From the minute we started fundraising in the States years ago, and even up to the present, the first question we’re asked as missionaries is, “Why did you become a missionary to [our mission field country in Western Europe]?”
Most of the time, the query comes from a Christian, both native and international. It’s an odd question, because as stated above it’s really open to interpretation for the answer they’re looking for. I’m never sure if they’re looking for:
- Detail in how God placed a call on our lives for this country (that answer would take too long)
- Explanation that our lineage traces back to here (it does not) or that we were MKs here (no)
- Information about the desperate spiritual need in our country (there actually is huge need, but I believe the need is pressing in countries all over this world)
- Admission that we’re “trying to figure things out before returning to the U.S.”, “burning time”, or “padding the resume” (again, we’re not, but I’ve actually had such admissions from other missionaries here)
So our retort is always, “ God.” Not to be snarky or even difficult, but because it’s true. Really true. There’s no earthly explanation as to why two Californians with no link to this country or background in missions ministry would dump everything in the States to do this long-term. It doesn’t make a bit of sense, I realise this. But it is what it is. And many seem to think this is not the right answer.
Our questioner usually performs the eye roll, complete with sarcastic “Yeah, yeah, God’s doing this. Of course, I agree. But how did you pick this place?” or “What really made you come over here?” I don’t know if missionaries to the 10/40 window receive this question, too, but the implication is definitely that we’re making something out of nothing.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Most of the Western European missionary bloggers that I follow have noted similar situations. Because we’re not in the 10/40 window, many consider this to be a “Reached” area for Christ (as opposed to “Unreached People Groups” within the window). Let me be clear: I support mission to the 10/40 window and in no way am advocating a stoppage to ministry there. If you’re called there (or are already working in ministry there), then keep on keepin’ on. However, Ernest Goodman put it best about missions to “reached” groups when he said, “This isn’t a case of ‘my people group is loster than yours,’ it’s a heartfelt call to action by someone who God has called to service.” Which is why it’s hurtful when people lob the follow up questions, “Why’d you pick an easy place to live? Couldn’t handle Africa? Wanted a vacation?”
Easy? Since when do we start comparing fields amongst missionaries? Who has the master list of Difficult Mission Areas in descending order? Must all missionaries live in the very worst of physical conditions to qualify? Right now, I think the hardest place for me to live would be back in the States!
And how do we define “easy”? My “easy” field’s missionary attrition rate is through the roof. Over the almost four years we’ve been here, over 20 missionaries left way before their term commitment. Marriages collapsed, church plants collapsed, one couple left evangelicalism completely for Eastern Orthodox. None of that sounds like a cake walk mission field to me.
The reality is that we’ve been called here. My mission field is extremely spiritually dark. While we do have First World amenities here, it doesn’t negate the spiritual warfare, the separation from family and friends, or the financial struggle we experience as missionaries.
Finances. That’s the other argument against our calling. It’s wildly expensive to live in our field, so much so that we’re part tentmakers to make up the declining support difference. It’s been suggested that we serve in a place that’s cheaper to live. But we’re called here. We didn’t find some list of pricey European cities and then try to call a move there a mission field.
Back in January, Kevin over at Life.Outpoured wrote a great article entitled, “Should cost be a factor in your ministry decision?” Of course, we’re to be good stewards of the money God provides us, but are the most economical places the only place we may be called? Is “the most bang for the buck” what determines who hears the Gospel and who does not?
Finally, I’ve also heard the argument that we should be serving where there is a harvest going on right now, not in a place so spiritually desolate. While some will need to be serving in a spiritual harvest area, I think that we reflect upon what leads up to the harvest, using the agricultural metaphor.
We’re in the midst of our first official vegetable garden, having only gardened for flowers/plants in the past. At the beginning of this year, we sat down in cold January and decided we’d like to plant a garden where there was just grass. To get us to the vegetable garden we currently have, we had to rip out the grass, prepare the soil, plan the garden, sow seeds, water, feed, pick off pests, place stakes for climbing plants—in other words, we really had to work that patch of land diligently to have what we do now. At most points in the progression, anyone walking by would have thought the garden to be simply a plot of dirt, a place with no promise, nothing to see or do. Yet we knew what was coming, just as long as we kept faithful to our work. And now we have a harvest of good food.
The point here is that there are stages in ministry before the harvest. Work was needed in different skill sets to complete the task. If we had simply said in January, “Let’s have a garden,” then did nothing until September, all we’d have now is a patch of much-longer grass.
I believe there will be a harvest in Western Europe. Though possible, I’m not sure we’ll see it in our lifetime. But God is making a way for the soil to be prepared, for seeds to be planted, and for the fields to be prepared. The small group of diligent missionaries working now in Western Europe are preparing the way, and I’m proud that God called us to be counted amongst that number.
Related posts:
C., I know I am just a naive prefielder, and perhaps soon I’ll start hearing the same rude comments you seem to get so frequently, but I feel terrible about your experience. I do get some “why Spain, it’s so nice and modern there” comments, but not as often as you seem to about your field. Most people do want to hear a (condensed) version of the long story about how God called us to Spain, and they are genuinely interested when we share the trials we will face as missionaries in Western Europe.
When we are speaking with Christians, it is easy to describe our field as similar, or worse, than our hometown (Seattle). People understand the need for the Gospel here.
Loved your last paragraph. The average church plant in Spain takes 33 years. My husband is nearly 35, and we are joining a church plant we pray will be autonomous in our lifetime. It’s our heart’s desire, but the statistics are against us.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philip Nicholson, C. Holland. C. Holland said: What Are You Doing There? Justifying Your Call http://goo.gl/fb/Z6ijG #mission #Christian [...]
Hey C, I’m still here and appreciate the article. This justifying thing is a beast that cuts both ways. Of course there has to be some reason why we go to the places we do but ultimately it really boils down to our faithfulness to God. Not need (although important), not cost (although a consideration), not comparison to other places, but our faithfulness to Jesus’ command to go into ALL the nations.
In other news, my wife and I are now back in W. Europe living in Portugal. We have a new baby and trying to settle in which is why the site/blog has taken a back seat. I’ll be jumping back into the fray in the near future. All the best!
Keep on keepin on, C. As long as we are dealing with souls, there is no place that is easy. Sure, living conditions in some places are nicer than others but ministry is never easy.
This may sound odd but after living in France for a year, I thought that perhaps church planting in someplace without Christianity in their cultural background (such as Buddhist Thailand where I am now) would be easier than Europe. At the very least, folks who know nothing of the Gospel don’t have all sorts of cynical hostility or an “I-know-about-Christianity-already-so-don’t-tell-me”attitude like many in Western Europe. But having been in Thailand now for 5 years, I think that it is just different than working in a Western country. Not easier. Not harder. Just different.
Actually, now that I think about it though, one aspect that is harder (whether you’re in Europe or SE Asia, or most Muslim nations) is that it takes a LONG time for a healthy Biblical church to be established. Some places in the States, it seems like folks go from “only me and my family” to 300 people in the space of a few years. And perhaps that expectation of speed in church planting is placed on missionaries sometimes? And if it is then, there is the lingering suspicion that the missionaries are doing something wrong if they don’t plant with the same speed as “back home”. Hmmmm.
@Rose: I can’t answer for missionaries to Spain, but I suspect that our particular field’s issues relate to the fact that 1) it’s a country that a huge majority of Americans would dream about visiting, and 2) English is spoken here (i.e., we didn’t have to learn/function in another language). And, in fairness, not everyone feels this way about our mission here, or we wouldn’t have any supporters!
I guess it’s just the blunt ones that still shock me. We’re in agreement with you about the church plant. Many of our supporters ask when our church here will be self-supporting, and, even with the growth we’ve seen, we may not see it in our lifetime. It’s just the way it is.
@Kevin: I was wondering where you were! Congrats on the new addition, and welcome back to Europe. God bless! Looking forward to your future posts.
@Karl: “Just different”…you’re exactly right. Maybe that should have been the title of this post.
Because everyone’s ability and skill set is different, it’s really pointless to try to categorise difficulty. We repeatedly encounter the “Yeah-I-know-about-Christianity” attitude here. And I do agree about the difficulty of expectation from the States, something we struggle with a lot.
C, hearing you describe where you live, makes me think that I know, especially because my wife and I lived there for several years. If not, then it is eerily similar to our first ministry work.
In our first location, we were constantly (and I mean constantly) questioned about our motives for being there because in American’s minds it was a cultural, tourist, “my-family-is-6th-generation” vacation (holiday) spot, not a vacuous hole that only the gospel could fill. It was a constant fight.
Places like that carry enormous baggage with them because Americans in particular think they know everything about the place, again, because “my-family-immigrated-from-the-old-country-and-we-still-have-family-there…somewhere.”
The soil is tremendously hard in W. Europe and I applaud your garden metaphor. It’s what we’ve been operating with for several years now.
Great Post! If found it hilarious!
Reason being that the funny thing is if you turn the question around and ask your North American-based inquisitor why they are still living/ministering/working there when it is so reached (and why they aren’t out in the 10/40 window) people would probably give yo a blank stare thinking “What does that have to with me? You’re the missionary!”
People still view missions as being somewhere out there where we need to send someone to those people who need what we have. They don’t realise that life is pretty much the same wherever we are in the world — it just has a different context. Missions happens wherever we are, whether it’s in Western Europe (where you are), South East Asia (where we are), or North America (where most of our supporters are).
Thanks once again for the insightful post.
I am preparing to head to Germany, but as a student and do missions work towards Muslims there in my spare time. I tried the missionary route but the reality in Taiwan is, if it’s not the 10/40 window, then no one will support you because it’s too expensive. There is the mentality of using national church planters in the US because “we can support 10 national church planters for the cost of one foreign missionary” which is basically looking at money rather than God.
I have only been in Germany for 2 months but from what I can tell and feel, there is a lot of loneliness, cynicism, and materialism in Germany. People are not as friendly as what I would be used to as in the US, and most of all people in Europe (even expats there) seems very cynical for some reason.
Please pray that God will show me what to do with the Muslims or Germans there, because I am not a people person, and I have autism spectrum disorder which makes it even harder to pick up those subtle cues (but being in Germany may not make this such a disadvantage since Germans are usually very direct, but I think Muslims may not be as direct as Germans) and most of all for God to provide for my needs because while I think I have all the money needed, people say costs are very high and what I think is a lot of money is probably pocket change to them…
@Kevin: Thanks.
@Functional: Definitely. When people ask what I’d be doing if I weren’t a missionary, I have to laugh because I viewed my last secular job in the States as a mission field and was able to purposely witness there, too. I’m just in a different location now.
@Tai Fu: You’re in my prayers. Yes, you have obstacles, but it’s good that you’ve recognised them and can pray to God for His help in each of these areas.
I recently heard stories of some people that had gone to Poland for the summer. It changed their whole view on European missions to see how unreached the people truly were, and not just unreached but wary of Christianity due to what the church meant to them.
Telling people about your mission (and I feel your pain because my wife and I work for a missions organization, I get paid a salary, and she has to raise support to work in FL!), it’s 90% education on what is actually happening in the world and how missions works.
@bman: Yep, it seems that, while also we report back to the States our progress, much more of our report time is spent explaining and informing Christians about the need here. Most everyone who has visited us here have had their eyes opened to the spiritual issues and needs.
Thank you.
It’s good to know we’re not the only ones who are thinking these things!!!
(We’re missionaries in Italy)
@Eric: Thanks. The more I write the blog (and get comments), the more it becomes apparent that many missionaries think these things, regardless of their location.
I know you wrote this a while ago, but I just found it and it really, really helped me! I am moving to Antsirabe, Madagascar in June to minister to the youth there and have been feeling guilty about going to such a beautiful exotic place. This really spoke to me. Thanks you.
@Lauren: You’re welcome.