Are Mission Agencies Redundant?

A few years ago my young friend Rick went overseas to work as a missionary in a foreign country. Before he left I strongly encouraged him to join up with an agency who would look after him and help him to get started in his new country. He didn't know the language or culture of the country where he was going. He talked to some agencies, but none of them fitted in with what he had in mind to do, so he didn't join up with one. His church decided to send him directly thinking that he could go without the need for an agency. He was able to continue working for his previous company by doing some work remotely and this provided him with enough income to sustain him without needing to depend on the church for financial support.

Rick has now been working as a missionary overseas for three years and I was able to catch up with him recently to see how he is doing. After three years overseas he has moved on from his initial ministry and is now working in a very different ministry. His current work is much closer to what most mission agencies are already doing there, which meant that if he had joined up with an agency from the beginning then he would have been trained and prepared for the work that he is doing now. Unfortunately he wasn't prepared. He did not receive any language or culture training so communication with his team of national Christians is very difficult. He finds the national leadership style very hard to work under. If he had joined up with an agency that trained him and prepared him then his situation would be very different today.

I often meet people who want to go out to mission as individuals. They do not see why they need to join a mission agency. The churches that send them sometimes do not feel that going as a part of a sending agency brings much value for the extra costs in the budget. Sometimes the sending church feels that it is more able to support and care for the missionary than a mission agency. After all the church has known them for many years by the time that they are sent. They also feel that it is a more "biblical" model of sending in that the church takes full responsibility for the missionary, rather than outsourcing to another organisation.

The unfortunate result is that many missionaries sent directly by their church are not adequately supported. The truth is that a local church is not often set up to support missionaries who are overseas. The primary function of a local church is to care for the members who attend weekly and to reach out into the local community. A local church has many other agendas and issues that occur while their missionaries are overseas which means that they can easily be forgotten. Out of sight means out of mind, even if they are on the church noticeboard. :) If the church is very big then they may have staff dedicated to sending and supporting missionaries and keeping them in front of the congregation. It's great if they are able to do this. Unfortunately it is rare.

There are other ways in which a sending church may not always be great at supporting a missionary who is working cross-culturally overseas. A sending church is often not aware of the cultural context of the missionary and may not be sympathetic to the cross-cultural obstacles that they face. This is even harder when the church supports many different missionaries working in different ministries in different parts of the world, and the church has to try and understand the context and culture of each one of these places. I have seen missionaries who are under great pressure to plant a church very quickly even though the national culture is very resistant to the gospel. A sending church in a "Christian" country may not understand how hard it is and how long it takes for a whole group of people to come to Christ in a very resistant country. Sometimes this can lead to using money inappropriately in order to produce visible results. In other cases it can lead to reports where the number of new believers is inflated in order to convince sending churches that the work is really effective when it's not. Again it can be seen in churches trying to replicate their model of doing church in a cultural environment where it is not appropriate. Our own values and expectations that we bring from our own culture may not be appropriate in the context of another culture. Church leaders of a missionary-sending church need to educate themselves about the cultural context that the missionaries are working in so that they can adequately support the missionary where they are working. Often this self-education and cultural insight is lacking and can lead to unrealistic expectations and tension.

These obstacles can be overcome if a sending church partners with a good mission agency. The agency should already have a team in place with experienced people who hopefully have already learned from past mistakes, speak the local language and are able to map our strategies that are suitable to the culture and the context of the team. There is often already a good network in place that has earned the agency credibility with the local Christian community so that new missionaries are welcomed and appreciated by them. Ideally there are national Christian workers available to help new missionaries settle in, learn language and get started in ministry and outreach. There are also experienced missionaries in place who provide accountability, direction and care during times of crisis. It would be very difficult for a sending church to provide this kind of support for a missionary working on the field.

My friend Rick has spent three years trying to minister cross-culturally in a context where he is still very much a beginner. He has learned some tough lessons by going it alone and having to find his own way in the jungle of a different culture and language without much support. It has been a really tough journey for him. I am praying that he will be open to joining an agency so that he can receive the kind of support and training that he could have had from the beginning. Mission agencies were formed for a reason, and the reasons why are still very valid today.

Thai Missions Library

There is a huge load of information available at this website: http://www.thaimissions.info/

Crossing Over Well

Crossing over into another culture is not easy, and many people don't really succeed to a point where they feel comfortable living in a new culture. There are so many adjustments to make in learning a new language, mannerisms, world view, and ways of relating that some people find the effort and the adjustment required to be more than they can handle. Even very intelligent, highly motivated and adaptable people can find that the process of adapting to another culture can defeat them. I have seen very capable and dedicated people such as doctors and other professionals find that learning a new language can be too hard, and learning to understand the way of the people in their new culture is so difficult it's like trying to eat with chopsticks wearing gardening gloves.

What makes a person succeed in working in another culture? Is there a secret ingredient which makes it more likely for a person to become truly comfortable living in a culture which they did not grow up in? We recently had a session with the psychologist who debriefs our workers who return after some years living and ministering in a foreign country. Her observation was that those who had a sense of "play" about living in another culture were more likely to have a positive outlook. In other words they were able to retain a sense of humour and "fun" in their experiences even on occasions that for someone else might be hurtful or extremely embarrassing. Some people take themselves too seriously and feel that their mistakes prove that they can't adjust. Those who do well can laugh at themselves and try again.

While this might not seem to be a very "spiritual" way of assessing someone's suitability for cross-cultural service, it is worth thinking about. Often when we interview candidates we are looking for people who have a serious long-term commitment. When we screen people we look for a sense of "call" to test someone's commitment to overseas work and being able to persevere in the language and culture learning. Even if they last many years in ministry, this may not guarantee success if they have not made any friends or gained the respect of the local community that they are working in. The worker who is able to laugh at herself, learn from her mistakes, apologize and not take herself too seriously is more likely to be able to succeed in terms of building relationships with people from other cultures.

It is all about how we react to the circumstances around us. Adjusting to another culture will often leave us feeling confused, bewildered and even humiliated. Learning to speak another language as an adult means having to return to being like a child in expressing even the most simple concepts. I clearly remember my own embarrassment when I behaved or said something silly in a Thai social situation that make our Thai friends laugh out lo Crossing Over Well ud, or even offended. It certainly helped if we could laugh at our own clumsiness. If we are able to be gentle with ourselves, laugh at our own mistakes and apologise when needed then it makes the cross-cultural journey so much easier.

Sent from Evernote

Gospel and Culture

One of our Appointees gave a talk in a church about his plan to go to Thailand as a missionary the other week. One in the audience was not happy: “You are destroying people’s culture when you go as a missionary! They have their own ways and Westerners should not interfere with their way of life!” This is a criticism that we need to have an answer for.

It is interesting to think about how the Bible sees culture. Some people like to think that tribal cultures are better because the people live in innocence. Others think that our Western culture is built on Judeo-Christian values and is therefore superior. When I see how Jesus was appalled at the way that Jewish leaders had twisted God’s law for their own selfish purposes it makes me think differently. Children were able to ignore helping their parents, and religion had become an instrument for selfish gain rather than humble obedience to God’s rule (Matthew 15:1-9). Even among God’s own people there were some serious issues of justice and inequality. It is clear that every culture has aspects that do not honour God.

All cultures have been twisted by the sin and selfishness of man. All cultures need the influence of godly and loving followers of Jesus to show how there is a new way of life that transcends the laws of man.

Last month I was travelling in Thailand with three bible college lecturers. We sat down for a conversation with a Bangkok pastor and his wife that we have known for many years. She talked about the influence of a godly American missionary who had taught her to speak truthfully to her children, rather than threaten them as Thai parents are prone to do. It made us realise that foreign missionaries are very much appreciated and can be good models for local people who want to follow Jesus. Rather than destroying culture and traditions, missionaries can be salt and light in communicating the love of Jesus. Followers of Jesus will transform culture and show us a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Grace, mercy and truth are qualities that transcend culture and can speak more powerfully than any language.

Western Individuality in Mission

I talk to many young adults who are preparing for overseas cross-cultural service. Many of them have a specific skill which they would like to use to serve God, such as IT, or teaching, or some social development work. It is great to see their passion for God. A trend that I have noticed is that many of them desire to go quite independently and have no real desire to join up with a mission agency. Some of them have already spent time in their target country learning language and don't really feel a strong need to join up with an agency with all the extra costs and procedures that they would have to go through. After all, why not just go and let God take care of the rest? Belonging to an agency can sometimes seem very restrictive. Sometimes their churches are happy to support them and give them official endorsement, although I have had phone calls from pastors who are concerned at the lack of accountability and transparency in sending them with out an organization caring for them.

Anna was a young lady who traveled to South East Asia and ended up working in an orphanage there. She was good at language and quickly learned to speak to the children, and made a valuable contribution to the work of the orphanage. After working there for three years she returned home to her church in order to raise support to return to the orphanage for another three years. Her pastor had been a overseas missionary and advised her that she would need to find a mission agency before the church would make a formal pledge to support her financially and in prayer. Anna was very upset that the church would place these kinds of conditions on her when she had already proven herself in the ministry and had a strong desire to go back to the orphanage in the next few months. When she talked to a few mission agencies she found out that the total budget that she would have to raise was much bigger than she would need to live and eat. It would also take almost a year to apply and even longer if she did not get enough pledges of financial support. It just seemed so unfair and unnecessary to have to go through the rigmarole of applying to the agency, raising more funds than she needed and even then there was no guarantee that they would place her in the orphanage where she
wanted to work.

I have to say that I am really happy to see the entrepreneurial spirit of people who are willing to risk all for Jesus and attempt a new venture in a foreign culture. At the same time I'm worried about the outcomes of young Western men and women going "alone" without the endorsement of a credible agency. For a start it is a very Western way of going about things in such an independent fashion. I know that in an Asian culture it seems very strange for someone to start their own project without having the proper networks in place to succeed. A young person will usually be very much a part of their group of friends and is very influenced by their family in what they do and how they go about it. So to see a Western man or woman coming along without "belonging" anywhere can be a real hindrance because they don't really "fit". It can be hard to find a proper place in the community without having a network to fit into. Of course some will succeed, but it will often take a lot longer without having others in place who can introduce you to the right people and commend you to the work that you are going to do. In patriarchal societies that we often find in Asian, have these referrals can be invaluable. When I taught English to Theological students their first question was what agency I belonged to. When I told them, they clapped their hands with delight because they knew that all the workers with our agency were able to speak their language well. I had instant credibility because of the organisation I belonged to, and I was invited to do this ministry because of it.

One of the chief dangers of "going alone" is lack of accountability. I appreciate the many times that older missionaries in my organization have pointed out to me how I could have done things differently or looked at things in another way. When I slouched in a meeting showing how bored I was an older brother came and pointed out that it was not an appropriate way to sit in that culture. If you are part of an organisation then this kind of correction is bound to happen, because what you do affects the credibility and the effectiveness of everyone else. If I am alone I don't have access to good models of ministry, and training to do things well in the same way. We may find people who will be willing to help us, but they may not be willing to risk the relationship by telling us that we have offended someone or that what we are doing is culturally inappropriate. While Anna may have been a good language learner in her own eyes, there may have been areas where her language or manner may have come across as inadequate, inappropriate or even impolite. Because the people she was working with looked up to her, they were not going to give her any of this feedback, which would feed her own illusion that she was doing well when in reality there were some issues in her language and manners that she really needed to work on. This lack of accountability can have some terrible consequences in leading to unresolved conflict and tension and can make the cross-cultural worker feeling betrayed or blind-sided when it blows up. Having older, more experienced workers who give feedback and direction when needed can help to diffuse conflict and tension before they get out of hand. 

In extreme cases, independent Christian workers can feel that they are not accountable to anyone, not even God. In one case there was a conflict in an orphanage where it had become obvious that the male leader had been sexually abusing some of the children. Because he was independent and in charge of the project, none of the employees were willing to make a statement against him because they would have lost their jobs and were not willing to implicate their boss. The leader refused to leave. There was no organization to step in and take appropriate action to have him removed, and the churches that were sending him money from his home country had no idea what was going on.

Maybe we need to have a more collective approach to the way that we do mission? Having a very individualistic attitude in going as a Christian worker to another country can have unforeseen consequences. There is a reason why agencies have a much longer life than the individuals that belong to them, and we need to recognize the importance of belonging to a credible agency that can introduce us to and show us the way in a new culture.

Changing Technology Changing Us

Technology is changing our lives rapidly. Who would have thought a few years ago that missionaries in far away places would be able to communicate in real time through Facebook, videos  and free phone calls. These ways of communicating are taken for granted by our newer members and many of them would not be able to imagine a time when easy and instant communication was not possible. At the moment  in our organisation we are in the process of moving toward communicating with our  audience by email and Internet  as much as possible. This means phasing out postal communications where we can save costs and time. 
 

There is increasing evidence that this age of internet connectivity is not just changing the way that we communicate, but it is also changing us. Researchers are saying that even the brains of young people are wired differently as a result of being constantly immersed in the visual imagery of the Internet rather than the text based information that previous generations used to communicate new ideas. This means that the way that we challenge a new generation into mission has to take this into account. Social media, short videos and stories will become an important part of that communication.

This new technology also brings risks, as we are enthralled and titillated by new ways of sharing information, images and ideas. Missionaries are at increased risk of being drawn in by the lure of pornography, which could ruin their ministry and their personal lives. Some others spend too much time talking to people at home at the expense of being effective in their cross-cultural work. There is also the danger of becoming distracted by the constant barrage of text messages, Facebook updates, emails, Twitter feeds, so that we never really focus on getting anything significant done in our daily work. We have to be careful that our use of communications technology does not become an idol that will become more important to us than Jesus and sharing his love with the people that we meet. While our smartphones and screens can greatly enhance our communication, they cannot replace face-to-face interaction with people on a regular basis (at least not yet!)

So much of our communication is self centred, so we need to evaluate what and how we share in line with God's word on the matter. 1 John 2:16 reminds that "all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life- is not from the Father but is from the world". It would be great if we can remember that in our communication.

Doing God's Work in His Way

One of Hudson Taylor’s famous quotes is that “God’s work, done in God’s way shall never lack God’s supply”.  Our organisation is what is commonly known as a “faith-based” organisation which means that we trust in God to supply all our needs. This includes our personnel. In the last two years we have been able to find more than 10 new people to fill key full-time positions in Australia as well as other people to manage the transitions during handover periods. This does not include the 35 or so people that we have sent long-term to Asia in that time. I thank God that he has supplied all these people to meet our needs! We have a great team and I value each one of them.

However, I sometimes find it exhausting thinking ahead and trying to fill all the roles that we need people for. At times I get anxious and wonder how on earth we are going to find faithful, available and teachable people who are passionate about cross-cultural mission. Many of them need to raise their own financial support, because we don’t have outside sources of income to pay for OMF Australia personnel. Many churches are reluctant to support people who don’t go overseas. Our only income is from donations towards OMF work.

As well as doing the role of recruiter and Executive Director, I am also the Personnel Manager for our 28 OMF workers all over Australia and over 100 adult workers (+children!) on our fields that are coming and going ever more frequently. This means regular reviews and meetings to coordinate our efforts in caring for our workers and mobilising prayer and people for reaching East Asian people. At the moment I am not able to keep up with all of the demands of this role, and I hope to hand over some of that to someone else this year.

On Friday I was re-appointed by the National Council and OMF IHQ in Singapore to another 4 years in my current role. I’m looking forward to implementing some initiatives involving volunteers in the work of OMF over the coming year. There are also some exciting possibilities of partnering with some denominational mission agencies that I would like to follow through on.