Mission Trip Mistakes

Lee Grady hits another home run with 10 Biggest Mistakes People Make on the Mission Field:

One of the greatest joys in my life is ministering in foreign countries. Since I surrendered to a call to missions 15 years ago, I've visited 29 nations and developed relationships with dozens of pastors and leaders who now consider me their friend and brother. Missions is at the heart of our Christian faith, and I believe every church should be actively engaged in both foreign and local missions so we can advance the gospel of Jesus in our generation.

But just like everything else in life, there's a right way and a wrong way to engage in mission work. I've learned from my own mistakes—and I've also seen some sad examples of short-term missions gone awry. If you are considering a short-term or long-term mission trip, avoid these pitfalls:

1. Acting like a spoiled American. If you are traveling to a developing country, here is Rule No. 1: Prepare for delays, cold showers, big bugs and scorpions, power outages, unusual toilets, crazy traffic and strange food. Make a decision before you leave that you won't let one complaint come out of your mouth. Be flexible and gracious. Focus on the positive, soak in the beauty of the country and come home with a renewed gratitude for your blessings at home.

2. Talking down to people. You are not going overseas to teach poor, ignorant foreigners what you know. If that's your attitude, do everyone a favor and stay home! You are going to serve. Most of what I know about ministry I learned from humble people I met in other countries. Whether you are teaching, preaching, building orphanages or feeding the poor, get under the people and wash their feet. And expect to learn powerful lessons from the people you are visiting.

3. Building relationships based on money. People in poor countries tend to think all Americans are rich, and they will be tempted to look to us instead of God to provide. Don't wave money around, don't flaunt expensive watches or jewelry, and don't hand out cash to everyone you meet. Let your new friends know you want a real friendship with them that does not hinge on finances.

4. Making demands. I know prosperity preachers who expect royal treatment when they go to foreign countries. One man told his host he needed a hotel that costs $1,000 a night—in a nation where most people live in cramped, Soviet-style apartments. The apostle Paul modeled a different approach, and he was willing to live among people at their level (see 1 Thess. 2:9-10). If Jesus was willing to enter this world in a filthy manger, we should be willing to set aside our expensive tastes....

Read the rest at the link. 

Myths About Missions

"Ten Historical Myths About World Christianity"- From Brian Stanley at the Gospel Coalition:

As followers of Christ and adherents of the Bible, Christians are called to be a people of the truth. Thus, it is crucial that we seek to understand our tradition as accurately as possible. So consider these top ten historical myths about world Christianity.

1. Christianity is a Western religion.

It neither began in Western Europe, nor has it ever been entirely confined to Western Europe. The period in which it appeared to be indissolubly linked to Western European identity was a relatively short one, lasting from the early 16th to the mid-20th centuries. The church in China, India, Ethiopia, and Iraq is older than the church in much of Northern Europe.

2. Christian missions operated hand-in-glove with the colonial powers.

Sometimes they did, but frequently they didn’t. Missions were usually critical of the way in which empires operated, mainly because they conceived of empire as a divinely bestowed trust. True, they didn’t oppose colonial rule on principle, but then who did before the late 20th century?

3. Christianity was imposed by force on non-Western people.

If this were true, it would reduce non-Western Christians—even today—to the status of passive recipients of Western ideological domination. In fact, Western missions never possessed the power necessary to achieve such capitulation, even if they wanted it, which they did not.

4. Protestant missions began with William Carey in 1792.

John Eliot’s mission work among the Native Americans of New England began as early as 1646. The first Lutheran missionaries arrived at Tranquebar in South India in 1706. In his famous An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens (1792) Carey insisted that he had many predecessors.

5. Missionaries destroyed indigenous cultures.

Indigenous cultures were not static entities: to suggest that they were is characteristic of Western modernity. Missionaries often displayed what we would term cultural blindness, but their message, once translated into the vernacular, acquired indigenous cultural overtones. Missionary contributions to the inscription and study of indigenous languages have helped to preserve or enrich such cultures.

6. The 19th century was the great century of Christian missions.

It was the great age of Western missionary expansion, but not the great age of indigenous conversion and agency: that was the 20th century. K. S. Latourette’s "great century" is a misleading phrase.

7. ‘Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization’ was an imperial creed.

It was essentially an anti-slavery humanitarian creed, associated especially with David Livingstone (though he didn’t invent it). For those reasons it often led to advocacy of imperial solutions. Fighting slavery actually led imperial expansion as humanitarians called for deeper commitment from Britain to root out the slave trade at its sources in the African interior.

8. We live in a post-missionary era.

No, we don’t. There are approximately 426,000 foreign missionaries in the world today. In 1900 there were about 62,000. The United States still sends something like 127,000 missionaries overseas.

9. We live in a post-colonial age.

We certainly don’t live in a post-imperial age. Formal colonial rule is usually a last resort adopted by powerful nations who run out of cheaper options of control. Decolonization can be seen as a return to informal means of control. Definitions of what constitutes colonialism are contested: what about the subject status of first nations people in Canada, aborigines in Australia, Tibetans, West Papuans . . . and even the Scots?!

10. To proclaim the unique saving value of the Christian gospel is to be intolerant of other religions.

This is to confuse a theological position with an attitudinal stance. Because of their understanding of the nature of truth, Christians can (should?) believe that others are fundamentally mistaken in their beliefs and still defend to the hilt their right to hold and practise such beliefs.

Editor's note: This article was originally published at the Centre for the Study of World Christianity.

Some Links Worth a Look

Some links worth a look:

The Disappearing Umbrella Over Conservative Christians- Tim Keller
A very discerning social commentary by Tim Keller explaining a major social trend in a way that makes a lot of sense to me.

The Wrong Kind of Christian at Vanderbilt University
When Southern Baptists are on the same side with an alcohol drinking female pastor, you know there's a real religious liberty issue in play.

9 Things You Should Know About Rabbinic Judaism
I was shocked at  my ignorance on this subject.

David Platt elected president of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board
Radical author/pastor gets opportunity to move missions in a radical new direction

Better Places to Send Your ALS Ice Challenge Donations
I lost an uncle to this disease, but would rather send donations to charities that do not use embryonic stem cells

How God is Moving With Dreams & Visions in the Muslim World
He did it in Bible times, and continues to do it today.

Missional Directions

The 5 Directions of a Missional Church (INFOGRAPHIC) - From Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition:

Be A Church Planting Movement

Worth a read- Ed Stezer on why established churches should plant new churches:

Most people know me I love church planting.

I've done extensive research on the topic, written books about it and even planted churches. In addition to my love for church planting, however, I also love established churches. I'm as passionate about church revitalization as I am about church planting.

While some may see the two as mutually exclusive, I'm most excited about where the two overlap: churches planting churches. Pastors of established churches should be engaged in church planting. Here are five reasons why.

Church planting reaches lost people.

The first reason is simple. It's one on which, hopefully, all pastors – both planters and established can agree. Lost people need Jesus. This is one that hits me personally, because I grew up in a non-Christian family.

Most of my extended family members are not believers. Recently, however, two of my family members have met Christ through church plants. Their experience is not uncommon.

A few years ago, Christianity Today published "Go and Plant Churches of All Peoples," an article which said church planting has replaced crusade evangelism as the preferred evangelistic method for evangelicals in North America today.

Church planting has experienced so much growth that in some cases, it's harder to find people who want to revitalize churches because there are so many who want to plant. Some of the attraction might be from the entrepreneurial bent in people, but the greatest driving force that I see among church planters is that they want to see people won to Jesus.

I would challenge established church pastors to mother a church plant. You'll see that people will be won to Jesus in the churches you plant and in your church. Some that may be less receptive to your church will be very receptive to your plant. That's why we want to plant churches that plant churches that plant churches.

Church planting follows a biblical pattern.

When we look throughout the New Testament, we see church planting as an established pattern. I will be the first to tell you the Bible never mentions church planting. It never comes out and says, "Plant churches," but it's clearly assumed. It's the first thing the disciples did when they responded to the commissions of Jesus. They planted churches.

Most of the churches recorded in the New Testament were involved in sending people in some form or another to start other churches. Ironically, the Jerusalem Church was an exception. They sent people out to check up on the new churches and to make sure they weren't getting too crazy.

We've got too many Jerusalem churches today. The only time they're heard from is when they believe someone is doing something wrong. We've got to change that truth. Church planting is an overwhelmingly Biblical passion and we need to support it. We were all started at some point. Let's model that spirit again and start more churches.

Church planting is essential for survival.

For any movement to thrive, it has to plant churches. Statistically speaking, if a population just wants to "break even," it has to plant at least at a three percent level—a denomination of 100 churches has to plant 3 to stay even considering attrition. A five percent increase is needed to grow. Ten percent is needed to thrive.

If we honestly believe our movement is the place to land theologically, then we need to support it by planting churches.

Determining Your Readiness

 From a Christian mission in an un-named Asian country- Questions they ask new believers seeking baptism:

Asian Access (or A2), a Christian missions agency in South Asia, listed a series of questions that church planters must ask new believers who are considering baptism. (Due to safety concerns, Asian Access does not mention the country’s name.) The country is predominantly Hindu, but over the past few decades Christianity has grown in popularity—especially among poor and tribal peoples. These are the seven questions asked to help determine a new convert’s readiness to follow Christ:

• Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?

• Are you willing to lose your job?

• Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?

• Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?

• Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?

• Are you willing to go to prison?

• Are you willing to die for Jesus?

If the new convert answers yes to all of these questions, then A2 leaders invite that person to sign on the bottom of the paper that of their own free will they have decided to follow Jesus. But here’s the risk: if a new convert signs the paper and is caught by the government, he or she will spend three years behind bars. The one who did the evangelizing faces six years in prison.

So, are you ready to follow Jesus?

HT: Thinking Out Loud 

One or the Other

I've been a fan of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) for 40 years- Wonderful mission group and I've know several YWAM missionaries.

Your Heart Will Follow Your Money

"Suppose you buy shares of General Motors. What happens? You suddenly develop interest in GM. You check the financial pages. You see a magazine article about GM and read every word, even though a month ago you would have passed right over it. 

Suppose you’re giving to help African children with AIDS. When you see an article on the subject, you’re hooked. If you’re sending money to plant churches in India and an earthquake hits India, you watch the news and fervently pray. 

As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. Money leads; hearts follow. 

I’ve heard people say, “I want more of a heart for missions.” I always respond, “Jesus tells you exactly how to get it. Put your money in missions—and in your church and the poor—and your heart will follow”"

                    - Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, p.44


HT: Vitamin Z

Interesting Links

Links worth a look:

The Global Mission Shift: Should the North American Church Lead, Follow or Both?

Myths about Bible Translations

China Cracks Down on House Churches

Pope Francis Open to Charismatics

Bama Group  Annual Study of what Americans Think About the Bible

Rediscovering Patrick

Most of the things popular culture says about St. Patrick are not true (no snakes). However, from what we do know, the real guy behind the image was a true Christian hero.  Phillip Jenkins has some details.

What makes Patrick stand out from his contemporaries, though, is that we can know him through his own unquestioned words, rather than the embellishments of later hagiographers and hero-worshipers. Somewhere around 450, he heard of attacks being made on him by bishops in Britain and Gaul. They had heard of his missionary successes, but were dubious about the means he was using to win them.

Anyone familiar with contemporary missions will recognize the picture – deep suspicion for someone working outside the mainstream agencies and churches, going off on his own, rumors of dubious financial practices. Why was he making such lavish gifts? Was he buying converts?

In response, Patrick composed a Confession, which translates best as a Declaration. In the modern sense of the word, he confessed nothing, beyond admitting his sinful and ignorant state. Point by point, though, he answered his critics. He tells the famous story of how Irish raiders abducted him from his British home. He escaped, but returned as a missionary. He offers a wonderful account of what mission actually meant in those days, in a situation where the bishop could not count on any aid from the Roman Empire or the secular power, beyond the kings or chieftains whose favor he could win.

In a society like that, gifts were an absolute foundation of social life and interaction, and to refuse them was to cut yourself off from any hope of success. Certainly, he tried to be careful about the appearance of corruption. He tells us for instance of “the pious women who of their own accord made me gifts and laid on the altar some of their ornaments and I gave them back to them, and they were offended that I did so.” It was a delicate balance.

On Mission With Jesus

"The first verse of Acts references 'all that Jesus began to do and teach.' This means that Christ is still doing and still teaching today: He is presently on mission in our world. For years the church has said, 'Let's go on mission in the name of Jesus.' What we should be saying is, 'Let's be on mission with Jesus.' You have been put on earth, in this time and place, where you are right now, for Missio Christi. Our goal as individuals and as the gathered church, is to figure out what Christ is presently doing and then do it with Him."

    -Britt Merrick, Godspeed: Making Christ's Mission Your Own

Note: In and among the quotes from the Driscoll book, I'll also be quoting from this great book by Britt Merrick. Because I'm quoting from a Kindle edition, I will not be able to reference page numbers.

Passion Confernece Coverage

More than 60,000 young Christians attended the Passion Conference at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta last week.

Here's a round up of news coverage from secular sources.

WXIA-TV
Atlanta Journal Constitution
CNN
WSB Radio
Wikipedia

..and from Christian sources:

Passion website
Christianity Today
Christian Post

Ministry in Cougar Town

Here's Jamie Wright (aka "The Very Worst Missionary") on why evangelistic ministry is harder in California than in Central America. The context is her observation of a middle aged, married woman flirting with a younger man, in front of her own daughter. If you are not reading Jamie, why not? You should be.

I always think it's interesting when people pat us on the back for being missionaries to Costa Rica. Perhaps they think we were doing something difficult because they don't know that in Costa Rica there's a bleeding-Jesus-in-a-crown-of-thorns bumper sticker on every bus, taxi, and pizza delivery scooter. You can easily engage nearly every person you cross paths with in a conversation about God or Jesus or Faith or whatever. It's really not hard. Every town has grown up around a church, faith is taught in public school, and there's pretty much a missionary on every corner. In Costa Rica, “Jesus” is generally a familiar and comfortable word – not an instant conversation killer.

We've been back in the NorCal suburbs for a whole three months now, and all I can say is that ministry is way harder here than it ever was in Costa Rica. Being an agent for Love and Grace in a place where people truly don't recognize their own need is really tough. Watching a married woman angle for an affair with a younger, hotter man while her daughter looks on is gut-wrenching. ...And sorta hilarious.... But seriously? Gut-wrenching.

I believe Jesus has competition in the American suburbs like no place else on Earth. Everyone here is surrounded by so much shiny new stuff, it's hard to see the Light. Here, depravity is hidden behind tall double doors, and the things that separate us from God often come gleaming, right out of the box. The contrast between Dark and Light has been cleverly obscured by the polish of materialism and vanity. Here, poverty is internal, hunger is spiritual, and need feels non-existent. But it's there.

Behind the facade of perfection in Cougar Town, past the fake boobs and fancy cars and fat paychecks, and at the bottom of aaalll thoooose wine glasses, there's a need so desperate, a loneliness so great, and a brokenness so crushing that you can practically hear the collective cry for Redemption. But the beautiful thing to be found in all of that mess is that there's a Savior here, too, and He's ready to fulfill his promises. 

Jesus is here, in Cougar Town. 

And for the first time in my life, I feel like maybe I'm supposed to be a missionary...

Make Me a Fork in the Road

An interesting quote from one of my personal heroes:

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”

 The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1978), 83.

Hat Tip: The Good Book Blog

Celebrating St. Patrick

"The Life and Ministry of St. Patrick" at Crossway Blog:

Patrick was raised in a nominally Christian home in Britain during the collapse of the Roman Empire. At 16 he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to the west coast of Ireland. The trauma of slavery turned him to the Lord, and he strove to spend each day in communion with God. Six years later he escaped and returned to Britain. After a time of theological study, Patrick felt the Lord’s call to return to Ireland as a missionary to his captors.

Despite strong opposition from both the Irish and his Christian contemporaries back home, Patrick speaks of “thousands” converted through his ministry, including sons and daughters of Irish kings, from the worship of “idols and filthy things.” This success came from Patrick’s deep understanding of what Scripture teaches regarding missions and a steadfast dedication to his work.

Patrick’s work firmly planted the Christian faith in Irish soil and left a deep imprint on the Celtic church that would grow up from this soil. The central place that the Bible held in his thinking helped initiate an impetus among the Irish toward literacy. In fact, this impetus was so strong that by the seventh century the Irish had become major participants in “bibliocentric literacy,” a key aspect of Roman Christianity in late antiquity. Throughout the sixth and seventh centuries, Celtic Christians evangelized the British Isles, Gaul, and central Europe with a passion that matched that of Patrick, the father of the Irish church.

“In the light, therefore, of our faith in the Trinity I must make this choice, regardless of danger I must make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, without fear and frankly I must spread everywhere the name of God so that after my decease I may leave a bequest to my brethren and sons whom I have baptized in the Lord—so many thousands of people.” – Patrick

Taking a Break With Jesus

You know, I'm starting to like these "Coffee with Jesus" strips. Click on the picture to view it larger.

Hat Tip: Clark Bunch

Remember The Persecuted Church

Sunday, November 13, 2011, is the  International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, a global day of remembrance and intercession for persecuted Christians worldwide. This is a day to remember and pray for the hundreds of men, women, and children suffering for (and even dying for) Jesus Christ each day, fellow saints who are ignored by the world but watched by the eyes of heaven. You can learn more about this here and here and here and here,
 

Rethinking Foreign Missions

Here's a provocative challenge to American church leaders to rethink the way we do foreign missions, pened by my old friend Jim Wright at his Crossroad Junction blog. I recomend his thoughts for your prayerful consideration.

I’ve had the privilege over the years of traveling extensively, both for business and ministry, and seeing what really happens out on the “mission field.” It’s not pretty, and in many cases it’s counterproductive. Forget about those missionary newsletters with pictures of half-naked starving kids and open air meetings led by the Great White Hope — that’s good for raising money, but has very little to do with the vast majority of where our mission dollars and energies are needed.

Read the whole piece at Rethinking Missions | Crossroad Junction

Remembering Keith Green

Christian singer/songwriter Keith Green died 29 years ago today. Oh, I so remember that tragedy - and also the huge effect his words and example had on so many. Here's a one hour documentary movie about his life and legacy.

Hat Tip: Keith Green – Justin Taylor

Missionary Turf Wars.

Jamie the Very Worst Missionary  (a pretty good missionary IMHO) is complaining about missionary "turf wars," where one mission group claimed "ownership" of a group of poor children, not wanting other missions to work in their turf.

But, seriously? Missionaries fighting over poor kids? Tell me you see how messed up that is. Tell me you know, deep down inside, how ridiculous it is. Tell me, please-oh-please, tell me, that this is all a bad joke and that you know that there’s no such thing as too much Jesus… Tell me we’re on the same team, fighting for the same side – tell me we can work together to bring Faith, Hope and Love to the least of these…

Tell me this is not a competition.

Tell me we are the Church.

Then, let's act like it’s true.

Go get 'em, Jaime! (If you are not reading her blog, check it out- both funny and inspiring)