Posted by C. Holland on Apr 19, 2010
We’re finally at the fork in the road that we’d always suspected was ahead. After several years in the mission field, the fundraised portion of our finances are starting to dry up. It would be easy to blame it on the economy, and for a few supporters I believe it is the case. However, despite our best efforts to communicate, I’m afraid we’re becoming uninteresting. Most all of our possible support contacts have been tapped at several points throughout our time here, just a few remain that have not been contacted and we haven’t made any new contacts in the States since we’ve been in the field the entire time.
We were well-prepared for this reality by several former missionaries, so it’s no surprise. Though we’re not sent from a mission board, a lot of our Christian friends expect us to return around now to begin a year-long fundraising tour. But, like most aspects of ministry, we’re rethinking traditional wisdom on how to proceed. Continue Reading…
Posted by C. Holland on Apr 05, 2010
A great description of both sides of what it’s like to be a missionary.
Six ways that churches can assist in missions besides sending short-term mission workers.
Brett Harrison gives his take on Missionary Trading Cards (yes, we had these, too!).
“…as in waffles?”: a missionary wife describes her reaction to God laying long-term mission in the country of Belgium on her husband’s heart.
Posted by C. Holland on Mar 31, 2010
One of the struggles I’ve faced being a missionary is the fact that my evangelical Christian parents don’t approve of my choice. At all. While their initial reaction was understandable, I thought and prayed that perhaps their stance would soften over time. It has not. In fact, year by year they have increasingly rejected most contact I’ve tried to make. Conversations have become few and far between, and any mention I make of ministry here is met with stony silence and a quick topic change, so there’s not much to talk about after a few minutes. I am no longer kept “in the loop” about even serious things, like my father’s recent surgery, until there was a complication afterward. I’m very close to being disowned.
In no way am I making a sympathy grab here, just trying to explain that some parents take this very, very hard.
Because of this situation, every time I read in the Bible, “Honour your father and mother,” there’s a little pang of thought: Am I? If you asked them, I believe they would immediately answer a resounding “No!” However, after a lot of consideration of the situation, I have to respectfully disagree. Continue Reading…
Posted by C. Holland on Mar 29, 2010
As much as I try to plan ahead with my writing and to focus on certain topics, I’m still surprised how often a germ of an idea for a blog post seems to come out of nowhere. I’ve mentioned before about the search terms used that direct people here, and as usual I was taking a peek at the recent ones. While I seriously considered asking the readers of this blog the “best job for a missionary leaving the field” (yes, an actual search term in the last few days), another search term caught my attention.
So, considering all the recent discussion about the definition of “missional”, I present you with a search term that I posit as a question and look forward to your answers in the comments:
“What is the difference between ‘missionary’ and ‘missional’?”
Posted by C. Holland on Mar 24, 2010
Over the years I’ve seen various articles and posts about the pros and cons of Short-Term Missions. I recently found this article “The Place of Short-Term Missions” and felt it was a well-balanced perspective that churches should consider. (HT: MissioMishmash)
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