Sunday, December 5, 2010


Dear Readers,

Please use me as a missionary resource.

I know of many open doors and opportunities that I cannot exploit because there is simply not the workers to run through the open doors.





"UNFIT FOR SERVICE" TYPIFIES MANY US CHURCH-GOERS!

I recently attended a seminar which focused on mobilization and training new workers for the field. The situation in America came up.

Many Americans my age are
-(1) in delayed adolescence,
-(2) have a sense of entitlement,
-(3) lack perseverance,
-(4) lack biblical literacy, and
-(5) are eyeball deep in debt,
-----i.e., unfit for missionary service.


HOWEVER, DEAR READERS FROM GRACE CHURCHES.....

Many youth in our grace churches are solidly biblically fed and are just good solid youth.

-

MY DESIRE:

My desire is that we intentionally engage and mobilize these young men and women!


This is not only my open invitation but also my plea for you pastors to approach these most promising youth and challenge them to consider missions. Please take the initiative and ask some to pray and seriously consider missions. If you want practical info on logistics or training for the field, please give them my email. I am willing to correspond with anyone who is interested.

It is my pleasure to reflect that God not only saved me, not only called me into missions, but also allows me to bless others who may also be called into missions. Please bless me by connecting me and linking me up with those desiring info on missionary work. Use me as a resource person.

NEEDS:

We need pastors, bible teachers, school teachers, literacy workers, nurses, development workers, English teachers. Single women are also useful in engaging tribal women, a group often closed off to men. There are enough potential scenarios that we can find a fit for God-called servants.

email me at oct31st1517 at hotmail.

PIC: Paul's Macedonian Call

Muslim Hyper-Contextualization: The New Missiological Fad




DEFINITION OF CONTEXTUALIZATION:
We must never compromise biblical truth. We must, however, express this truth to widely varying cultures. Contextualization is this bridging process. The missionary seeks to impart the meaning of the Gospel in a meaningful way to a new audience. He leaves behind his cultural biases and even adapts the form of his message to provide better points of commonality between the Gospel and his target audience


While trying to stress the positives of cultural accomodation

1. Avoiding the foreign-ness of a Gospel dressed in foreign clothes.
2. Communicating the Gospel in clear and meaningful ways.
3. Avoiding Western ethnocentrism and monoculturalism.
4. Taking cultural differences seriously.
5. Affirming the right of every country and society to be free from Western domination),

I have outlined my apprehensions about high-end Muslim contextualization below:




DANGERS OF HIGH-END MUSLIM CONTEXTUALIZATION


Introduction:

In recent years, some missionaries are advocating strategies of Muslim Evangelism which include saying the Shahada, calling Muhammad a Prophet and referring to the Qur'an as the Word of God as well as calling themselves "Muslims".

Also, they group their ministry "fruit" into small groups that are cut off from the wider Body of Christ, they delay baptism and are slow to take on the name of Christ for fear of being thrust out of their communities and as a strategy of keeping these new "believers" in their own communities. I have met missionaries who call themselves Muslims, have said the Shahada and have provided goats for the Idul-Adha sacrifice, all the while claiming to work for Christ yet having no contact with the wider Christian community that live just doors down from them.


Below are several bullet points against these practices of hyper-contextualization:


POINTS TO CONSIDER AGAINST HYPER-CONTEXTUALIZATION

---Paul’s becoming all things to all peoples is not a blank check.

---The missionary can be secretive, if there is real danger, but should not call himself a Muslim to avoid that danger.

---To love Jesus is to love his followers, and seek broader fellowship when possible.

---The level of persecution experienced in the New Testament was, in general, more severe than in the Indonesian context, a key area where C5 strategies were developed.

---In Hebrews, believers are not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. Some C5 believers, in contrast, are encouraged to stay separate from other Christians.

---Christians, even sometimes during heavy persecution, generally “owned” the name of Christ and tried to fellowship with the broader community.

---Jesus says that if we deny Him before men, He will deny us before our Father in heaven.

---Excessive delay or the ignoring of baptism is disobedience.

---C5 proponents err in their argumentation. Most of their arguments for C5 are brilliant defenses of C4 and do not support their C5 claims.

---Saying the Shahada, doing the Sholat, calling Muhammad a Prophet, and referring to the Qur’an as an authority are bridges too far. Western missionaries engaging in such activities err greatly.

---Using the Qur’an as a bridge is permissible. Just remember: bridges are made to be crossed. Get people reading Scriptures asap.

---Some “high end” contextualization strategies are Western driven and often locals don’t agree. Ironically, contextualization is not contextual in many local contexts.

---A perfectly contextualized strategy still does not guarantee converts. There is no Golden Key to evangelism.

---Some cultures are fed up with Islam. Why try to make Christianity wear Muslim clothes in these contexts?

---If C5 was a mere descriptive phenomenon, more sympathy could be gained as these followers of Jesus untangled themselves from Islam. However, it is being promoted as a strategy and deserves balanced critique rather than mere sympathy.

---If C5 communities ever mature, they must slide down the scale.

---The issue of identity is key. Do C5 communities see themselves as belonging to Jesus? And if so, they will want to follow him even if their communities reject them.


---Despite this critique of C5, we should pray for these Muslims who have partial light.



Defenses of high-end contextualization have taken over evangelical missions. I think it is time for a push-back and a defense of the radical change that the Gospel makes.



For more information:

---See Timothy Tennent's, "Followers of Jesus in Isa Mosques" to see the best critique of the C5 movement published yet.

---Also see Roger Dixon's article "Identity Theft" in the EMQ (The Evangelical Missions Quarterly" about efforts to re-translate the references to Jesus as the "Son of God" becuase it offends Muslim sensibilities.

Monday, June 7, 2010

How can I go overseas when there are so many needs here at home?


“Some retorted upon me, `There are heathen at home; let us seek and save, first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors.”’ We must evangelize our home front first, before we worry about the rest of the world. Aren’t there millions of sinners living all around us? Isn’t it logical and right to preach to them first?...’

“This I felt to be most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that those who made this retort neglected those home heathen themselves. They would ungrudgingly spend more on a fashionable party at dinner or tea, on concert or ball or theatre, or on some ostentatious display, or worldly or selfish indulgence, ten times more, perhaps in a single day, than they would give in a year, or in half a lifetime, for the conversion of the whole heathen world, either at home or abroad.”

-John Paton, Missionary from Scotland to the South Sea Islands”




--

--



"It has been objected that there are multitudes in our own nation, and within our immediate spheres of action, who are as ignorant as the South-Sea savages, and that therefore we have work enough at home, without going into other countries.

That there are thousands in our own land as far from God as possible, I readily grant, and that this ought to excite us to ten-fold diligence in our work, And in attempts to spread divine knowledge amongst them is a certain fact; but that it ought to supersede all attempts to spread the gospel in foreign parts seems to want proof.

Our own countrymen have the means of grace, and may attend on the word preached if they choose it. They have the means of knowing the truth, and faithful ministers are placed in almost every part of the land, whose spheres of action might be much extended if their congregations were but more hearty and active in the cause: but with them the case is widely different, who have no Bible, no written language, (which many of them have not,) no ministers, no good civil government, nor any of those advantages which we have.

Pity therefore, humanity, and much more Christianity, call loudly for every possible exertion to introduce the gospel amongst them.



--William Carey, Section one of Enquiry into the Use of Means in the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Heathen.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Have we no rights? by Mabel Williamson



http://www.amazon.com/Mabel-Williamson-Rights-Discussion-Missionaries/dp/1451572921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275123297&sr=1-1-spell


This is a classic; one of the most impactful books that I could recommend for new missionaries.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Thoughts on Supporting Indigenous Evangelists


SENDING OUT OUR OWN
AND
SUPPORTING
 INDIGENOUS EVANGELISTS

(We can increase both efforts. Tenfold!)

“Should we support Western missionaries or, instead, support only native evangelists?”

This query has been posed to me at least three dozen times this year alone. After wincing and wondering whether I should gently remind the enquirer that, “We don’t call them natives anymore – they are indigenous evangelists” I then usually rehash some of the very thoughts that I have now put into writing below.


The vital role of indigenous partners:
Involvement with indigenous believers is essential –if there are any. If an unreached people group has any believers at all, even a handful, Western mission efforts should seek not to bypass these local believers but should do all in their power to include, equip and advance the ministries of these local Christians.

Here is a little secret: missionaries are often painfully unproductive. Western missionaries, especially those pioneering new efforts among the least-reached, often struggle for years trying to light that first spark of the Gospel into a new cross-cultural context. And those first tendrils of new flame in a dark region are hard to start. But once the flame of the Gospel flickers alive among an unreached people group, it is usually not the foreign missionary that continues the spread of this fire. It is, instead, some of those first indigenous converts who then spread the Gospel like wildfire. The missionary is often the spark. Local indigenous workers are often the gasoline by which the fire quickly spreads.

Western missionaries get much of the credit for overseas missions successes. Keep in mind, however, that missions history books and biographies are largely written by Westerners. The Western missionary often gets the credit for not only his own works and successes, but also the successes of everyone tied to his efforts. His name is easier to pronounce after all, and focusing on one person to whom Western readers are personally invested in is easier then learning the names of dozens of local workers. Churches back home in America may be intrigued by the roles that “the natives” play in the work, but many largely see their own Western missionary only in the command role, and all efforts and new initiatives are assumed to spring (even after a local church has been established and local leadership raised up) from his sole leadership alone. All new converts, whether those arising from his own labors or those new converts added to the church through the efforts of other indigenous workers all get added to the missionary’s own tally.

Speaking as a missionary working with indigenous evangelists, I know that their successes often get counted as our successes. This is fine in one sense because we are all batting for the same team, after all. The inverse, however, is often forgotten, that our successes, too, are successes which belong to the whole indigenous contingent with which we co-labor – our successes are theirs, too.

Again, the role of the Western missionary who is engaged in pioneering work among a frontier group consists often in struggling to light that initial flame of the Gospel and gaining that initial breakthrough. Then, once the wall is breached and the initial flame is lit, our job is then to feed the growing flame as national workers go out and spread the fire. As this occurs, we often move from roles of direct evangelism to roles of leadership development and coaching/training of key persons possessing an evangelistic/teaching gift who can then continue the spread of the Gospel far and wide. We feed this growing Gospel flame by equipping nationals with teaching, but also by equipping evangelists with materials as needed, including the means (even monetary) for new outreaches, to do the work which the Lord has called them to do. Involvement with indigenous believers is of utmost importance, and as we bless them, they can then bless others with the Gospel. Therefore, supporting indigenous evangelists and indigenous movements toward Christ is of vital importance to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Advantages of supporting indigenous workers:
There are many reasons why we should seek to support our Christian brothers and sister engaged in Gospel work overseas:
• First, we should support their work because they are Christian brothers. And, seeing the Global Church as One Body, if we are willing to support white-skinned Western missionaries with monetary funding, why would we not also desire to gift our overseas brothers and sisters in Christ in the same manner?

Also, pragmatically, there are a variety of reasons as well
• Indigenous workers do not need furloughs back to the States.
• They won’t puke when the locals give them salt fish, snails, grub worms or dog to eat.
• Indigenous workers won’t distract their listeners with inappropriate postures and social blunders like using the “impolite hand” to eat, calling the “village head” the “village coconut” or showing the soles of one’s feet as one sits and eats with locals.
• Locals usually don’t talk with distracting and funny dialects.
• Indigenous workers may be better able of actually “plant” a local church rather than “transplant” a Western church onto foreign soil. A church must not be seen as a foreign import, and Christianity must spread as a native plant growing on native soil; not as a North American pine wilting in the tropics. Though the Gospel condemns aspects of every culture that it encounters, there are also points of contact and open windows of understanding by which local believers can work from the known to the unknown in order to facilitate communication and receptivity and use bridges of understanding when teaching the Gospel, rather than beating one’s head against closed doors due to a lack of properly contextualizing the unchanging Word of God into variable human cultures.
• Local and personal ownership of the Gospel is vital. A people must own God as their own God and know that God is not merely the God of the ___(fill in the nationality or ethnic group). One need not become a Westerner in order to become a Christian, and indigenous evangelists can best model this truth. They are living proof.
• With the rise of radical Islam and the closing of many countries, indigenous evangelists may be the only possible missions strategy in many areas. Also, in countries with past histories of colonialism and racism, locals may associate the Christian faith with the sins of those who have come from “Christian lands.” In these contexts, indigenous evangelists may meet with much more success to their message due to the greater openness of the people to the indigenous messengers.
Some pitfalls of supporting indigenous evangelists
Supporting indigenous efforts in the wrong way can actually hinder the spread of the Gospel in the following ways:
• By making local evangelists trust us, instead of the Lord, as the source and fuel for their efforts.
• Poor indigenous churches may neglect to support their own pastors if they are supported fully by “rich” foreigners. We may impede the instilling of sound principles of stewardship and sacrificial giving.
• We may unduly encourage a sense of pity for poor Christians, who must also learn to give sacrificially. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians, described them giving generously even out of their “extreme poverty” –so let’s not feel sorry for Third World Churches nor encourage their own sense of self-pity or retard their growth in grace by saying, “We’ll handle this issue of tithing for you since you contribute so little anyway and it really just isn’t worth your effort.”.

Also, let us in the West increase in generosity ourselves, remembering the example of the early church, who distributed to all who were in need and even sold properties for the sake of the Gospel rather than merely giving a leftover portion of what they could “afford” to “sacrifice” without curtailing their affluent lifestyles. People, give up your TIVO and HDTV and adopt two new missionaries to support this year! If you prize sacrifice in your missionaries and admire the sacrifice of Third World Christians, then seek to sacrifice in your own daily lives as well.

• Jealousy often arises between indigenous co-workers when the “Have-Nots” who have no source of outside funding work beside the “Haves” who are supported totally by American churches.
• Paid workers often stop doing the voluntary work which they once did for free (why do it, if there’s no money in it?). We may encourage a mercenary spirit.
• Many Western Christians have never truly learned to “freely give.” Many desire to control nationals by the purse-strings. Many falsely use the term “accountability” to dictate specific local strategies and specific local priorities, rather than merely insuring the general trustworthy use of funds. Some American churches will see nothing at all amiss in preaching against hirelings in one breath and then demanding obedience from indigenous evangelists in very specific local decision-making processes, something better left to the people knowing the cultural milieu of ministry on-site.

Churches may even seek to dominate the Western missionaries that they support by instilling very specific restrictions upon the usage of their funds. Note the subtle difference between the statement, “I will give you this, if you do this…” and the healthier response of, “I hear that you would like to do this in your ministry, here are the means to make that a possibility.” The latter is a stance of support and trust in the supported missionary. The former response is a means of using others to implement your own agendas rather than supporting the missionary’s own locally-informed vision. Giving as a means to control strategy specifics which should be field-determined is not generosity but is using church money as “bait” in order to lure poor evangelists and Western missionaries into spiritual servitude. If you trust someone enough to support them, then you should invest that person with the freedom to make semi-autonomous field-based decision based on the situation on the ground.

I have, thankfully, only ever had one church try to dictate field specifics to me, basing their right to do so on their financial gifts to me. Missions, however, cannot be governed from 1,000 miles away, and 100 bucks per month doesn’t give you the right to “strongly suggest - based on our support of you” that I should implement this or that very specific teaching. This one solitary occurrence still sticks in my craw. I can only imagine how indigenous evangelists are made to feel through repeated and regular incidents such as this.

• Many indigenous believers, even those (and perhaps especially those) receiving our funding may actually come to resent our money and resent us for the feelings of inferiority and subservience arising from our relationship. If our relationship departs from a partnership relationship, or even a patron-client relationship and, instead, becomes an employer-employee arrangement, resentment is a certainty.
• Many indigenous evangelists feel pressed into implementing imported Western programs that they know will not work, but they do not want to protest too loudly lest they disappoint donors. Instead of being able to critique and objectively discuss strategies of evangelization, indigenous paid evangelists become the implementers of the decisions made by ill-informed Westerners. Or they feel forced into situations that they know are not ideal, but they “go with the flow” in order to humor their Western counter-parts. One Indonesian evangelist that I know admitted to laboring for 2-3 years on a Western-led evangelistic program that he knew would not be effective. He was not given a voice nor was he asked about how he thought his own kinsmen would receive the teachings, he was just paid to carry out the program. He justified the situation by saying, “Oh well, I do my own evangelism at night and on weekends and I treat this other effort as merely a job, even though I don’t use its methods in my own witnessing. Hey, I need to feed my children and pay their school bills.”
• Local converts, paid by Western churches, are often seen by local communities as paid agents of Western powers and this breeds distrust. These local converts can be seen as “sell-outs” and some are even asked, “How much did they pay you to convert?”
• Paid workers sometimes become puffed up and arrogant.
• Others, seeing locals being paid for church service, often begin to join themselves to the church for false motives (“rice Christians”).
• Paid local indigenous workers often do not feel free to personally develop their own theology. As the Gospel penetrates every new culture, there are major issues of self-theologizing that indigenous workers must settle. Non-Western theologians are needed in order to settle vital issues of how the Gospel intersects with their own local cultural practices. A local evangelist may desire to try to better fit God’s unchanging universal Word into his own particular human culture, but expectations or pressures from Western donors (many of whom mix their own cultural trappings with the Gospel and read the Bible through very Western lenses) may discourage this process. Instead, many local believers, getting no encouragement from Western donors who are not present locally and who are ignorant of the local culture, feel stymied in their attempts to answer the longing in their hearts for a locally-relevant theology and these locals then fall prey to the errors of syncretism and liberation theology, which allow greater freedom of local expression.
• Many missiologists assert that everything that Western missionaries teach and model for new believers overseas should be replicable on a local level. The model of supporting indigenous evangelists very rarely can be. Locals, seeing us model this system might think, “Well, we cannot really do evangelism because we cannot do it like the Westerners.”
• Without eyes on the ground and people to see the indigenous work that is being supported and to interact with some degree of cultural knowledge with the indigenous evangelists being supported, there is much potential for abuse. Abuse does take place. I have heard and read accounts of larger churches branching into two smaller groups because two small groups (i.e., two churches) got paid twice instead of once. I have heard of Indian evangelists gathering relatives and buying a banner for a photo opportunity in order to "plant” a new church and receive Western funds.

Also, local evangelists are, indeed, spreading a message, but what message? Without boots on the ground in the form of culturally-informed Western missionaries, how do we check to see if their message is actually the Gospel or a counterfeit? I have met Third World evangelists whom themselves did not know the Gospel and who, as far as I could tell, were not saved. Yet, these unsaved evangelists were travelling far and wide and making “converts.” In fact, the largest evangelistic successes I have had so far in my own mission work have been among the already churched!

What about indigeneity?

Missionaries want to plant indigenous churches. Usually the marks of an indigenous church are listed according to the formula of John L. Nevius, great missiologist of the past (1829-1893), using the moniker, “The Three-Self Paradigm.” Indigenous churches are to be self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating. When these marks are reached (and the possible addition of a 4th “self” – “self-theologizing” that is currently receiving a lot of emphasis) then a planted church has truly reached the praiseworthy status of being indigenous.

Some assert, therefore, that all aid to indigenous evangelists and indigenous evangelism efforts stymy indigeneity and always breeds dependency. As shocking as it sounds, some missionaries – on principle – oppose all aid to foreign churches.

And certainly dependency can and does occur. Abuses are a real possibility whenever any charity is given (remember: this applies even to western missionaries, not just our Third World brothers). Western churches have, indeed, been guilty of building structures dependent on continual western aid and have used these structures to control foreign churches, the locals never being able to rise to full partnership with their Western church “bosses,” who control all aspects of funding and decision-making.

However, we should be reminded that independency is not our ultimate goal. No Christian, and no church, is ultimately independent within the Body of Christ. We are instead knit together, every part being inter-dependent and needing every other part.

We are also reminded that the Jerusalem church in the New Testament was an indigenous church and yet was pleased to receive the generous gift from the Gentile churches brought by the hand of Paul. It is possible for a church or an evangelistic team to receive outside aid and still be indigenous and God-honoring.

Also, Nevius and his philosophical successor Henry Venn, both champions of the 3-Self Formula, both advocated indigenous aid and relief, and Venn was involved in generous national church funding under the Native Church Fund of the Church Mission Society. Generous funding and relief was advocated even by the strongest champions of the 3-Self Formula, though care was taken so that Western missionaries did not control all minor aspects of this distribution but, instead, local foreign churches were able to control funding and strategic decisions once a basic level of accountability was established.

Finally, it should be remembered that, for the most part, the Western missionaries who are sounding the one-sided trumpet call against indigenous support in the name of discouraging dependency are themselves usually funded by Western donors. Apparently, the double-standard is okay, Westerners are responsible enough to withstand the dangers of dependency but poor, brown overseas brothers need our protection against the dangers that our generosity brings.

Other thoughts:

“Should we support Western missionaries or, instead, support only native evangelists?”

When Western churches take an Either/Or approach and support indigenous evangelists INSTEAD of sending out Western missionaries we may call this “partnering” with indigenous believers –but it is not. When U.S. phone companies do not want to spend the money necessary to hire Americans for their customer service and they, instead use customer service personnel from Bombay or Calcutta this is called “out-sourcing.” If we take an Either-Or approach rather than a Both/And approach and fail to send out our own missionaries, instead employing cheaper labor to do our job for us, we are not “Partnering with Nationals” at all. Instead, we are guilty of “Outsourcing” our Great Commission responsibilities for the sake of cost and personal sacrifice.

The West needs Western missionaries to go and suffer to keep us in the game. Throwing money at a problem without personal cost or commitment is the American way in so many other areas, but it cannot be so with the Gospel. We need people willing to go and suffer personally, and bear personal witness to the cost of the Great Commission.

The Great Commission tells us to GO.

In the Civil War there were those that paid others, substitute soldiers, to take their place in the firing line. For a fee, the rich could hire someone to enlist on their behalf, and thus avoid personal sacrifice and danger themselves. This practice, however, is inexcusable for those who have been called to pick up the Cross and follow Jesus.

A better way

Instead of the Either/Or approach which pits sending Western missionaries against supporting indigenous evangelists, I would propose that we increase our efforts by ten-fold on both fronts.

Many give only their leftovers to missions. What if the Church were to give its first-fruits to missions? What if we nurtured and cultivated our young people to actually go? What if we strove to give a portion of people as well as money to our Great Cause?

What if this following ethos pervaded our churches: If you can actually go, do not be content merely to support; and if you can support, do not be content merely to pray; if you can pray, do not be content merely to watch. Be as involved as you can be!

I advocate that we strive to send out 10 times our present number of missionaries to the field. Then, once on the field, they will cultivate a healthy respect for indigenous brothers in Christ and partner in their efforts as well, avoiding dependency, yet remembering that all members of the Body of Christ are mutually inter-dependent, one on another, and that we all must contribute as much as we are able. Thus, we would not be choosing between the support of either indigenous evangelists or Western missionaries, but we would be sending out frontline troops to partner with and aid indigenous efforts, teaming up with indigenous partners for the multiplication of the work of the Great Commission – the whole church sending the whole Gospel to the whole world.

Some sound principles to use when funding indigenous efforts:

When supporting indigenous efforts, what are some governing principles to use?

Seek to work where God is already at work:

If an indigenous Christian is not evangelistic, he might appear to increase in productivity in exchange for a little bit of pay, but this is poor fuel for long-term evangelistic fire.

In several regions of southern P___ , the missionaries paid the evangelists from the very beginning. When the missionaries left, their pay left too, and a large number of their evangelists stopped evangelizing. The main motivation of these indigenous evangelists soon became clear.

When funding indigenous evangelistic efforts, make sure the effort is already moving without you. Make sure that you are, therefore, working where God is already working and not artificially creating activity that appears evangelistic. You are to be a force-multiplier, enhancing already-existing local efforts that are borne out of local initiative, not hiring others to implement your own agenda. If a local evangelist is called of God, he will continue his work with or without you. Therefore seek to support those who are already engaged in their work and who have already had some measure of success before meeting you. Seek to make sure that their motivation comes from God alone and that your money is only fuel to help them do what they are already doing anyway.

We want God-called evangelists, not paid mercenaries!

Many times in missions, it is the Western missionary that picks the local leaders and funds them. Then the Western missionary is shocked at the high rate of moral failure and departures from the work once financial incentives dry up. Western missionaries, therefore, should never pick local leaders, but only recognize those that are already rising to the top due to being picked by God. I think that this is the reason that the Apostle Paul preached at many places and then moved on, only later returning to ordain elders. As the Gospel spread and believers were assembled, there was a need for time to produce and show the young churches who their natural leaders were and allow them to rise to the top for later ordination once their leadership was made clear.
Remember that each part of the Body of Christ must contribute what they can.

Another principle to use when funding local efforts is that local evangelists that are worthy of support are not out to get a free ride, but only desire to supplement their own strenuous efforts. Local evangelists worthy of support are willing to sacrifice and are glad for funds, and these funds do not significantly reduce their own levels of sacrifice, but only provide fuel for new aggressive and expansive efforts.

For example, as I have helped N__ in the region of West J. and have recruited others as well to help N__’s efforts, his normal lifestyle has not dramatically increased, nor has the strenuous pace of his efforts slowed. Aside from finally being able to squirrel away enough personal money for his first family vacation in a decade, N__’s personal manner of living has not changed at all. However, the number of miles on his ministry vehicle continually increases as extra funding allows him to circulate through the villages all the more and to make inroads into several new villages to initiate new efforts. Also, the number of needy Christian children he has sponsored for Christian schools has increased as well and new gifts have been used for new, aggressive efforts to expand the reach of N__’s team for the sake of the Gospel.

The Widow’s mite - proportional giving: I made a recent trip with two leaders from the M___ River region, Yulianus and Martinus. The M___ River churches, however, could not provide the total funding. So, they gave all that they could, totalling about 1/4th of the cost of the plane tickets. Western donors provided the rest. Thus, the M__ River Region provided their widow’s mite, a proportion of the cost based on their ability. They did not receive a free ride, but were also expected to sacrifice as well, in accord with their ability to give.

Remember that each part of the Body of Christ must contribute what they can.

My own example:

I am a Western-sent missionary. The generous support of Western churches supports my family. Because of this generous support I am enabled – as I work locally, to see the daily faithfulness of indigenous workers, and to help support some of these indigenous efforts. At various times, the missionary support channeled through me has enabled the support of nearly two dozen worthy indigenous efforts at once, to include new outreaches, Christian schooling for new believers, scholarships to seminaries, travel costs, medicine and hospital costs for the sick, and basic necessities such as salt and soap for evangelists who work in extreme interior locations and face significant health hazards and hardship.

Some Western churches may consider it a mark of a good missionary to cost very little and subsist on meager support without complaining, but consider this analogy. If frontier missions is likened to frontline wartime service, and missionaries are to possess longevity despite hardship, they will need to be highly trained and highly equipped. Generous funding means more bullets to shoot at the enemy. Also, missionaries, seeing first-hand the local indigenous efforts in a region, are in a prime spot to equip their brothers-in-arms as well with bullets to shoot at the enemy.

Conclusion - War-time allies:

John Rowell, in his thought-provoking book To Give or Not to Give? paints this analogy for us; indigenous support is not global welfare but is, instead “Global Warfare.” He advocates a “Missionary Marshall Plan” and urges us not to see Third World Christians as a “band of beggars seeking alms” but as “a band of brothers seeking arms.” God has given the West a sizeable war chest for the spread of the Gospel and to our brothers-in-arms, the indigenous evangelists, we must show them that they are not alone in the struggle. We must not only be generous as we equip them for Gospel warfare but, we should seek to struggle alongside them at the front.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Elinor Young - missionary hero



PSALM 147:

He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.





(this is a rough draft by a co-worker of the biography of Elinor Young, an inspiring story)



Elinor Young – biography

Elinor Young was born in Spokane, Washington, USA, on November 5, 1946. Her parents were Alfred Earl and Rosetta Young. Al (sometimes called Earl) was a “range manager” there in Washington state, helping farmers with many aspects of their raising of cattle.

In December, 1951, Elinor contracted polio. She was in a hospital in Spokane, Washington, for seven months, then spent two years in out-patient therapy. Between the ages of 9 and 14, she was hospitalized in Shriner’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington, several times.

Elinor had committed herself to finding and following the Lord’s will from the age of 9! And as Elinor’s physical situation improved, she eventually became interested in working as a missionary overseas. After being accepted by RBMU (Regions Beyond Missionary Union – now called World Team), and raising her ministry support, at the age of 27, Elinor was able to begin her work in the Korupun (or Kimyal) tribe in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.

She spent 17 years in Irian Jaya. In that remote interior mountain tribe, she did linguistic and translation work. She analyzed and learned the Kimyal language and began Bible translation, but, of necessity in such a mission setting, did various types of medical work (including tube feeding some babies), used the SSB radio to communicate with friends and mission leaders, as well as for air traffic with MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship), the link through small Cessna aircraft with the outside world for supplies, etc. (There were not – and still are not – any roads in that rugged mountainous area.) These formerly Stone Age people were transitioning from a barter economy to using currency, so Elinor was inevitably an economic consultant as well!

In 1991, with her translation work far from completed, Elinor had a major PPS (Post Polio Syndrome) attack, and had to return to the States for major medical treatment. Her condition deteriorated for some time, precluding any hope of returning to minister in Irian Jaya. By late 1996 she could walk only a few feet, needed a respirator 18 hours out of 24. with no more than four consecutive hours free from it, struggled through thick chronic brain fatigue, and needed prescription pain relievers and sleep aids. Every few months measured new decline.

Then, near the end of 1996, she did receive help through treatment by Futures Unlimited, Inc., and improved to the point that she began a ministry to other polio victims, primarily through writing and the internet. She was so thankful to the Lord for allowing her this new freedom and ability to minister! In May, 1998, she wrote: “Yes, I am enjoying to the hilt my new greater level of strength and health. I relish the ability it gives me to be involved in the kinds of things I was made for. I thrill at the prospect of fulfilled dreams.”

In time, Elinor became more involved in various state-side ministries with her mission, World Team. Though officially retired due to disability, she remains as active as her limited energy will allow. She loves mentoring future missionaries, editing the Great Commission Kids magazine, speaking about missions, and trying to help God's people catch the passion of God's heart for the world.

Now, in March, 2010, she has made a return trip to Irian Jaya (now called Papua, Indonesia), to attend the dedication of the Korupun New Testament, which her colleague, Rosa Kidd, and a team of Korupun nationals, have finished translating.

Based on what we have seen of her life so far, we believe that Elinor will continue to serve the Lord with all the energy and strength He gives her, though far less than most other people enjoy. She will continue to be an inspiration to many! She will continue to be delighted whenever she hears that her life, and her trust in the Lord to use her despite her stringent limitations, has, in some small or great way, had an impact on others! She wants to encourage more involvement in every way possible, to get God’s Word to needy people at the very ends of the earth!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

BOOK REVIEW - Apostolic Function in 21st Century Missions by Alan R. Johnson (William Carey Publishers).


Apostolic Function in 21st Century Missions by Alan R. Johnson (William Carey Publishers).

Church historian Stephen Neill once remarked, “When everything is mission, nothing is mission.” Alan R. Johnson heartily agrees. Johnson, a missionary in Thailand, advocates a renewed focus on the “where” question of missions, and a renewed prioritization of frontier missions among the least-reached.

Don’t let the term “apostolic” fool you. Johnson is not advocating the return to the office of Apostle, using the term, instead, in a functional sense. Being “apostolic” means to “function in the manner of the Apostles” in our ever-outward, pioneering compulsion. As God’s “sent out ones,” we drive forward, intent on crossing every ethno-linguistic boundary with the Gospel. While pastoring existing churches might be needed until indigenous leadership can be raised up, the great need in missions consists of going to where the church has not yet been established and planting – for the first time – local manifestations of Christ’s universal Church within unreached “nations” -ethne - mentioned in our Lord’s Commission.

The apostolic role of the missionary is reflected in the very term itself, the Latin missio being derived from the Greek apostello, denoting a “sent-out one.” Missionaries, thus, are not merely those who go. They are those who are sent, emissaries of the Gospel, sent out for a special cause, the outward and propulsive impulse towards the uttermost parts of the earth.

While canned food drives and local crisis pregnancy centers deserve our help, too, these serve as poor replacements for our primary drive towards the ends of the earth and to all the nations. Our task is to find the darkest holes and to stick ourselves in them. All barriers to the Gospel must be crossed and every dark region lit with a Gospel witness.

While many US churches are advocating becoming more “missional” those churches most closely aligning themselves with this newly coined adjective are often the last to send workers overseas to the least-reached, instead, preferring local missions and – in consequence – failing to have anything but a local mindset, enslaved to the winds of culture.

While many opportunities exist for Western pastors to play roles in established Third World Churches, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of viewing missions through the lens of the pastoral ministry, white Anglo pastors pastoring brown Third World Churches. We must strive always to be passing the baton, in the manner of II Timothy 2:2, to faithful local men in a replicational, multiplicational way – making disciples that can make disciples, reaching the lost to reach the lost..


For this reason, We must prioritize frontier missions and we must also value the principle of indigeneity, attempting, in all that we do, to equip local believers, pass the baton, and see the Gospel blossom on native soil.. What we need in missions is not exported pastorates among already “churched” areas, but apostolic pioneers to the very edges of Gospel accessibility.

I love this book, The Apostolic Function, and I give it away to many pastor friends. If you don’t read this book, but merely study the articles mentioned in Johnson’s footnotes, this by itself would be a mini-course in missiology.

From a Papuan tribal ministry context, I highly suggest studying Johnson’s interaction with the people-group concept and the phrase panta ta ethne (all the nations) contained in the Great Commission (pages 121-126). Are we to prioritize reaching merely the maximum number of individuals with the Gospel, or is there also a warrant for reaching the maximum number of peoples (note the plural) with the Gospel, such that we desire to plant a beachhead of Truth across every geographical and ethno-linguistic boundary where Christ is not known? Read the book and decide for yourself.


This is a book well worth its price ($ 14.39 at the William Carey Library, www.missionbooks.org), and well worth the cost of gifting this volume to your key supporting pastors.

Trevor Johnson, World Team Papua

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Member Care Resources - books for the emotional transitions of missionary life









To you who are preparing to serve as missionaries!


Know this:

During your preparation, you may be tempted to focus on the cognitive/academic/intellectual preparation that you need. But, there are significant emotional aspects of going into missions that you need to consider as well.



Missions = stress on steroids. How will YOU cope?


Member Care is the part of missionary agencies that cares for the well-being of its missionaries. Most mission organizations have some sort of Member Care services.


Also, take a look at these helpful books:






Books about General Missionary Life, Work and Career Progression

Career-Defining Crises in Mission: Navigating the Major Decisions of Cross-Cultural Service by Paul Keidel (William Carey Library, 2005), 209 pages.



On Being a Missionary by Thomas Hale (William Carey Library, 1995), 422 pages.



Give Up Your Small Ambitions by Michael C. Griffiths (Moody Press, 1971), 160 pages.





Books about Member Care in General



Missionary Care: Counting the Cost for World Evangelization by Kelly O’Donnell (William Carey Library, 1995), 360 pages.



Caring for the Harvest Force in the New Millennium, edited by Tom Steffen and F. Douglas Pennoyer (EMS Series Number 9, William Carey Library 2001), 261 pages.






Books about Crossing Cultures, Bonding and intercultural relationship and Re-Entry


Bonding, and the Missionary Task by E. Thomas and Elizabeth S. Brewster (Lingua House, 1998), 27 pages.



Language Learning IS Communication – IS Ministry by E. Thomas and Elizabeth S. Brewster (Lingua House, 1998), 18 pages.






Books for Sending Churches about Caring for their Missionaries


The Home Front Handbook: How to Support Missions Behind the Lines by Woodrow Kroll (The Good News Broadcasting Association, 1994), 69 pages.



Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo (Operation Mobilization, 1990), 207 pages.









Books about Missionary Stress, Adjustment, and Attrition


Too Valuable to Lose; Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition edited by William D. Taylor (William Carey Library, 1997), 380 pages.



Psychology of Missionary Adjustment by Marge Jones (Gospel Publishing House, 1995), 172 pages.



“Have We No Right –“: A Missionary Asks Some Questions by Mabel Williamson (Moody Press, 1957), 126 pages.



Honorably Wounded: Stress among Christian Workers by Marjory F. Foyle (Monarch Books, 2001), 288 pages.









Books about Missionary Kids and Family Issues of Missionaries


Compendium of the ICMK (International Conference on Missionary Kids) - New Directions in Missions: Implication for MKs edited by Beth A. Tetzel and Patricia Mortenson (ICMK, 1984), 488 pages.



Children of the Call: Issues Missionaries’ Kids Face by Charlene J. Gray (New Hope, 1995), 118 pages.



Deprived or Privileged by Marilyn Schlitt (OMF International, 1995), 76 pages.



Raising Resilient MKs: Resources for Caregivers, Parents, and Teachers, edited by Joyce M. Bowers (Association of Christian Schools International, 1998), 510 pages.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Holy Spirit in Missions



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MISSIONS AND EVANGELISM



In times past God spoke with an audible voice through the prophets (Hebrews 1). In these last days, God has spoken to us by His own Son. This Son once walked the earth, God’s presence among men.

What could get better than that?

The Spirit! Now, believers possess the Spirit; and are also owned by that same Spirit. We are our Father’s prized possessions, kept and preserved by God Himself who gives us the Spirit as our seal – our arrabon – an earnest or pledge, an engagement ring for a wedding that can never be cancelled and for a marriage feast that will last forever (Ephesians 1:14; Revelation 19:7-10)!

We should not, therefore, long for some “good old days” when we could see Jesus with physical eyes and hear God’s voice with physical ears. Sight and hearing occur across distance. The Spirit, however, is too close for that. He indwells us (I Corinthians 3:16)!

Jesus Himself said that it was needful that He should go away so that the Spirit could come (John 14). The purposes of God did not take a step backward when the Spirit replaced Jesus’ ministry on earth. Jesus spoke of this as an advance. Jesus spoke of this as even a greater benefit than His very presence among men during His earthly ministry.

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God. The Spirit bears witness to Christ. The Spirit makes the work of Christ effectual. He applies it to us. The Spirit makes the Lord “our Lord.” He makes the historical Christ a living personal presence. The Holy Spirit makes the Gospel the Gospel for us.

We have no mere religion of facts or rituals. Our faith is not so much religion at all but relationship. And this relationship is so deep that is does not merely involve closeness; it involves actual indwelling! Not only is the Holy Spirit the presence of God among men; He is God’s presence living in men who believe! Whereas in times past, the Spirit fell “upon” men (Ezekiel 11:5; Judges 6:34; I Samuel 10:10) now the Spirit is “in” all who believe (Romans 8:1-11; Hebrews 10:16; John 14:17).



The basics we all agree on

Before we speak about the Holy Spirit’s role in missions, let’s cover the basics again:

We believe that the Holy Spirit is God of very God, and a personal one at that. He is not some impersonal force (Acts 5:3-4, 1 Cor. 3:16). He is omnipotent (Micah 3:8; Acts 1:8, Rom. 15:13,19), omniscient (Isaiah 40:13-14; 1 Cor. 2:10-11), and omnipresent (Psalm 139:7). He is not the privilege of some higher class of Christians, but inhabits all believers (Rom.8:9-16, Gal. 4:6, I Jn 3:24, I Jn 4:13).


In this article, I want to concisely speak of the Holy Spirit’s role in the great advance of the Gospel throughout the whole earth, the Holy Spirit’s role in missions and evangelism.


We need the Holy Spirit to bring us to salvation and then to lead us continually. We often forget, however, the role of the Spirit in missions, in bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. That, too, is His job. It is not as if Jesus died to bring some in and the Spirit is merely the mother that nurses her own.

The Holy Spirit, on the contrary is God’s great missionary. He is that “Lord of the harvest” in Matthew 9 that sends forth the labourers into the fields. He commissions, sets apart, equips and sends. Furthermore, once He sends people to do the work, He accompanies that work to make it effectual and is already there working in the hearts of the recipients once the Gospel is preached.

At all stages, beginning, progress, and end – missions belongs to the Holy Spirit. He saves. He calls. He sets apart. He sends. He directs. He is everywhere in the process and on both sides of the witness. He places words in the mouths of his sent out ones and He is already in the ears of the hearer, opening them to the truth. He commands us to go and yet He goes with us. If in our witness, we are dragged before heathen courts, the Spirit will even place the words in our mouths (Matthew 10:20). And when we arrive at our place of witness, the Spirit who has sent us has not only gone alongside of us (such as a paraclete would) but has also preceded us and is there waiting on us to announce those precious Words of Life.


A Concise biography the of Holy Spirit

From eternity past the Spirit fellowshipped in perfect harmony with the Father and the Son. At creation it was the Spirit that brooded over the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2) and gives life to all that live (Psalm 104:30). If the Spirit withdrew in all senses of the word, all life would cease (Job 34:14-15). Despite the Fall, sin and the Flood, the Spirit did not withdraw totally. The Spirit, instead, equipped those in the Old Testament for service (Numbers 27:18, Judges 3:10; I Samuel 16:13) and caused His prophets to speak of the Savior to come (II Peter 1:21).

It was the Holy Spirit that fell upon Jesus at His baptism, commissioning Him for service (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). The Spirit compelled Jesus into the wilderness for His divine conflict with Satan (Luke 4), and afterward Jesus emerged victorious in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit also empowered Jesus to perform miracles. In fact, the Spirit came and remained on Jesus “without measure” (John 3:34-25; John 1:32) throughout His earthly ministry.

As Jesus prepared to complete His task and go away, He promised the Spirit to his disciples. True to that promise, the Spirit came in power to those in Jerusalem with a view not to stop there but to go to the whole world. The Holy Spirit led the steps of these first ministers and directed their outreach. The Spirit authenticated His Word with signs and wonders (Mark 16:20; Acts 2:22; Acts 8:6).

The Holy Spirit even settled disputes; when conflict arose over whether one needed to adopt Jewish cultural forms in order to become Christians, the verdict that was handed down was one which “pleased the Holy Spirit” (Acts 15:28). As Paul and his apostolic ministry team aimed to minister in new unreached areas, the Spirit even diverted their travel trajectory west into Europe rather than east into Asia (Acts 16:6).

We read much of this work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament book called the Acts of the Apostles. This account of the “Acts of the Apostles” however, might more accurately be thought of as “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” Peter and Paul, after all, are not the main characters at all! The Spirit is the hero. He moves, energizes, equips and enlarges the New Testament church and deserves all the credit.

From the very first verses of Scripture (Genesis 1:2) to the very last (Revelation 22:17), the Spirit is present and working. Below are some specific ways He works, with a focus on the spread of the Gospel to the whole world.



The Spirit is our missions mobilizer

The descent of the Holy Spirit was the causative factor in the first great movement towards the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8: " But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Thus, like the pistol shot signaling the beginning of a marathon, the descent of the Spirit precipitated a rush towards the ends of the earth, a race that has been ongoing now for two millennia. Not only did a mighty rush of wind signal the Spirit’s descent but a mighty rush of souls into the kingdom followed. The Spirit was poured out in order to gather in some from every corner of the earth.

In Acts 8:29, the Spirit initiates another new outreach – to an Ethiopian eunuch. The Spirit tells Philip, “Go!”...and Philip runs to the chariot. Oh, what obedience to the call! After Philip’s divine appointment is completed, (v. 39) Philip is then “caught away” by the Spirit for further witness.



The Spirit labors to make men labor

Active and energetic human effort is always involved in great movements of the Spirit. Look again at the example of Philip above. He trekked to the desert and then ran after a chariot in order to witness to someone.

We cannot sit idly by and hope for the Spirit’s work. When was the last time we chased any chariots! However, we also cannot merely stir up a lot of activity without prayer or due regard for Scripture and call this revival. We are not to be idle in the means, nor are we to make an idol out of the means.

God moves, and then we move. This could be called “cooperation,” but such terminology contains baggage. I prefer to call it “us working because God works in us” (Philippians 2) or “walking in the good works that God has already ordained for us” (Ephesians 2). God works so that we will work. The Spirit labors in us to make us labor in the Spirit. Let us therefore engage in some holy sweat!

Notice the interplay in Acts 13 between those called by God, the larger corporate body and the Holy Spirit:

Acts 13:1-4: As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

From Acts 13, and also from Acts 15:22-28 we see that when the Spirit moves, His church moves. The Spirit approved. God’s sent ones approved, and the whole church approved such that this new effort “seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 15:28).


The Spirit equips and empowers

The Spirit fell on select individuals in the Old Testament for special service (Numbers 27:18, Judges 3:10; I Samuel 16:13). The anointing with oil was symbolic of this. In this New Testament “fullness of time” how much more this is true. The Holy Spirit gifts the whole church with power and anoints each one of us with individual giftings (Romans 12; I Corinthians 12-14; Ephesians 4; I Peter 4:10). The Spirit empowers each and every believer to grow in the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The church, indeed, is “charismatic” in that it possesses the charismata, the giftings of the Spirit. These gifts of the Spirit need not be loud and visible, but they are real nonetheless. Believers, full of the Spirit, have bellies full of not just springs but “rivers” of living water (John 7).

Some Christians are called to special tasks. Often when these are called, they are usually overwhelmed with self-doubt and fears of inadequacy. There is much comfort in the fact that the Spirit is the one who calls; and those whom He calls He will surely equip and empower.



The Spirit gives the message of missions

The Spirit not only calls and equips people to witness, the Spirit is the one who gives the message to preach. The Spirit thus gives not only the motivation but the meat of missions. The message of missions is given by the Spirit, who moved in holy men of old to pen the Scriptures (II Peter 1:21).



The Spirit directs missions

Again, already mentioned above are clear examples of how the Holy Spirit guides missions and even directs new initiatives. How does the Spirit guide? The Spirit leads us to do His will by the Scripture, by legitimate desires (“if a man desires the office of a bishop...” I Timothy 3:1), and by the corporate decision of his church (Acts 15:28, “it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit”). During the era of the writing of the New Testament the Spirit also directed by vision and prophecy.


The Spirit gives the fruit of missions

Finally, the Spirit is the one who blesses and determines the yield of our labor. Some plant and some water, but it is the Lord that gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:6). If it is Spirit that applies the work of Christ for salvation... then it is the Spirit that applies the work of Christ for salvation (John 3:5). Full stop. The Holy Spirit is not merely an aid and an advantage to mission; but an absolute necessity. The Spirit is not one ingredient among many, but the main ingredient that has no substitutes.

The Holy Spirit is the one who births new souls into life by regeneration (Titus 3:5) and thus we are “born of the Spirit” when we are saved (John 3). Thus it is “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). How much we need the Spirit’s leading every day!




Conclusion


This article is nowhere near exhaustive. Reader, please search the Scriptures yourself. Use this article not as an authority but as a jumping off point to research the richness of the Biblical record concerning our “Lord of the Harvest”- the Holy Spirit.

Revelation chapter 22 is at the very end of the Scriptures and these last verses of this last chapter are appropriate to become my last words on this subject of the Holy Spirit’s role in missions and outreach.

In Revelation 22:17 we read: “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

The Holy Spirit and the bride of Christ, the church itself, invites sinners to drink of the water of life. Being the Spirit-filled body of Christ that we are, let us now be true to this Scripture and invite the lost around us to drink deeply.