Being There
Posted by C. Holland on Jun 19, 2010Now the questions begin. “What’s your secret?” “How’d you do it?” “Why is your group growing?”
Things are beginning to happen. “Green shoots” of higher attendance and participation at church are emerging that indicate possible fruit. I use the word “possible” for two reasons: 1) I’ve been gardening long enough to know that just because your seeds sprout and start to grow doesn’t guarantee that an animal or pest will eat your planned harvest, and 2) I’ve been in ministry long enough to know that not everyone who indicates interest in the Gospel will follow through (think the birds and seeds in the Parable of the Sower).
Those in Christian circles around us have taken notice and are now pressing us for the answers why there seems to be an uptick in attendance and participation at church. Our unabashed answer is always the same: “God”. We’re His workers, but it really is Him. We could replicate the same sequences of ministry from the last few years in a different location, and there’s no guarantee that we’d see the same results. Or any results, for that matter.
This isn’t about a formula, a programme, or some magic succession of actions that equals a result. Still, the Christian leaders press us. “Yeah, yeah, God’s doing this. Of course, I agree. But what exactly are you doing?” they’ll say. You can almost imagine their pen and paper in hand, like a journalist, ready to jot down the secret of (what they consider) ministry success.
I didn’t have an answer at first, and their quick diminishment of the Holy Spirit’s power in all this really puts me off. Yet lately I feel that I’ve located the best way to describe the “formula” they’re trying to extract from me: “Being there.”
The response is uniformly disappointed. What it seems that they’re looking for is an agenda that can be assembled, quantified, qualified. Something that they can rush into a situation, bark orders, execute a sequence, receive a result, and retreat. It’s as if ministry, or mission, or evangelism, has an On/Off switch, something you slip into for a designated time and then after that, it’s not a part of you until the next event.
What the reality is in my particular mission field is that either you’re “all in” when you’re living here or people just won’t bother to interact, no matter what your message or reason for being here. Many missionaries have abandoned this field with plaintive cries of, “They just don’t want to hear the Gospel!” What I’ve found is that people here do actually want to hear the Gospel and speak about spiritual matters (more so than my experience growing up on the West Coast of the States, oddly enough). They just want to get to know you first, feel that you’re a contributing part of the social fabric, and know that you care for not only their eternal life but about the life they’re living right now. The best way we can convey that is by being there, not just when it’s time to address spiritual matters but when the benign, everyday things happen, too. And that takes time, loads of time, before they’re at that point.
Being missionaries who are not legally allowed to take a secular job here, we’ve initially found it hard to meet people outside of the church setting. And if you’re evangelical, being insular is pretty much shooting yourself in the foot. So we started looking for places that we could begin to meet people outside the church. One of the ways we can do that is just to be participatory in local groups and clubs that people would normally join. We’ve chosen areas that are of natural interest and that we’d join anyway; in other words, there’s a natural motivation. And not too many groups, either, as in this culture it would be taken as trying too hard. But when I’m asked for the specifics, I’m reluctant because often that’s where the person starts looking for the “exact replication formula”. Just because I find I can meet a lot of people by joining the Photography Club, for instance, doesn’t guarantee you will, too. Especially if it’s patently obvious that you have no real interest in photography or even loathe it.
This modern life is often lonely despite population density and communication technology. We can be surrounded by people and have many more available at the touch of a button, yet sometimes it’s like no one’s really listening–or even just paying attention. And you can really tell when someone is actually engaged with you in an interaction. For the most part, people can still sense the difference between genuine connectedness with others and just going through the expected social motions to appear interested. Non-Christians are no different in figuring this out.
Another way to connect is that we’ve attempted to read and pay attention to what’s going on in this culture today. People are surprised when they realise that we have a basic understanding of what’s happening in the nation’s politics, or that we noticed the new business that went into the town. They don’t expect us to care because we’re foreigners. When I tell them that we hope to apply for citizenship here, the reply is always, “Oh, you’re serious about staying here. You’re really in this for the long haul?” It’s then that their attitude seems to soften, that they relax a bit more around us.
I find that even those unfamiliar with Christian missionaries (i.e., that they would tend to come for three years or less) seem to hold the view that we’re just opportunistic foreigners here for however long suits us, and then we’ll change location when something better comes along. This, I suppose, would be one of the reasons for most migrants to leave their homeland. But what makes us different is that we didn’t come here to have a better life (in the secular, materialistic sense). If you look at it that way, we went backwards. But that fact has always opened up conversations here: “So what would bring you all the way over here from the States?” It’s a great way to share why we’re here and what we believe, and several have been positively intrigued by our answer to the question.
Will each of our encounters equal Christ-followers? I hope so, but possibly not. But what I have learned is that, in this culture, if I entered each new encounter with a tract and an immediate question about Eternal Life, not only would the person refuse to talk with me, they would also quickly inform those in these close-knit villages that we’re to be avoided completely. I’ve learned that as I interact naturally with people, why we’re here eventually comes up, and recently I’ve received positive questions that I can then use to begin a spiritual conversation. It’s opened it up for me that I can now pose future questions without scaring them away. I still pray for God’s discernment about timing and being bold for Him, and this isn’t a license to avoid the Great Commission. I just had adjust my expectations to my field’s pace, and the responses are just now starting. It’s worth noting that most of the missionaries that left due to frustration from no converts would have left about six months to a year before I feel fruit may start to show here.
It’s about being on purpose, or just paying attention, but not agenda-driven. It’s about being around and open when those spiritual conversations finally do arise but not forceful when your timeline isn’t met or things haven’t happened the way you think. It’s about being there.
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I jest. Good one!
June 21st, 2010 at 6:12 pm
It sounds to me like you are listening to the Lord and doing what He says! It reminds me of this quote (I know you’re not into missionary quotes, but it’s a good one!) from Fredrik Franson. You are depending on God and He is answering.
Your little growing church is in my prayers.
“If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray.” -Fredrik Franson
Rose´s last blog ..Puntos. Points. Bullets. Punktes. Dots.
June 21st, 2010 at 11:06 pm
Keep plodding. I too resist the formulaic answers when the Scriptural “formuala” (if you will) is just to do the basics and love people, and God may give you fruit in good time.
The lust for formulaic answers betrays a dependence on self as if the growth of God’s church ultimately depended on us figuring out the right methodology. And of course, for those who think they’ve figured out the right methodology (as the “key” to church growth), there is a growing arrogance and disdain for those using a different methodology because those wrong-methodology people are hindering the growth of God’s church. And faithful servants of God who are seeing little fruit are looked down upon because they are not doing house churches, or obeying universal principles of church planting movements, or whatever.
Too little attention is given to God’s sovereignty in making the church grow when, how, where, and at what speed He chooses. And the unfortunate result is division in the body of Christ where there not be any.
June 21st, 2010 at 11:22 pm
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June 22nd, 2010 at 5:07 am
Thank you for not being one of those missionaries that is so eager to hand out a tract and talk about “eternal life” the first chance they can. We have a load of them in Taiwan, and I suspect in other countries too. Many missionaries would have stacks of tract to pass out and then start talking about being Christian the first 2 minutes they see them, and if I were those people I would think, “looks like this guy just wants to convert me to Christianity in order to “do his job” or to score some kind of a heavenly brownie point”. I go to a mosque in Taipei in order to reach out to Muslims (there is only one mosque in Taipei… Taiwan have less than a few thousand Muslims) and the worst thing you can do is to try and talk to Muslims about Jesus or eternal life, because they have the idea that we worship three gods (no kidding) and that we are trying to attack their culture. My strategy is to simply make an effort to be around them on a regular basis and attempt to develop a relationship. It will take more time and I am not able to do this as often as I like but I am sure this will work better than simply showing up to a mosque and start throwing out tracts (which will get you evicted from the mosque in free countries, and possibly imprisoned or killed in less free countries)
tai fu´s last blog ..Weekly journal (5/20-5/29/2010)
June 29th, 2010 at 11:48 am
@Rose: Thank you!
@Karl: I’ve witnessed the arrogance and disdain that you describe, and it makes it difficult to convince supporters that your living and working in the field might make you a better expert than just following the latest formula. If we held all churches in my field to an expected growth in a certain time, they’d all be shut down now and that’d be just wrong.
@Tai: Thank you. We’ve got to engage our brains in ministry. If there’s a place in this world where tracts work, then by all means use them. Just don’t absently replicate a method and consider it sacred. Relationships take longer but I believe any spiritual fruit from them will likely be more real.
June 29th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Sometimes the best thing we can do cost nothing. It costs time (to write it) and money to print tracts. I am sure they are effective in some locations but I do know it costs only time and not money to build relationships but that is what people need. We can’t just go call ourselves missionaries and treat people like items in an assembly line. Giving tracts confers no relationship and it makes the people handing out tracts look like salesman to sell something, but when we go out and make relationship happen it goes beyond that. While that will require more time and fruits aren’t obvious it just takes a long time from planting seed to bearing fruit.
tai fu´s last blog ..Weekly journal 5-20-5-29-2010
July 10th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Hi,
I have been noticing this more and more in last 3 years or so but especially this summer during my stay in my homeland, I discovered that this is a major issue to think about.
I think that the one main reason is not that people hear the Gospel which is of course the purpose, but for “us” to do something to tell people about. Because I feel like we want to be able to say something like “I handed out … bibles, but if God does not draw them, I cant do anything”
I feel like this is a cop out from living with people and actually caring for them naturally rather than going into it with a mind set “How can I bring Jesus out of me?” The Gospel should come out if you want it or not. It should be over flowing work of God, not just few pieces of paper.
I appreciate your articles. I hope to read more of them and ask you some questions.
Blessings,
ozgur
July 15th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
That’s great to hear about a missionary in it for the long haul doing what God has called them to do…thanks for sharing how important it is to wait on the Lord and do as He leads in His timing. Not to mention, trust Him and His ability to touch people’s lives.
Committed Christian´s last blog ..Covenant Theology or New Covenant Theology
July 21st, 2010 at 10:17 am
@Ozgur: Welcome to the blog! You’re right, we want to quantify evangelism by counting the number of papers, etc. we handed out, sermons preached, etc. Here in Western Europe, it starts with sharing a cup of tea in someone’s house, which by itself sounds nothing like sharing the Gospel. But in taking that time to relate to someone, eventually God gives you the natural opening (or questions from the person) to clearly present the entire Gospel message. Thing is, this can take 5-50 visits and can’t easily be measured or predicted.
@Committed: Thank you. In our go-go, modern world, I think Christians today expect too much too soon, both in their walk with Christ and in evangelism. I’m just as guilty as others of putting my own deadlines on God, and it’s just not healthy. I pray that Christians won’t be so averse to supporting or even entering long-term mission ministry (and I’m talking about longer than a 2 or 3 year stint).