Posted by C. Holland on Sep 30, 2009
As we went around the circle in the Bible study, introducing ourselves to the visiting mission team, one of our members made sure to interject that she had been a missionary forty years ago for two years. To be honest, it didn’t make a lot of sense to the situation; perhaps she thought that, since the team was on mission, they would be interested in this fact about her. But it made me reflect on other church situations, especially in the States, when people talked about a visiting pastor or a new member of the congregation: “Oh, and he was a missionary.”
Granted, it’s certainly interesting conversation fodder, and usually follow up questions would be about where, how long, etc. But in my experience, someone still active as a missionary was viewed as odd, especially if they had been in their field for a large number of years. As we complete year after year of our foreign mission, the comments are becoming more pointed: “You will come back, right?”, “I thought you’d get this out of your system”, or “You won’t do this the rest of your life, will you?” Is it such a problem that I am planning on staying?
Even in the field, the fact that we are missionaries understandably makes some people uneasy; “what’s your agenda?” their distressed looks imply. But when they meet former missionaries, it’s as if all tension is gone and the anticipation of a spiritual confrontation doesn’t register. What does that say about the non-missionary Christian?
Recently we’ve begun to get unsolicited contacts from churches and pastors in the States that say, “While we’re glad you’re serving in missions, if you ever come back we’d like to hire you.” I suppose it’s because we’ve been in the field “long enough” to carry some sort of clout or interest. I’ve seen this happen with two other missionaries here; both of their former churches in the States contacted them at the two-year mark to hire them back as pastor. At a larger salary. Both accepted incredibly quickly and fled the country, abandoning their church plants, without much explanation. Why would a Stateside church look for their next pastor in a mission field with virtually no national pastors or church planters? Read More…
Posted by C. Holland on Sep 25, 2009
We’re in the middle of hosting a short-term mission team to our field, so I’ve been too tied up to post much. Regular posting should resume soon, but I have to say it’s gone amazingly well. With all the horror stories and issues discussed both on this and other blogs, this team’s trip is the opposite. I’ve been reflecting on some of the reasons why this is:
- Prior Relationship: Not only is this group from one of our many supporting churches, we know the pastor (who is on this trip) from our last church planting gig in the States. It gave us a good idea about his attitudes towards foreign missions; however, we didn’t know the rest of the team before this.
- Lengthy Communication Up to the Trip: Many emails and phone calls were bandied to focus on details, issues, itinerary, what was to happen, etc.
- Openness to Our Ministry Needs: We were asked “what does your ministry need done?”, not told “here’s what our group does”.
- Financial Issues Handled by the Team: From the earliest stages of the planning to during this trip, we’ve been told that the team does not want to overburden us financially. They have no problem paying their way for the day-to-day needs here.
- Experience in International Travel/Other Short-Term Missions: We’ve all got to start somewhere, but this field and our ministry is not yet in the position to deal with an STM freaking about being out of the States (I’ve actually witnessed this at another church here, not pretty) or getting in a huff because they just wanted to “see” ministry, not “do” ministry.
- Cultural Sensitivity to Ministry Here: Everyone in the group have been respectful and understanding about spiritual interaction with the nationals here. I’m not worried that one of them will all of a sudden throw tracts at people, start preaching on a street corner or opening a conversation with one of our neighbours by telling them that they’re going to hell.
There’s still more time on this STM trip, but I’m really pleased over all.
Posted by C. Holland on Sep 10, 2009
Mentanna over at “Musings From a French-Fried Texan” continues her assimilation back into her home country with a fascinating post entitled “Whiplash”. I can relate on a small scale as we’ve just recently hosted several sets of American friends in our home. It took me by surprise that their American behaviour shocked me so much as it definitely would not have several years ago. Favourite quote:
“this kind of encounter would never have taken place in france. as a matter of fact, it often takes about 6 months and 16 conversations before you even learn someone’s name. getting to know a frenchie can be exceedingly frustrating due to the excruciatingly slow pace at which personal information is exchanged. one must never forget that intimacy in france is measured in years not minutes.”
Posted by C. Holland on Sep 07, 2009
The latest issue of “Support Raising Solutions” from TheBodyBuilders.net focuses on the Top Five Myths in Support Raising. We certainly suffered from Number 2 early on (“I can do this alone”), partly because of our tentmaking ability with our business in the States. God quickly convicted us that, even if we could completely fund our ministry, prayer support and communication is really the most important part.
Number 3 (“Everybody’s already tapped out”) reminds me of my work in advertising. The sales manager always emphasised that the sales people had to approach everyone regardless of whether it appeared that their business could afford promotion; stop making the decision for potential advertisers, he’d say, and let them make it. You’d be absolutely shocked to know who our biggest and most consistent financial supporter is—and where they live.
Finally, Number 5 (“I will have to scrape by the rest of my life”) reminds me that, while prosperity gospel is not our goal, neither should be poverty theology; the whole attitude seems defeatist. However, I believe that non-missionary Christians are just as guilty at perpetuating this myth with this odd expectation of missionary life—but not for them, their Christian friends or their pastor. If the funding ultimately comes from God, then differentiating lifestyle by parts of The Body doesn’t really make sense.
Check it out here: Top Five Myths in Support Raising
Posted by C. Holland on Sep 03, 2009
Number 20 left a week ago. She was supposed to be here long-term indefinitely, but she made it almost two years which is longer than the 18-month average here.
Since we’ve been in the field, twenty missionaries have left permanently, all before their stated term and some in terribly egregious ways. These are all people we knew relatively well and interacted with; these are not second- or third-hand statistics. If I pulled from those sources, I’m sure there’s more.
Why I bring this up is not to be complaintive about the loss (our mission field is notorious for chewing people up and spitting them out, so unfortunately none of this is a surprise) but to highlight an issue that I’m sure people don’t consider when they depart: what happens to a mission field when the missionary leaves? Read More…
Posted by C. Holland on Sep 02, 2009
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