Missionary Confidential

This Is What It’s All About

“Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the work of another believer—to pour out your life sacrificially for the ministry and faith of others? Or do you say, “I am not willing to be poured out right now, and I don’t want God to tell me how to serve Him. I want to choose the place of my own sacrifice. And I want to have certain people watching me and saying, ’Well done.’ ” It is one thing to follow God’s way of service if you are regarded as a hero, but quite another thing if the road marked out for you by God requires becoming a “doormat” under other people’s feet.
—Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost For His Highest”, February 5

Pastor v. Missionary: What’s The Difference?

One of the things that caught us off guard in our mission field was the perception of missionary in the field being different than the pastor in a foreign mission field. Although we are missionaries in every sense of the word, one of us is a licensed pastor.

We figured this out when people here were surprised at the pastor fact. They were shocked to hear preaching from a missionary. This was very perplexing to us. Perhaps it is our denominational background in the States, where missionaries were also pastors and were sent to pastor new churches in mission fields. It appears that the concept of missionary in our field is one that comes alongside an existing church to handle lay ministry. Regardless, the pastor aspect has now become an asset.

But it made me think: what is the difference between a pastor and a missionary (if both are licensed or ordained to preach)? Read More…

We’re in a Blog Carnival

Another Missionary Confidential blog-first: we’ve been featured on a Blog Carnival focusing on missionaries. A big shout out to Missionary-Blogs, and check out the “Advice For Aspiring Missionaries” at their blog. Don’t know what a “Blog Carnival” is? Here’s the Wikipedia on it.

The Double Life of The Missionary

Now that we’ve lived in Western Europe for several years without returning to the States (at all), we’ve found that some things once foreign to us have become second nature. In short, we’ve adapted. Not completely, sometimes intentionally, but there have been changes. So much so that we even compiled a list of lifestyle and vocabulary changes that are normal to us now, plus a list of things that still seem unusual to us. It was amusing to review, but it also hammered home another fact: we live a double life.

Of course, that sounds scandalous at first, but it’s not tawdry or salacious. It’s not even being dishonest. Because of our origins and the fact that our financial support comes from the States, we will always have “a foot in the States” despite our best intentions to assimilate to our new life here. Read More…

Perspective on Western European Missions

I was thrilled to read this article by Ed Stetzer on European missions: I3 Paper: Why Europe? For anyone who might wonder what kind of spiritual need there might be over here, this is an excellent overview complete with statistics and thought-out observations.

The section on church planting was very true, and I especially appreciated in insight on successful church plants. Best quote: “Just because it [church planting] ‘worked’ in your context doesn’t mean it will in another.”