Leverage Your Short-Term Mission Trips for Long-Term Goals

I’ve often wondered how the Apostle Paul would utilize modern technology in missions. Would he eagerly promote the short-term missions (STM) surge to the nations? While I’m confident he’d leverage global travel and communication technology for the gospel’s sake, just as he did in his day, I wonder if he’d encourage the majority of STM work among evangelicals in the West.

According to both data and my own observation, the vast majority of STM is designed toward social ministry and poverty relief, with teams comprised primarily of teenagers and youth. If we believe that Acts provides us a template for Great Commission ministry—that Paul and the apostles teach us how to obey Jesus regarding missions—perhaps it’s time to reevaluate our STM strategies in light of the New Testament

STM AND THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19–20). How did Paul and the apostles carry out that mission? In short, they preached the gospel and established churches.[1] They evangelized, and as people came to faith, they gathered a church where the Word was rightly preached and the ordinances rightly administered. The local church became the context where God’s people were taught to obey all that he has commanded.

Paul and the apostles planted flags for King Jesus in unreached places by establishing churches to glorify God in what they believed and how they lived. These churches, in turn, continued to advance the gospel around the world.

But let’s not forget: Paul remained committed to the spiritual health and doctrinal fidelity of the churches he established (and even those that he didn’t, e.g. the church at Rome). Each of Paul’s three major missionary journeys included return visits. He worked to strengthen both the churches and the brothers who pastored them (Acts 14:22; 15:41; 16:5; 18:23).

Viewing the Nations from God’s Perspective: Creation

CREATION

It is critical that any theologically informed worldview begin with the account of creation. Genesis 1:1 states clearly that there is only one Creator. Roger Hedlund explains, “Creation by God means that there is but one human race . . . and that Yahweh is no tribal deity but God and Father of all.”[1] Every man, woman, and child owe their very existence to this true God. The “fatherhood” of God in a physical sense is inclusive by definition and biblical declaration (Mal 2:10). “Ethnic and cultural diversity is part of the creative design of God . . . Racism is a perversion of creation.”[2]

There was no pantheon of gods involved in creation. The universe was not created by committee. In the obvious vacuum of multiple creators, any other false deity’s claim to creation rights is invalid. Any attempt by a false religion to ascribe authority or worship to a god other than YAHWEH, is an attempt to rob God of the glory that He alone deserves.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles . . . they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Rom 1:21-23,25)

Rejecting the Creator results in elevating the creation. Whether it be the idolatry of paganism or the self-deification of humanism, the result is the same. Unregenerate man will always attempt to draw glory away from the Creator and attribute it to something which falls in the “creation” category. Only the one, true Creator God deserves all worship!

Come With Me to an African Funeral

My D. Min, pastor/missionary friend Paul sent me this compelling article this week.  One doesn't need to buy into critical race theory in order to effectively reach people for Jesus.  The gospel and the Christian faith transcends cultures, "races," and everything in between.  See for yourself.  Come With Me to An African Funeral-  "A couple weeks ago, a 14-year-old in a nearby village died suddenly of a brain aneurism. The family members were not churchgoers so they asked me to do the funeral.  If you are unfamiliar with the African view of funerals and the history of white-black relations in South Africa, it’s difficult to fully appreciate the significance of this family’s decision.  If African social gatherings were trees, funerals would be a forest of Sequoias shooting straight from the center of village life. In funerals, Tsongas live, and move, and have their being. They invest extreme amounts of time, money, and planning into the deceased. Week-long gatherings often culminate with a 6am to noon Saturday burial service.

To attend the internment of their dead is one thing. To preach and officiate is another. Whites in South Africa don’t live in rural black villages. Ever. Not farmers, not missionaries, not teachers. Combined with the fumes of decades old apartheid, the idea of a white man conducting a funeral in the local dialect is absurd.

Yet here I was, a half-dozen funerals conducted since ’06, and a participant in a hundred more. How did this happen?

THE LONG ROAD TO GET HERE

It took years of humbling. In the early days of village ministry I ministered with my shoelaces tied together—tripping over language, customs and a host of other cultural obstacles.  I didn’t understand why such pomp and circumstance was wasted on a funeral. I knew cynically that some of those wailing and writhing in the dirt hadn’t visited the now deceased in half a decade. “Just a show, this is.” My language wasn’t very good either. I didn’t know when to say “died” and when to say “passed”, when to use humor and when not, when to use my vehicle and when to walk, what passages of Scripture breezed by their minds and which verses grabbed them by the lapels. This takes years, something short-term missionaries can’t attain.

I began to view the funeral through a gospel lens. I learned to shoulder the plow of cultural expectations. To succeed as a missionary, I had to button up my chinstrap and get in the game. The people began to see I was staying here for keeps.