.  Soon after Judson’s death it was estimated that over 210,000 Burmese were followers of Christ.  Today, with a population of nearly 50 million people in Myanmar, it estimated that 6% are Christian, 3% are Baptists.  I am sure that every believer in Burma today, who are direct spiritual descendants of Adoniram Judson would say that, even today as Christians are not only a minority religion but also a persecuted group, that the investment in their country with the Gospel was worth it.

Two hundred years after that first batch of missionaries went out from America, the cause of missions is stronger than ever.  Though we do not have as many career people going out and certainly not many going to the hard places that Judson was committed to, the American missionary still has a vital role in global outreach.  Happy 200^th birthday to us.

January Report

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