Seven things Never heard at a Church Missions Conference

1. The mission field ... it is here! (It's there too ... but it is a gross error to ignore the next door!) There seems to be a overvaluing of the souls' saved in the far away places and an general resignation that the local sinners are to be avoided (best to isolate oneself from them lest they pollute us!). 

Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! (John 4:35)

The mission field is:

Your family and extended family (cousins, aunts, uncles, et cetera). Image source.

 Suburbia (if that's where you live). Source

Where you work! (There's a pagan at the water cooler!)

(Comment on the top image - from the very funny film  Krippendorf's Tribe - Scheduled to lecture at a college and fearful of being charged with misuse of grant funds, James concocts an imaginary tribe, the Shelmikedmu, using the names of his children as a basis. He later fakes a 16 mm "documentary" film, casting his children as tribe members)

2. Look in the mirror - you are the missionary! (Image Source)

Jesus gave the Great Commission to you too!

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

3. Every Christian is a minister! (Image Source)

Proof:

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12)

There is far too much emphasis on the special clergy class verses the common laity class. This is gross error and not Biblical. If you are a Christian you've been called! If you are redeemed you are a minister. Use the above link to buy yourself a robe, if it will make you feel better! As for me I wear khakis and polo shirts!

4. The construct of the itinerant professional evangelist is false. Every Christian is an evangelist! (Image source)

The following should be obvious but just to cover all the bases!

• I'm not saying that every itinerant minister is an "Elmer Gantry"!
• But I am saying that the modus operandi of:
  • Having a special meeting with ...
  • A high-octane speaker ...
  • To preach the gospel to ...
  • Invitees ...
  • Is not a pattern found in the New Testament!
• Some will be more effective in evangelism because God has gifted some in this way! But every Christian who can open his mouth and form words as method of communication is to do so!

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so (Psalm 107:2)

5. Evangelism: It's not salesmanship! (Image source of door-to-door salesman)

I'm amazed by how some believers get hyped about multi-level marketing and how they can become so obsessed and evangelistic about these schemes. I grant that this is their business and their liberty. 

My point is to be amped about Jesus! 

I used to be a salesman. I've sold newspapers, candy bars door to door, women's shoes at the mall, and computers (my largest one time sale was $ 1.8 Million ... and that was in 1977 ... over $ 7 million in 2016 dollars)

When I say that evangelism is not salesmanship, I mean that God is sovereign over the results. God opens hearts - not us!

Acts 16:14, "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul."

I Corinthians 2:4, "And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,"

6. Evangelism is hard: Expect these results:

Acts 17:32-24, "And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” .... However, some men joined him and believed,

Some will (as illustrated from the above verse - or all of the book of Acts):
• Mock, reject, react negatively
• Have some interest - may consider the Gospel
• Believe

It should be obvious that our efforts must be bathed in prayer and we must be patient!

Ephesians 6:12-18, " For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints "

7. It takes money to evangelize! Invest in your own mission!

We are often reminded and exhorted to invest in missions and this is certainly a truism. My point here is that one's own ministry must be funded (and really self-funded!). Buy and give Bibles! Buy and give Gospels of Johns (we buy these by the hundreds and always have a short stack by the front door). Buy and give good books (examples here). Each of my 4 doctors from my recent surgery will be receiving a Bible from me this week. God in His sovereignty allowed my cancer trial, and God has put me in places (where I really did not want to be). I see myself as a missionary to these with whom I've come into contact.

To the vocational minister

The laborer is worthy of his wages (1 Timothy 5:18)

• I appreciate your work! The ministry God has given to you!
• You ought to be paid
• I want you to be paid

How I am paid: (It's pretty boring stuff!)

How I pay you (except I send a check directly to the church office via Wells Fargo bill pay!)

Some simple requests:

• Fulfill your role
• Respect me
• Don't Lord over me
• Teach me and use me in the ministry: "He Himself gave ... some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11-12)

Why aren't you in the ministry?

I sometimes get asked this. I provide this Biblical answer.

First some background. I was once in the vocational ministry as a Pastor. My career looks like this:

• I graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1971
• I worked on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ for 1 year after graduation
• I was a ministry intern in a Baptist church in Cincinnati in the Summer of 1972
• I enrolled at Tennessee Temple in the Fall of 1972 and left after about a dozen weeks (I didn't flunk out ... I just did not fit in! An expensive mistake)
• I was hired by IBM in January or February of 1973 and worked for IBM in Tampa Florida for 3 years.
• I then worked for Digital Equipment Corporation until I went to seminary school in Grand Rapids in 1978
• After I completed seminary I was an assistant pastor for 3 years in New Jersey
• I then pastored a Bible Church for three years
• And then I pastored a church in Denver for 9 years

There's some overlap with my career starting with Norwest / Wells Fargo because I was bi-vocational for 2 years. It paid the bills and was the Lord's way of providing.

Altogether I was in the vocational ministry for either 16 or 17 years depending on whether the time with Campus Crusade in counted.

So ... am I in the ministry or not? And if not why not?

Well to be clear I am not in the vocational ministry! Wells Fargo pays me and it is God's way of providing for us. And the provision is abundant. I have health insurance, dental insurance, disability insurance, a retirement plan and a 401K plan. I am blessed financially,

I did not leave the vocational ministry because of finances. In 1987 I had a very serious accident that rendered me paralyzed. The Lord is sovereign and His ways are right and good and I praise him for this aspect of my destiny. I am handicapped today but move around fairly well. There is no confusion about my handicap. I've often observed children asking their parent - "what's wrong with that man?"

I reentered the secular workforce to provide my living. My first salary was not that spectacular but over the years I have advanced and I am well-paid.

I was fortunate in the vocational ministry in that I was hired (called to a church) immediately after seminary (actually before I finished my final classes!). Altogether I candidated (the Baptist process for hiring a pastor) three times and was hired three times.

So am I in the ministry or not? I'm often surprised that Baptist Pastors are less clear on this than they should be.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

• The ones who have experienced the new birth are new creatures in Christ (KJV phraseology)
• Christ was our substitute: "to be sin for us"
• We have Christ's righteousness
• And to us He has given the ministry of reconciliation
• We are ambassadors for Christ

Luke 10:2, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest"

• The Lord is sovereign over His harvest.
• He places men and women in various opportunities as He sees fit
• As the Lord himself emptied himself I do not see a need to promote myself in ministry. He will place me as He sees fit.
• John the Baptist declared "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30). This is my own credo. I desire to exalt Chirst

Luke 9:46, Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.

• There are many (most) who are greater than I in ministry
• I never pastored a large church
• I've never published
• I'm rarely asked to speak and have never spoken at big name conferences.

But I am in the ministry. I'm satisfied with the position that the Lord has granted me.

Romans 8:28-30, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Romans 9:14-16, What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

Romans 12:1,2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God

• The Lord has a marvelous plan for my life that began long before my birth (Ephesians 1:4)
• God, to Him be the praise, chose to show compassion and mercy to me. This is totally undeserved!
• My right response is to surrender self to Him. I daily pray Romans 12:1-2.
• And day by day His plan for my life is unfolding. And that plan is perfect!
• I am not a man of high aspirations. I like the anonymous life. I do look daily for opportunities to  testify of my Savior. Recently (late last year) God used what could be perceived as negative circumstances to place me in the presence of a gastroenterologist. Had I not had C-Diff I would have never met this man. I was able last Christmas to present a Bible to him

Mr Professor, you are not my Lord! I don't mind your asking me but my reply is more Biblical than your question. I am in the ministry. It's not the ministry that God has given you! It's the ministry the Lord has given me! And I am satisfied in the ministry.

Answering a Professor's question

Scuse my saying so . . . but don't you work in the secular field and have for years? What part have you played in the missions movement?

Actual email to me this week. Response:

• The great commission weighs heavily on me and I daily pray for the lost and look for opportunities to witness
• The secular verses sacred vocation. I really don't think about it that much. It takes worker bees like me who labor in some pretty mundane areas but support one's local church faithfully

Where a doctor’s visit costs less than a stamp!

How Moving to a Third-World Country Improved Our Financial Situation

Excerpts:

People spend a lot more money when their neighbors spend a lot more money. If the neighbor’s kid has an iPod, laptop, backpack, new running shoes, and a shiny bike, then we want our children to have enough stuff to “fit in”. Maybe you don’t feel a temptation to keep up with the Joneses, but you probably don’t want to be so far behind that everyone notices.

Living in a third world country has dramatically diminished my desire to own Stuff. It’s diminished because our neighbors don’t have Stuff. There isn’t a pressure to keep up with the Joneses, but instead the pressure is towards lifestyle de-flation. To live with less. To live more simply. To be more generous.

It’s not unusual to see kids with worn-down sandals, wearing only one sandal, or no footwear at all. The first thing we feel tempted to do when we get a new pair of shoes is get them dirty so they don’t look so new.

In our hometown, Alotau, you couldn’t even find much worth buying if you tried. T-shirts at the stores are about as thick as a piece of Kleenex, and second-hand clothing stores tend to buy bulk used clothing at the cheapest price possible. This often means all the clothes are between XL and XXXL. Which, by the way, is very unfortunate because most of the local residents are very short and thin.

...

While our family still pays an exorbitant amount for international health insurance, you can’t beat the prices when you need to make a trip to the local hospital. A visit to the hospital costs about seventy cents. Interestingly, it cost me $2 to buy a stamp to mail my claim to our insurance company. Isn’t that crazy? A doctor’s visit costs less than a stamp! There are no local private doctors, but if you want to get to see a doctor immediately, you can pay around $7 USD and get to see a doctor right away instead of waiting in line for a couple of hours.

Several years ago, some co-workers had a baby here in town. The total hospital bill came to $7 USD. If you’ve had a baby in the U.S., you know you’re talking a four-digit bill — not a single-digit bill.

Comment: About the author. Tobin .. thought this would interest you.

Kuyper: the difficulty of Muslim missions

For the Muslim to convert to Christianity is from their point of view to descend to a lower level. Islam came after Christ. Islam has a later and higher revelation. Who wants to go back from the latest and highest to an earlier and lower? A convert from Islam is a traitor in the eyes of Muslims. As far as Muslims are concerned, such a person has died morally and the entire Muslim neighbourhood works together towards his reversion under the weight of contempt and of social deprivation.

Comment: Ibid

"Vacationaries"

Churches Retool Mission Trips: Work Abroad Criticized for High Cost and Lack of Value

Excerpt:

Not long ago, the families of Fairfax Presbyterian Church spent thousands of dollars to fly their teens to Mexico for eight days of doing good. They helped build homes and refurbish churches as part of an army of more than 1 million mostly Christians who annually go on short-term international mission trips to work and evangelize in poverty-stricken lands.

Yet even as those trips have increased in popularity, they have come under increased scrutiny. A growing body of research questions the value of the trips abroad, which are supposed to bring hope and Christianity to the needy of the world, while offering American participants an opportunity to work in disadvantaged communities, develop relationships and charge up their faith.

Critics scornfully call such trips "religious tourism" undertaken by "vacationaries." Some blunders include a wall built on the children's soccer field at an orphanage in Brazil that had to be torn down after the visitors left. In Mexico, a church was painted six times during one summer by six different groups. In Ecuador, a church was built but never used because the community said it was not needed.

Comment: At the risk of offending my readers, this is a very good article. The neediest mission field (for short term missions) is often within 10 miles of one's church: Look no further than the corner of Golden Valley Road and Penn Avenue (check out the street view ... see the little Baptist church next to Wally's market!)

European missions: 35% loss of buying power

Weak dollar undercuts missionaries, relief workers

Excerpt:

For missionaries and faith-based relief groups, the weak dollar has been a major headache. It's caused them to cut back on budgets and cancel projects around the world. And it's made the small things of daily life, like buying groceries or gas, more difficult.
...
The main challenge is the strength of the euro. In 2002, the dollar and the euro were equal. It takes $1.47 to match a euro — a loss of more than 35% in buying power. The cost of everything from saltine crackers to the monthly heating bill has skyrocketed.

In response, missionaries have cut back wherever they can.

Susan Jett, a Southern Baptist missionary to Germany currently on furlough in Knoxville, says she quit buying necessities like clothes and even sending mail. "I don't mail anything back home," she said. "I wait for someone who is flying back and send it with them."

Jett said it's the cost of small things, such as day-to-day basics, like milk and bread, that add up. "I have to think twice before buying anything."

That means forgoing small familiar pleasures like going to McDonald's. Like many Americans living overseas, missionaries relish the chance to visit the golden arches.

"It smells like home," says Dennis Barton, a missionary who recently returned to the United States after more than 20 years in Europe. But even the bargain menu is now too pricey, Jett said. "For a family of four, it's more than 25 euros," Jett said. That's more than $36 in U.S. currency.

Comment: Something to pray about re missions!

Arif and Kathleen Khan's story

The Believers

Excerpts:

'They were sweethearts,” the Rev. Albert Martin said. “He led her, and she followed him willingly and cheerfully. That is all biblical, you see.”

Martin was remembering Arif and Kathleen Khan, a missionary couple whom Martin’s church, the Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, N.J., had sent to Pakistan eight years ago. There, this August, the couple were shot to death in their home by three suspected killers ....



Kathleen, the daughter of scarcely observant Christians, grew up enthralled by the stories of missionaries that filled the New Jersey church where her parents sent her for Sunday school. And Arif, born and raised in Pakistan, the son of a preacher in the country’s small Christian community, felt called to carry his faith into nations hostile to the message he brought. They met at a seminary in Massachusetts and married, and soon Arif, who had become an American citizen, led her and their two young children to live in Iran; the family quickly found themselves fleeing Ayatollah Khomeini’s fundamentalist revolution. Next the Khans made their home in another Islamic country, which Martin would not specify for fear of endangering the missionary that Trinity Church now sponsors there. Arif was banished. In 1999, with their children grown, he and Kathleen settled in Islamabad, their home until their murder. Arif knew the risks of proselytizing. He had, shortly before his marriage, been jailed for weeks in Pakistan for preaching Christ’s power in the streets with his father. “He was a marked man,” Martin said. “He talked of dying for Christ as though it was having a mole removed.”

Comment: For more see the sermons page of Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, NJ. Also: The Pakistani Christian Post