I probably don’t need to tell you that the landscape in the American church has been changing for a number of years as local churches try to figure out their role and responsibility in the Great Commission. You know that some churches have started rejecting the “pray, pay, and get out of the way” model. Churches are increasingly dissatisfied with non-involvement and now want to get involved in missions in a meaningful way.

At the same time, many churches are starting to consider long-term missionaries too expensive, turning instead to supporting nationals and/or sending multiple short-term teams as their preferred means of reaching the world. It is not that long-term missionaries are no longer valued; it is that they are not valued highly enough to give $90,000 to support one family when the same amount can support a multitude of nationals. This is a hard reality within the church today.

These trends are on my mind as I’m on a plane back to Chicago after attending a P.E.A.C.E. Plan briefing at Saddleback Church in CA. I was invited to attend this briefing delivered to about 80 pastors. Rick Warren spoke to us eloquently and passionately about how the local church is the only means and God-ordained way to carry forth the Great Commission. He believes the church must be mobilized, and once it is mobilized worldwide, it will lead us into the next reformation; a reformation not of belief but of action. Warren strongly believes it is time for the church to stop talking and start doing. He states that the church is known for its words and not its actions, and once the church is seen as the hands and feel of Jesus, nothing will stop this reformation.

Those attending the briefing were introduced to a “Church Training Manual” that is being developed to train churches to become involved in missions locally and globally. The premise is that churches first need to engage in missions locally before moving toward global involvement. Warren, who previously has not led his own church toward global involvement, is now moving in that direction with a vengeance, so to speak.

The two-day briefing contained more information than I can share in this short update, but Warren seems to be saying, in many ways, exactly what we’ve been saying for a number of years in terms of engaging and moving the local church toward missional thinking and local/global action. Of course, Warren has packaged this in a very powerful and attractive package.

I support the basic premise of what I heard over the last couple days, but I am very concerned because Saddleback does not seem to highly value long-term missionaries, and is admittedly discovering this as they move forward. They recognize the need for NGOs and mission agencies but are trying to figure out how to incorporate their expertise into the efforts of the P.E.A.C.E. plan. They have been holding briefings around the country with agency reps for this purpose.

You need to know that when Saddleback moves into a country, such as Rwanda, their intent is to work with local churches. They also immediately begin developing an exit strategy, convinced that investment in the local church will render sustainability to their efforts. They see NGOs and agencies as temporal and secondary to the enduring and primary role Biblically given to the church.

So what does all of this mean? I think we will continue to see hundreds of thousands of short-term workers sent from western churches each year to many global destinations. As Saddleback sends forth ST teams, they are seeking the expertise that resides in agencies, i.e. long-term missionaries. This does provide an opportunity for LT missionaries to share their experience and cultural understanding with churches in a way that will position ST teams to be successful as they minister overseas. The door is also open for you to invite a team to your field once you’ve determined how a ST team could be used in a positive and effective way in your region. Finally, the time is ripe for you to speak into the cross-cultural situations faced by your supporting churches. Our churches need training in how to cross cultures within their own communities, and who better to do this than long-term missionaries who are working hard to figure this all out.

We can be critical of what is happening in the church today as we note points of disagreement, or we can choose to step toward what the church is doing out of a desire to honor their efforts and interest in becoming involved in active Great Commission ministry. So often what churches need and are looking for as they mobilize for short-term involvement can only come from those who have served overseas for a longer period of time. - Dave

Back To Top

A MISSION FOR CHRIST’S COMMUNITY
Sub shops are big in the Boston area. A few weeks ago I visited one and noticed a mission statement posted on the wall. It read something like this: “We promise to treat you with courtesy and respect and serve you a sub that will delight you and satisfy your hunger.” I ordered a crab meat sub with cheese and lettuce. It was great!

If Jesus had a mission, and I were to reduce that mission to a simple statement, I would say that Jesus came into the world to build a community of Christ followers. He did that by demonstrating God’s redeeming love. He fulfilled His mission by dying on the cross and shedding His perfect blood to be the atonement for all people who repent and believe. What Jesus wanted to do was to build a community of people who would be distinct from any other group of people. This is what the church is—a community of Christ followers.

This is the theme of Luke 6 beginning with verse 32. It is extremely interesting how Jesus describes the depth of this community when He says (paraphrasing here), If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? If you do good to those who are good to you in return, what good is that? And if you give to people with the expectation that you will be paid back, what’s the point? Even sinners, who are outside of the community, do this. It is easy to love loveable people. Even sinners love those who love them. You do good to people, so what? It is easy to do good to people who thank you and do kind things in return.

Christ wants the people in His community to love the people who are unlovable. He wants His people to give to those who can’t or won’t give anything in return. Christ wants us to risk doing good toward those who may never say thank you, even those who may refuse our efforts, resent or revile us for it.

This is the challenge of Christ to the community in Luke 6. After all, when He dwelled among us Jesus loved men and women whom others deemed unlovable and unworthy. He touched them, healed them, dined with them, taught them. He humbled Himself to serve both strangers and friends. In Christ God has given us everything we need, knowing we can never repay Him, and that many will reject Him. It is a bit startling to realize that this is what we are called to do.

A young man is in my life again. He first appeared on the scene as a twelve-year-old boy placed in my home as a foster child for a short time. Now he has reentered my life, this time as a twenty-one-year-old man who contacted me while incarcerated for two years. Just released, he has nothing except a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, a wife who is living with another man, and a pile of hurt. The Bible is very clear about the heart of God when it comes to the prisoner, the widow, and the orphan. My wife Ingrid and I understand the will of God in this matter and as we “adopt” him once again we pray for wisdom as we care for this young man for whom Christ died.

Ernest Gordon wrote a book a number of years ago entitled Through the Valley of the Kwai. In this book he tells of his experience as a British POW during WWII, forced by the Japanese occupying army to build a railroad in Burma. Gordon tells the story of a time when they were being shipped by railroad to another part of the country to do more labor. They arrived at a railroad crossing and there next to them on the tracks was a railroad car carrying a troop of horribly wounded Japanese soldiers, and no one was caring for them. They were covered with flies, starving and in desperate need of water, and there was no one to care for their needs. Gordon writes that as they looked at these men—the enemy—they did not rejoice in their suffering but were compelled by the spirit of Christ to do something for them. He writes that in spite of the fact that the Japanese guards tried to stop them, they hopped off the train with their canteens and rushed across to the next car to serve these men who were their enemies.

This is the kind of community Jesus is describing in Luke 6. It is the kind of community that we all want to be part of, and it is the kind of community that thrusts us out beyond the comfort of our own homes and neighborhoods into the far regions of the earth to love people, to serve people, and to give to people regardless of what we receive in return. It is a wonderful calling; it is the hard way, the only way, and the Jesus way.  - Dave

Back To Top

“The love of equals is a human thing—of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

“The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing—the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

“The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing—to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

“And then there is love for the enemy—love for one who does not love you, but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world."   –Frederick Buechner

Back To Top

African Friends and Money Matters: Observations from Africa
by David Maranz; 2001 SIL International
Reviewed by David Korb

At first blush it might appear that only those planning to work in Africa should read this book. This is not the case. While this book is primarily about cultural differences between Africa and the West when it comes to money matters, I think it can also serve as a template for crossing cultures both locally and globally, alerting the reader to areas in which cultural differences may cause confusion or conflict. 

Maranz’s insights and reflections are based on over 20 years living in various African countries. In this book he discusses issues such as the way generosity is culturally defined, how disputes are settled, how businesses are managed, and how debts are repaid.

For example, Maranz notes that in many African countries, saving money for the future is not a value. Instead, the expectation is that money beyond that needed to meet present material needs will be shared with extended family members. The idea is that you are making an investment for the future by sharing your excess with a friend or family member in need because doing so ensures reciprocal treatment when you may have a need in the future. While Westerners readily share knowledge, Africans readily share their space and things while holding on to or guarding their knowledge.

In this same vein, Africans prefer to be without money or means so they can easily refuse to grant a loan. Once a loan is granted, it is the responsibility of the person who loaned the money to remind the debtor of his responsibilities. Also, while westerners seek to live in increasingly spacious homes, African live in small spaces shared by extended family members.

These are just a few of the examples given in this book which provide great insight into the differences between Western culture and the African mindset, but also highlight areas of potential difference between other cultures as well.

Back To Top