Missionary Confidential

Programme Overload

My church elder was talking about the latest conference he attended.  As he described the speakers and the books he bought, his face lit up when he remembered something.  “They’ve got this brand-new approach that they’re trying now, and it shows a lot of promise.  People in some areas are really excited about it.  Have you heard of a Coffee Shop Ministry?”

Sigh.  Yes.  Ten years ago in the States.

I’ve been involved in ministry and church planting now for almost half of my life.  It feels like the whole time has been peppered with the next new book, angle, approach, tool, technique, item or worship style.  Every idea has the aura of “this is the thing that will really work”.  And it seems like more conferences are popping up every year, each with their own subtle twist or perspective on how to “do church” the best way to get the best results.  I fear I’m at the point of programme overload.

I’ve come to this point in my life for two reasons: 1) the sheer quantity of programmes over a long period of time are too much to process, and 2) seeing ministry in a different cultural context has made me realise how culture-specific virtually all of these approaches seem to be.  I have no doubt that, for each of the methods or techniques available in ministry today, there is a place or people group that have responded really well and have become Christians through this.   Praise God!  I’m honestly glad that this has happened in that situation.  But I’m startled by the attitude that most Christians have: “If it worked there, it’ll work here!” Read More…

Doing Ministry at Arm’s Distance

Early in our fact-finding trips to our mission field, we kept getting the sense that the nationals held a bit of a reservation about working with us.  They were certainly friendly and accommodating, but their comments and facial expressions held a barely discernible air of skepticism.  We knew that their interactions with a large majority of American missionaries had gone very poorly for a number of reasons, so we figured they were understandably hesitant to interact with us.

Fast-forward to about six months into living in the mission field, and the real reason for their hesitancy began to crystalise in my mind.  We had been here long enough to watch several short-term mission teams funnel in and out of the church, plus there were several other long-term missionaries attached to help.  Watching the interactions from the sidelines, I began to see what the nationals saw: most missionaries would only do ministry at arm’s distance.

This is going beyond the unfortunate handful of those with bad attitudes; actually, the majority were polite, respectful, and generally good people who were willing to help and work in many ways.  Yet even in the group of good-natured, well-intentioned people, there still existed a trace element of distance from the nationals. Read More…

In the Culture of Now

The turn of the new year always gives us pause for reflection on the past and contemplation of the future, so the start of 2010 appears to be no different.  As I remember lessons learned over the past few years as a missionary, one theme keeps recurring: we are shaped by the environment in which we find ourselves, no matter how much we may resist.  And I have been very much influenced by my mission field’s culture which is an “in the moment” people group, something I like to call “The Culture of Now”.

Of course, the title is not indicative of a culture of wanting things or change to happen immediately (i.e., “I want it now”) but of a state of being in the moment, relishing the experience and not focussed solely on the future.  In an earlier cross-cultural course I had learned of the differences in such cultures, and I am grateful to have understood the technical differences before entering the mission field.

It was actually the change of decade that prompted me to take note of my personal attitude shift.  Reflecting on where I was (physically, spiritually, and emotionally) as 1999 slipped into 2000, I started to realise that I had been a much more agitated individual.  Always focussing on the next task, job, location, or goal, I wasn’t actually interacting in the moment.  Time with people, though often a pleasant thing, was seen as an obstacle to progress; because it was a necessity to interact with others, I felt at the time that it must be kept to a minimum.  While I would be present at an activity or function, mentally I was worlds away, going over tasks in my head or thinking constantly about what sequence of events needed to happen once I got out of the situation. Read More…

How They See Us

I know this video is a huge generalisation, but it answers the question people have asked about how Christians are regarded in Western Europe.  Unfortunately, it is a massive barrier to break down when attempting to establish relationships, and only time and consistency can erase this judgment by stereotype.

Reverse Furlough, Part 2: The Not-So-Great Stuff

“Reverse Furlough, Part 1: The Good Stuff” is available here.

Yet, like all things, there are some not-so-great things to consider about the Reverse Furlough:
Adapting to Different Expectations
Some sponsors just wanted a “look-see” and really didn’t need much in-depth information.  Others wanted all the info, background and history we could provide.  One group was more motivated to do repair work on our building than anything else.  The difficult part of adapting was that it was almost impossible to tell what each of these groups wanted before they arrived, so we were learning on the fly as to what they wanted to see or experience.

Mission Field Also a Popular Tourist Destination
We didn’t realise with the first couple of guests how much this played into their expectation of the trip.  You start figuring out quickly who came here to actually see/do ministry and who came on a vacation under the guise of a “mission trip”.  Everyone seemed to suffer from the misconception that we were only engaged in ministry on Sunday for an hour, so we would certainly have the rest of the week to play tourist with them.  “What sights do you want to see?” they’d ask.  It was really, really hard not to have a snarky reply like, “This is your trip, not mine.  I’ve already seen [tourist attraction], and I don’t spend my days wanting to see it week after week.  I thought you were interested in ministry, not tourism.”  Because no one wanted to drive or rent a car over here, it fell to us to chauffeur people around which took a huge chunk out of our days.  I’m cool with people taking a couple of days out to see our country; just be upfront and tell us this, and don’t expect the entire “mission trip” to run like a tour package when you said you wanted to see/participate in ministry.

Costing Us More Than Planned
While a trip back to the States for a year would cost us considerably more cash, the earlier supporter visits quickly taught us to be upfront with our visitors about how much our budget could support them, too.  The food, electric, petrol and heating bills all increase when we’re accommodating a visitor and, while we welcome visitors, it’s necessary to plan for these increases, asking for assistance from the visitor if necessary. We had a supporter surprise us with a visit a year and a half ago, who hadn’t understood the exchange rate or the high cost of basic living here, so he attempted to get us to pay for everything.  We simply could not afford to do what he asked, and it ended up losing us his support.  Had we known he (and his group of five) were coming over, we could have communicated and planned much better. Read More…

Missionary Etiquette 101

Kevin over at the “Life.Outpoured” blog talks about the importance of missionaries adapting (yet staying within God’s law) to the culture in which they minister, and it goes beyond clothing and acting.  He gives some great points to consider in “(Missionary) Etiquette 101″.  My favourite: “Begin to think like a citizen of heaven, not of a particular country.”

MKs and “Fitting In”

Childhood is hard enough when you have your original culture to contend with, but MKs (missionary kids) have an additional culture to adapt to, yet try to maintain friendships and relationships back “home”.  I can’t imagine the struggle at such a young age, but the blog “The Other Side of Missions” gives a good perspective on this struggle: “My Peculiar MKs”