there are a lot of things that a missionary has to face on the field. one thing that the missionary has to learn quickly is to laugh at their cultural faux pas. it helps the adjusting process move along much more efficiently. but no matter how long the person labors in the field, discouragement is one thing that can plague a missionary. the seasoned person probably knows to expect it at times while working in a foreign land. but what may catch them off-guard is the discouragement that is caused by friendly fire.
a couple of weeks ago, an anonymous letter was sent to Italy after i had gone and spoken at a supporting church. it was just a scribbled note attached to the annual church budget which listed all the 'missions' that this church supported. two mission works were circled: the area church camp and the ancona work. the person then circled the amount of money that was given in that year to each work which was listed in the adjacent column. the person then wrote "30 saved this year" next to the amount given to the church camp. Then, further down the list, next to the amount given to the ancona work was written, "1 saved this year."
the scribbled note attached to this budget said, "We should have y'all come home. We are paying too
much for what we are seeing for all the money being sent. A lot of people at
church, think its time to stop, come home and go to a real mission where people
want to hear about Jesus.”
Now, I have to say that the person who wrote this is only representative of a few in that church. but when my teammate called me and told me that they had received this letter, i asked him, "in the x amount of years that you've been over there, how many of these letters have you received?" he said, "this is the first." i chuckled and said, "well, we're doing something right. we're getting closer to breakthrough and
somebody doesn't like it."
When Christ gave us the Great Commission, why didn't he give us a more efficient strategy to get more bang for our buck? Are the souls in Africa cheaper than the Europeans? Whatever happened to the Church that follows after a God who liberally sows seed, even in the hard places? Aren't we grateful for not having been born in those "hard places"? I'm grateful for the God who isn't a stock broker that looks for the more aggressive and effective missions to consolidate his cash into. A God who doesn't take a people's spiritual temperature before
irresponsibly casting handfuls of seed into those parts of the earth that may never look good to the logic of a 401k pension plan. There are no demographics, no waiting on church budgets to squeeze His ever-widening mercy into. no economic shortcoming holds Him back from making sure His Word reaches the unreachable. I thank God that my own salvation isn't dependent upon such things, or that i was born in an unlikely field that the church would overlook in their mission portfolio due to poor stats.
I'm reminded of a set of
posts that my good friend and colleague wrote on his blog. Check them out and do what you can to educate the church in which you belong to not view God's mission--the
Missio Dei-- with the same eyes that they use when they review their mutual funds.
Comments (8)
Isn't it frightening that people only want certain others that they deem acceptable to be saved? Doesn't John 3:16 say that God so loved that world? Not just Americans? Sometimes I want to cry for the ignorance of people and sometimes I want to shake them and beat them over the head. The person who sent that note is most likely more in need of truly understanding the Gospel and the grace of God than the majority of any of those kids who were baptized at that church camp. Oysers.
Meh. I know how you feel. I've actually had someone yell at me for wanting to raise $3200 (now $3500, thanks to the exchange rate going up...), to go for 6 weeks to teach Germans English, rather than putting that $3200 to rescue 10 kids out of slavery from Africa. *sigh*
Stay strong, my brother!
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I guess we should be glad that the person is doing research into missions and not just sitting back. Josh, your thoughts and response are great. I love the Ancona (and now Verona) works -- God is doing amazing things and He has been clearly moving for several years -- even if there is not fruit. I'm glad He is much more patient than those of us who think we know so much about what He should be doing! Press ON!
Fruit was the wrong word --- measurable numbers -- maybe that is better.... sorry for that word choice. Continuing to pray for Italy!
Hey man, well worded. Since our initial reaction to it, I've been reflecting on it and keep going back to the timing of it the week before we launch the prayer room and as several new steps are taken. But as I read through your post, it startles me to think that ONE note can cause such discouragement. Granted, we were able to brush it off pretty quickly, this time. I wonder what it is like to work in places where you deal with that kind of discouragement from family or friends or peers daily. Good work, my friend. I appreciate you encouraging your readers to educate the church (cioe' ourselves!).
wow, when I read that I got mad. Not a very noble response. Makes me think of a million responses, like anonymous letters don't count as sharing the truth in love and if someone is going to bother to mail something across continents, couldn't they include a little encouragement? and a whole lot more, so I better stop. :) Sounds like you guys are handling it appropriately. It's a good reminder that biggest need among all of us is not more funding or even more encouragement from each other as much as it is to see God's world the way he sees it.
Josh- I apologize for writing the letter. I just need you to work harder over there. And keep it with the Catholics. We don't care about them Muslim souls here in the midwest. Thanks and God bless. -Ryan