One of my early attempts to share my passion for unreached nations took place a small country church some years ago. I gave them my best. Even so, I’m sure the predominant thought was, “Isn’t that youngster a dear,” not “Let’s go to the ends of the earth!” The pastor also felt it necessary to mitigate my remarks and blunt my passion for the unreached by assuring his flock, “We’re all missionaries to our neighborhoods and workplaces!” I was thoroughly deflated.
If you’re a white 75-year-old named Mrs. Johnson and your neighborhood consists predominately of Arabic-speaking Yemenis with a smattering of “Goth” teenagers thrown in, and you’re building relationships with them because you love them and love Jesus, then, yeah, you’re a missionary to your neighborhood. Otherwise, maybe you’re not.
Not all outward efforts for the gospel is missions. Not all that is good and “of Jesus,” is “missions.” That doesn’t mean it’s not good, just that it’s not missions.
See also: Alan Hirsch on looking at our communities with the thoughtful, loving, eyes of a cross-cultural missionary.
Matt: This is a challenging thought, as many churches are calling any kind of outreach these days, “missions”. Is there a difference between missional activity and “missions” in the traditional sense of the word?
Perhaps arising from the previous myth, this idea places missions on the same level as the rest of the ongoing duties of a church. What do you think? I live for the least-reached peoples, so let me admit, I could be a little biased in calling this a myth. I’m with twentieth-century theologian Emil Brunner on this one, “The church exists for mission as a fire exists for burning.”
I don’t know what Dr. Brunner meant when he said “mission.” Perhaps he would vehemently disagree with my take on the next myth. What I do like is a challenge to think about what Church is all about. What is the Church and what is its purpose? This is a huge discussion. But I think it’s about more than simply making sure we obey Hebrews 10:25; it’s about being and extending the Kingdom of God. Missions is somehow key to the very purpose of the Church.
Because few things stir compassion and stir action like stories and photos of hurting children, much mission mobilization has been accomplished by inviting people to meet needs. The logical result? An assumption that this is what missions is mostly about.
Now God makes it quite clear that He is fond of widows and orphans. Jesus speaks eloquently about cross-cultural compassion in one of his best stories. And working to meet the needs of others is a good and godly response to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
But mission efforts motivated by needs have this shortfall: More needs are always just around the corner. In order to keep compassion going, we may also feel like we have to describe more and more extreme needs. Rather than mobilizing, this can create a paralyzing sense of powerlessness in the very people we want to enlist in our cause.
I appreciate the framework Steve Hawthorne and John Piper (among others) have laid out for us: God is unfolding a wonderful plan to draw some from all peoples to himself. He is undertaking a great effort to restore all things and extend his blessing to all nations. Our mission? It’s about joining God in his great purposes for our planet. Meeting our needs and the needs of others is a part of it, but the main thing is bringing honor to God: He is central.
Matt: Well if it’s not about meeting needs, then what’s it mostly about? Do you really go to bring honour to God? How much does that line of thinking actually play a part in you going?
I raise support to fund my work and family. Maybe you raise support too. It’s been a part of the missions process for a long time.
Unfortunately, we seem to have given the impression that supporting missions is mostly about money. Mainly by saying things like this: “You, Lou and Sue in the pew, should give me your money, in smallish but regular doses.”
Since most missions efforts (at least as we approach them now) require money, how do we do what needs to be done and dispel this myth at the same time? One option is to only allow half of us to raise support. (Hmmm, which line do you want to be in?) Lately I’ve taken to challenging people to think in huge ways about how God might give them funds to pass on to missions efforts. “Imagine in 15 years you have the capacity to write a check for $12 million to endow a mission agency…” Other times I just breeze right over the money question. I’ll say, “Anyone can give money. What about your skills? What about your life?”
We who raise money to fund our ministry habit need grace and wisdom in this area. Maybe we need some new thinking as well. A friend and I are working on an article and maybe a book about how missionaries raise money all wrong.
Matt: If you have thoughts about that, or about any of these myths, feel free to toss in your $0.02 worth!
Myth #3 – Non-Christians (Especially Muslims) Are Hairy, Scary Meanies
by Shane Bennett
Caveat: Yes, many people are suffering at the hands of Muslims. Yes, some Muslims have done mean things on a massive and deadly level. Yes, some verses of the Qur’an suggest that Muslims should kill all who don’t believe like them.
That said, personally I know more mean Christians than mean Muslims. Don’t you? I know more Christians than Muslims, so I’m not trying to establish a ratio in absolute terms. I’m just saying maybe we need to challenge this myth about Muslims. I’ve been invited in and served food by Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists alike. I’ve seen Muslims behave like Jesus, another argument against the meanness assumption, more times than I could relate. And many times that Jesus-like behavior has been directed to me.
Without presuming to address all the issues this entails, can I encourage us as mobilizers to find ways to help people have one decent conversation with someone from another faith? Perhaps you’ve seen this in Missions Catalyst before, but it bears repeating: According to Dr. Todd Johnson, eight or nine out of every ten Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists do not personally know a Christian (referenced here). A lot of “us” have never met any of “them,” either.
A cup of tea and a chat might begin to dispel the “mean” myth.
Matt: My former Muslim neighbours Mohammed and Farnouche from Iran became great friends of ours. Over Persian food and Canadian BBQ, we had some great talks with them through the years. They loved on our young children and gave so freely of themselves. They sure helped break down any stereotypes I might have had of Muslim people. I can only hope that our lives broke down stereotypes of Christians they may have had.
Myth #2 -Missions Means Going Overseas, Planting Churches
by Shane Bennett
My friend and teammate Jon Hardin makes this apt and wry observation:
“Many people have the sense that at the end of a missions event, there will be two doors out of the room. You must choose one as you depart. Over the first door a banner reads, ‘Future overseas church-planting missionaries.’ If that is you, you walk out that door to the polite applause and eternal awe of the rest. Over the other door a banner reads, ‘Loser. Attend this event again!’ If that’s you, you know what to do.”
There are dozens of main avenues of involvement in missions, and alternate routes as varied as the people who love Jesus. Yet many people in church seem to have an unspoken sense that being involved in missions means something like going to Africa to preach and plant churches. If people can’t imagine themselves doing that (and most believers can’t), then they revert to myth number one: God doesn’t use people like me.
As mobilizers we’ve got to find ways to help people see the myriad of buy-in points for joining what God is doing cross-culturally. My favorite wake-up call is for women who’ve managed a household and raised children to adulthood. They’ve developed skills in the accomplishment of those tasks that could bring great help and hope to young missionary families. Let’s help them do that.
Matt: Any other ways we could be “missional” without getting on a plane or digging a hole for a new church?
I receive a regular e-magazine called Mission Catalyst from the great people at Take It Global. To subscribe to this e-mag, click here. I highly recommend it!
A few weeks ago, they sent out an e-mail taking on some common mission myths. I want to cover some of them over the next few blogs. The main content contributor is Shane Bennett.
Myth #1 – Only Extraordinary People Need Apply
“God is only looking for little Jesuses or Pauls to carry his love to other cultures. If you’re normal, you don’t measure up. If you missed a quiet time this year, forget it. Don’t bother dreaming about learning a foreign language if you said a swear word in your own language last week!”
Now, it’s my hunch that some people embrace this because it gets them off the hook. “I’m not good enough, so God can’t use me. Dang,” followed by, “Whew, that’s a relief.” Others though, disqualify themselves with sadness and regret. They honestly wish God could use them, but realize that he’s looking for better raw material.
Certainly, God has used some extraordinary people in the Bible and history: Deborah and Solomon, Dr. Luke and Dr. Livingstone come to mind. But the guest-list is also packed with misfits: Gideon, Rahab, Peter, and Balaam’s donkey. If that beast qualifies to speak for God, maybe a lot of the rest of us do as well.
I think our mobilizing energy could often be better used helping people see that God wants to use them, rather than arguing that missions is important, valid, and good.
I’m excited to announce that The STMnetwork has a new partner! Our partnership with the people at The Life Campaign means more integrated and organic STM opportunities for your groups. Interested in pairing a development initiative with your next STM trip?
The Life Campaign is a way for the youth of Canada to involve themselves in social justice as well as sharing the good news of Jesus globally. Life is the name of the ongoing project – and Just Add Water is our goal for the present time. With Just Add Water it is our aim to raise $250,000.00 in 2008 for digging water wells in 11 countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Check out this video:
We are beginning a dialogue with The Life Campaign on how we could best engage STM teams in connection with Life: Just Add Water.
A number of groups are already asking if they can help with putting wells in.
A number of groups are already asking if they can go to work where the wells are.
The STMnetwork is an important next step piece for Life – in that we want people to be able to touch what they are doing – in conjunction with our missionaries.
Stay tuned for new details to be released on this project in the coming months!
Interested in reading more about The Life Campaign? Check out the official Life Campaign site here!
Want to talk about connecting Life: Just Add Water with your next STM trip? Send an e-mail to infoATstmnetworkDOTca!
I received an update from one of our partners in Dominican Republic. Adrian and Sharon Thomas are working there, running a ministry called Everyday Ministries. They shared this story of a recent STM team, and I thought I’d pass it along here:
“We recently had a group of missionaries from the great State of Minnesota visit us from a combination of three churches: Full Gospel Church of Grand Rapids, Duluth Gospel Tabernacle and Cloquet Gospel Tabernacle. Our focus for the week was on a community called “Puerto Rico a Pie,” which literally means Puerto Rico by foot.
We helped with the new addition to Pastor Jaime’s church, held a health awareness clinic, children’s program in the public elementary school, children’s movie night, and a youth outreach service. The type of construction we completed on the church is called “panete”. It involves mixing cement, fine sand, and water until it is the
consistency of your favorite pudding. Then we use a pointed trowel and throw the pudding onto the wall and smooth. This mixture turns an ugly, block wall into a smooth, textured wall ready for paint. The team from Minnesota smooth coated all the outside walls of the new addition and existing church with “panete.” This was not a small task as the dimensions of the church are 60’x 30’x 15’. There is an art to panete and it takes time to develop this technique.
However, as the week unfolded they became experts. But it wasn’t their ability to smooth coat that struck me; it was how much the relationship between the team and the people of the community developed that really impacted me. They went from strangers to acquaintances to friends in only a week. What a difference a week can make. Pastor Jaime and his wife, Deysi, are very involved in children’s ministry. The children’s program in the public school marked the first time foreigners had ever visited. The team utilized puppets to put on a show with a meaningful message as they interacted with the children. Pastor Jaime followed with sharing the promise of our Savior Jesus Christ. Almost all of the children responded to receive Christ as their Savior!
The impact of the Minnesota team was life changing for many people involved. Don’t ever underestimate what God can do through you. Puerto Rico a Pie will never be the same. I believe the team from Minnesota will never be the same either.”
For me, all I need to hear are stories like this one to keep me on the STM cheerleading squad. Can you get out there and have a story like this written about your team please? Go! Yeah, now would be good.
Don’t worry. I didn’t just fall into poor grammar usage.
I wanted to tell you about some new friends of mine who have started a business to help busy leaders with their STM trip planning!
Getting Gone is designed to help you with the administrative details to get you and your team out your front door and landing on foreign soil.
Need help with the details of your next Short-term Missions trip?
Already have a full-time job and now you are planning a Short-term Mission trip?
Their “Mission Statement” is to provide excellent administrative support to teams sharing Christ across culture.
Their Director is Erin Jamieson, and she is passionate about seeing people sent out to share Christ across and throughout culture. She is a graduate of Vanguard College (formerly Northwest Bible College) and has her Bachelor Degree in Theology with a World Discipleship Major.
