Partners in Missions
Various
passages
I
went to
Kapsowar, where he lives [1, 2]. I got to
preach at a local church
[3]
see the hospital
he works at [4, 5]
visit an outreach
clinic they’re preparing to open to reach a fairly unreached
tribe [6]
but mostly, it was
about community, being a friend to Steve.
Missionaries get lonely; they miss having community, having close
friends. I saw a lot of the very human
side of taking your family and living in a foreign land. [7]
I’d
like to share some lessons I’ve learned.
Strong
partnerships are based on strong friendships.
When
you look at certain ministry partnerships, you get the sense that it wasn’t
just a business relationship. They
didn’t just tolerate each other for the kingdom. They liked each other, they cared for each
other.
Paul and Timothy (we studied 1&2
Timothy)
I thank God, whom I serve, as
my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly
remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled
with joy. (2 Tim 1:3-4)
Paul and Barnabas (Acts, teams), John and
Gaius (3 John)
The
main reason why 5 pastors visited
You
see, when we were in college, we were part of the same praise ministry (Alpha
Omega). I met Steve my freshman year of
college, some 18 years ago. Every winter
and summer vacation we went to various youth retreats and revivals. We lived together during the school
year. We spend countless hours in prayer
meetings, practices. It’s very
meaningful that so many years later, we’re still in ministry, serving the Lord
in various places. We invite each other
to our different churches, we see each other at certain conferences, we share different lessons we’re learning or seek advice
about various issues. And now we visit
each other on the mission field.
There are
plenty of other missionaries, and I want to support them too. But
there’s something about it when it’s one of your own, personal friends.
The reason why
I want to pray for him, his family and his ministry, to financially support him
and to personally partners with his ministry is not just because I deeply
respect him but also because we’re friends.
Being
a sender
isn’t just sending money or even sending prayers. It’s about a relationship. You care for the ministry but also care for the person. The best senders are when you don’t just see
the guy as your missionary but as one of your personal friends.
Goers: We have a lot of people who are committed
to, or are prayerfully considering long-term missions. I think one of the best ways to build partnership, build a sending base is to invest in genuine
community and friendships.
Senders: For those of us who want to say we want
to support missions, who want to be good senders, let me encourage you to
deepen your friendships with these guys.
Praying for missions, sending support, being genuinely consider flows so
easily and genuinely when the friendship is there. There’s something different when it’s one of
your own, personal friends that goes oversees.
You’re care for them would begin even before they get on the field,
because the relationship is there.
A heart for missions sometimes doesn’t
come from super-spiritual people. A
genuine heart for missions sometimes comes from a friendship.
All: Develop ministry friendships today. My relationship with Steve wasn’t because he
was trying to build a support base or because I wanted to be a good
sender. My relationship with Steve was
built on a common foundation of a love for ministry. We served the Lord together. Some friendships are built on hanging out,
food, or basketball; some friendships are built on mission trips, praise teams,
or co-leading small groups.
Strong
partnerships are based on strong friendships.
We
have to let ourselves see the opportunities and needs.
There are numerous
verses about seizing opportunities, about responding to needs:
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do
not give up. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially
to those who belong to the family of believers.
(Gal 6:10)
Be wise in the way you act toward
outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so
that you may know how to answer everyone.
(
If anyone has material
possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the
love of God be in him? Dear children,
let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 Jn 3:17-18)
From a human
perspective, we do not realize how much we could do. We drastically underestimate the needs that
are out there and the opportunity we have to meet some of those needs.
Perhaps one of
the great things a mission trip does for you is to simply expose you to the
needs and opportunities you have. So
many guys go on mission trips and want to go back. They want to go back because after they see
the needs and opportunities, it hard to NOT want to do something.
There’s
so much we can do for people on the mission field
financial: average
worker earns $1/day
many of them cannot
afford basic health care, let alone a phone or a TV; a car would mean you’re
extremely wealthy.
the church
struggles to do any kind of building project, support those who want to get
theological training (but can’t afford it), help the desperately needs among
them.
professional (hospital): medical (if I were a doctor,
I don’t think I’d be able to NOT do something); accountant, computer IT, social
worker, agricultural engineer (to help the farmers produce more from their
fields), etc.
bible teaching: such a lack of theological/biblical
training
in many places,
you have more bible training than the pastor of the church
you have basics
skills in how to interpret the bible, in the fundamentals of theology
you have more
knowledge on how a church is supposed to run, how to approach evangelism (Steve
even asked for lay people to help train; I heard the
Go on summer
missions—sometimes its just a matter of exposing
yourself, allowing yourself to see the needs that are out there. It was good for me to see it again myself.
To be honest,
it’s hard to go to some of these places and NOT want to do something.
Family
needs: here’s
Steve and his wife and 5 kids, including a 9 month old. [10] He’s
quickly became the medical director of the hospital, partly because there’s no
other long-term doctor there. For those
of us who are parents, can we sympathize with Betty has to cook, clean and homeschool her 5 kids.
It was hard to NOT want to help!
A heart for
missions sometimes doesn’t come from super-spiritual people. A genuine heart for missions sometimes comes
from just exposing yourself to what’s
out there.
Again, I think the problem isn’t that we wouldn’t want to help, or that we
wouldn’t care. The problem is
that we don’t see the needs or opportunities.
We live our little lives and are removed enough from the needs on the
mission field.
The deeper
issue is, are we willing to see, to get involved? Are we willing to put ourselves out there and
expose ourselves to the needs? It seems
a lot safer to protect ourselves from the needs of others, but are you willing
to see those needs?
Are you willing
to see the mission field, the
missionaries where there are some dramatic needs? Are you willing to expose yourself?
Are you willing
to see W. Philly? Are you willing to see the needs of this
community, the kids and their families?
Are you willing to get involved?
Are you willing
to see the needs of even those beside
you now? There are hurting people
right here, people going through grief, loss, loneliness, financial hardships,
etc.
Are you willing to let yourself see the
needs?
And as scary as
it might seem, the greater danger than
exposing yourself to needs and hurts, is to not expose your self, to insulate
and protect yourself. What is a
heart that wants to avoid cost and inconvenience, avoid caring for anyone other
than yourself.
Steve shared
about how one pastor came to him because there was a young girl in secondary
school (elementary is free, but secondary has tuition). [11] Her nonChristian family wanted to circumcise her (it’s a
traditional and painful thing for them), but because she was a Christian she
refused and ran away. When school time
came, she had no money for tuition and would have to go back to her family, and
so this pastor came to Steve to ask if perhaps he could help this girl. If she returned, her family would certainly
circumcise her. The tuition was a
significant amount of money for them, but a small amount for Steve. What would you do?
Most
missionaries it seems (also) would have given the money. But is this the best thing to do?
Sometimes
Missionaries do too much, and the Church does too little.
Paul
planted the church at
In all my prayers for all of
you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the
first day until now (Philip 1:4-5)
The
goal of missions is to produce a self-sustaining, self-propagating local
church.
Praise
God for how He’s helped Emmanuel becomes more missions minded. There is an important lesson I’d like us to
understand as grow in our heart and support for missions.
There is a
church in
The early
missionaries came and did all the preaching, mercy, major projects/funds,
etc. Obviously, they had to; there was
no church yet. But even after a church
was birthed, missionaries continued to build and run hospitals, orphanages,
schools and churches. It seemed obvious
that they should. Here is the
impoverished national church with so few resources and little training, and
here’s the missionary with probably 10 times the wealth and education. Given the greatness of the needs and the
abilities of the missionaries, the missionaries continued to do the bulk of the
ministry.
The problem was
that the church never matured. The
national Christians became passive and dependent. Over time, the mindset became if there’s a
need, turn to the missionaries.
Steve shared
about when he first got there, numerous people came to him with different needs
of the hospital or church or community.
The assumption seemed to be, here’s the missionary, he
can help us. He can solve the problems.
This is what I
learned from Steve: where there is a
local church, missionaries should not do what the local church should do. Missionaries obviously should help, but the
help is not in answering the need, but in helping the church to answer the
need. Let the missionary take a behind-the-scenes
support role and let the national church take leadership and center stage.
Missionaries
often come in and have wonderful projects.
In fact, many nationals ask the missionaries to help them with specific
projects (a new hospital wing, a church building, a new ministry to a new area,
etc.).
E.g., a
missionary has a burden/vision to do a literacy program to help people read
their bibles. He teaches the classes,
buys the bibles. But what happens when
that missionary leaves? Usually, the
literacy program quickly dies.
This is what
Steve says: Missionaries should never go
ahead of the church. Unless the church
wants to do a literacy ministry, the missionary should wait. The literacy ministry will only survive and
the church will only grow when it is the church (not the missionary) who “owns”
that vision.
If a mission
team does a rally and leads 100’s to Christ, but the local church is not
equipped to shepherd and nurture them, then what happens? It’s just a big event, a flash in the pan, but
3 months later, there’s little fruit. Missionaries should never go ahead of the
local church.
Here’s what
Steve said to that pastor who asked for tuition money. He asked the pastor, “Am I the first person
you came to?” The pastor replied yes. Then Steve said that he would not help
her. The pastor should call upon his
church to help her. Let the pastor and
the church do what they could; then he could come back to Steve if more help is
needed.
But do you
see? Too many missionaries, moved by the
story, gave the tuition, and so the cycle of dependency continued.
The hospital
has a lot of needs, with finances, facilities and trained personnel. Steve could easily do a project to raise
money for a new wing in the hospital, or equipment, or for more staff. But instead, Steve would like to raise money
for rental housing, a restaurant in the hospital and a refrigerator for the
mortuary.
Why? Because this would generate
income. It would help the
hospital become much more financially self-sufficient. It would help the hospital to raise it’s own money for staff or equipment.
But
notice. Missionary 1 asks churches to
send money for an orphanage, a new hospital wing. Missionary 2 asks churches to send money for
rental housing.
It’s a lot
easier to raise money for an orphanage.
The supporters like it, the missionary looks great, the
locals love it, and the national church remains weak.
For too long,
there have been only Missionary 1’s, and so the national church keeps turning
to missionaries to raise funds for their needs instead of finding ways for them
to meet their own needs. We want to see
Missionary 2’s who aren’t trying to build the orphanage, but are trying to
strengthen the nationals so that they could build the orphanage.
Missionaries are
needed in unchurched areas. But in many places in the world, there is
a national church. The problem is that
the church is simply too weak, it hasn’t matured.
In the end, we
don’t need super-star missionaries as much as we need stronger churches.
Strong, healthy, vibrant churches will evangelize the local area, raise
disciples, care for the hurting, and send missionaries. Hybel’s: the local
church is the hope of the world.
That’s
true for the mission field and that’s true for Emmanuel.
Just
like mission fields can become too dependent on missionaries, local churches
can become too dependent on their pastors.
Sometimes Missionaries do too much, and the Church does too little.
Sometimes Pastors do too much, and the Church does too little.
Pastors are super-heros,
they do all the “real” ministry, and the church never
matures.
The key to reaching the world is strong, local churches.
The key to the health, vitality and
fruitfulness of Emmanuel is in not just a few leaders stepping up, but a
congregation, the body saying, We not
here to just warm the pews and watch the show, we will rise and be counted, we
are the Spirit-anointed, gifts-given, redeemed and commissioned army of God.
There are needs in
Perhaps the
best way we can help you grow it not to minister to you, but to help you
minister to others. Spiritual growth
comes more in giving than receiving.
Lessons
learned:
Strong
partnerships are based on strong friendships
Expose yourself
to needs and opportunities
We need
stronger churches, in