Living faithful, fruitful and fulfilled on the mission field
A week ago today, my mother-in-law, Sylvia Anderson, went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As you approach middle age, you know your parents will not live forever. That doesn’t make it any easier when the time comes for them to go. …
“I don’t have connections and contacts with people I could raise support from. I don’t know any __________________.” Fill in the blank. Some would say I don’t know pastors. Others would say I don’t know many foreigners. Some would say all my friends are fellow …
“Jesus is not looking for converts to Christianity; he’s looking for apprentices in the Kingdom of God,” writes John Mark Comer in his book Practicing the Way. This book is a refreshing and insightful encouragement to 1) Be with Jesus, 2) Become like Him, and 3) Do as he did. These three things are in essence what it means to be a disciple.
In the book, he exposes a serious issue facing the Church today. “From at least World War II on, in many circles, the gospel was preached in such a way that a person could become a Christian without becoming an apprentice of Jesus.” We have preached a gospel that says, you are a sinner. God loves you. Jesus died on the cross for you. Believe in him and you will go to heaven. This is all true, but it’s an incomplete gospel. It fails to call people to become disciples of Jesus, taking up their cross and following Him.
Practicing the Way of Jesus involves three things, writes the author…
In being with Jesus, we are to learn to practice His presence, acknowledging that He is with us, and learning to become conscious of Him. Contemplative prayer is not about talking. It’s more about silence, solitude, and listening. It is not seeking to get something from God. It’s simply gazing at His beauty and enjoying being with Him.
To be with Jesus, and become like Jesus, takes time, says Comer. Quoting Rich Villodas, he writes, “Our souls were not created for the kind of speed to which we have grown accustomed.” How do we create more space to be with Him?
It’s not about doing more, it’s about doing less.
“Love is the acid test of spiritual formation,” writes the author. “The most important question to ask as you consider your spiritual growth is, am I becoming more loving?” Do those closest to me notice that I am more loving than I was?
Comer shares with honesty and vulnerability about his challenges in practicing the way of Jesus. In talking about doing what Jesus did, he identifies three key areas we need to grow in.
Making space for the gospel has to do with offering hospitality to strangers, and opening our table for conversations about God. Addressing the Western aversion to “preaching the gospel,” Comer offers both hope and inspiration. “The question is not, Are you preaching the gospel? It is, What gospel are you preaching?” he writes. “Everyone is preaching a gospel.” We talk about what we love.
Comparing it to how much we talk about things like; intermittent fasting, keto diets, politics, or other things, John Mark challenges us to talk about Jesus more freely.
He then writes about the demonstration of the gospel. Jesus did this primarily through healing, deliverance, prophecy, and justice.
Lastly, Comer shares how to develop a rule of life as we strive to learn how to practice the way of Christ. “A rule of life is a schedule and set of practices and relational rhythms that create space for us to be with Jesus, become like him, and do as he did, as we live in alignment with our deepest desires. It’s a way of intentionally organizing our lives around what matters most: God.”
For some, this may sound rigid, but it is an ancient practice with great modern benefits.
Years ago, I wrote out a rule of life. This book has me wanting to set aside time to revisit this and create a new rule of life, together with a few others in my community.
I strongly recommend this book! Grab a copy today. I know you will benefit from it.
Do you have a Rule of Life? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Comment below or post on the Missionary Life Facebook group.
Looking to our own resources and abilities can be discouraging. The task seems so big. We seem small. When I was young, I thought I could take on the world. As I’ve grown older, life’s experiences have taught me how fallible I am. Apart from …
“Jesus can do anything,” we say. Except for when He can’t. “What? Are there things Jesus can’t do? Isn’t He the God of the impossible,” you might be thinking. Yes, there are some things He cannot do. And there are many things we cannot do. …
It’s been described in various ways. Sometimes it’s called a dark night of the soul. Sometimes it’s called burn-out or depression. Mid-life crisis is another name that is used. These are times when we seem caught in an unending period of transition. God is mostly silent. Our lives seem to have little purpose. Not in control, we search for it, but can’t seem to find a way to end these lonely, frustrating times. So, we wait, hoping that somehow, God will bring us out of them.
And He will. He always does…in His time.
Wilderness times are exceedingly difficult. The loss of control makes it seem like we have lost ourselves…or our way. This is not bad. It is good for our soul to be trained to rest in God alone.
Whether it is a “dark night” time in your life or an extended transition, don’t resist. Ask God for the grace to receive, even welcome, this time. Don’t fight the constant transitions our nomadic, missionary lives bring. Instead, in the uncertainty, lean in to receive all God has. As you do this, your life will yield fruit. One day, the transformation God brought in you through those difficult waiting times will have great impact.
Richard Rohr in his book, Everything Belongs, says it well. “We have to move out of ‘business as usual and remain on the ‘threshold’ (limen, in Latin) where we are betwixt and between. There the old world is left behind, but we’re not sure of the new one yet. That’s a good space. Get there often and stay there as long as you can by whatever means possible. It’s the realm where God can best get at us because we are out of the way. In sacred space, the old world is able to fall apart, and the new world is able to be revealed.” While I don’t agree with everything Richard Rohr says, this is a worthy statement.
Reading this, I was struck by the phrase, “it’s the realm where God can best get at us…” I want Him to be able to get to me, to be able to transform and change me. The only hope I have of becoming like Jesus is if He has access to my soul to shape and form it.
The pandemic brought many changes to both our world and individual lives. Almost everyone’s was affected in some way. One effect was the dramatic increase in learning to wait.
What a relief it is now that those things have come to pass!!!
My husband and I waited eleven months to return to our home in Thailand. One after another ticket has been changed or canceled, and visa options fell through. It was difficult. There was grief involved in the loss of the old times when things were easier. They were stressful times for everyone across the globe.
When we came to the USA in March of 2020, we had no idea we would be there eleven months. I admit. There were days I greatly longed for things to go back to “normal.” There were things about my 2019 life I missed greatly!
During the pandemic, each day I tried to embrace what God had for me that day. I told myself – “God is in control of my life, my future, and my transformation. His purposes are greater – far better than what I can imagine or achieve.”
When those feelings, that longing for the way it was, rose in my heart, I gave it to Him. Letting go of my desire to determine my own future, to be in charge of when the waiting would end. I whispered the words, “I trust You. Your purposes are good. Father, I want Your will not mine. I’m so glad You are in control. And I surrender.”
In response, He gave me the grace to embrace that time of waiting with joy. I received new manna for each day during the pandemic.
The pandemic is fading into the records of history and it’s challenges recede in our minds. We should be careful, though, not to lose the lessons it taught us. Other times of waiting and transition will come. Its part of life. What did we learn about waiting that can help us in what we face today? Or what we will face tomorrow?
Surrender and trust. God works all things for good. Live each day fully unto Him and not for progress or productivity. Find joy in submission and faith in His timing and purpose. Those are some of mine. They are lessons I want to hold on to. To carry into today’s waiting times.
And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
Ps. 39:7 ESV.
This is a good space. God has access to you in unique ways in the waiting periods when you are not in control of your life. We want to become like Him. Yet we resist.
Our brokenness is exposed to His healing touch.
Would you ask a heart surgeon to rush an operation? Of course not! God is deeply at work in our inner beings. Stay still and let Him do what is needed for as long as it takes.
The things God wants to release through you in the next season require a greater level of dependency on Him. We want to see greater fruit from our lives, but don’t like to let go of control. The more we let Him be in charge, the more powerfully He can use us. Choose to let God determine if you need to grow your trusting God muscles in this season, or your ministry skills.
We can trust Him because we know Him. His Word is true.
Isaiah 55:8 says, ““My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Say it out loud – right now. “Your thoughts are nothing like mine, Jesus. Your ways are far beyond what I can imagine!”
Do you believe that to be true? Sometimes we have to convince our souls to believe the truth!
In the waiting times, we remind ourselves of His promises. We meditate on His character.
“He is good. He is faithful. He has called me to bear much fruit,” we declare.
What has He personally promised you? Spoken to you about as far as your calling or destiny? Review and meditate on those things.
Remember who He is.
Times have changed but God has not.
Jesus endured many things in the desert. Temptation, hunger, attack from the enemy. Yet when He came out of the desert, His ministry began with great anointing. Having gone through those trials and overcome them, there was new strength.
In wilderness seasons, I’ve found my walk with Jesus grows sweeter…more intimate. It’s as if the chaff has been burned off, and my soul is purified afresh. The most powerfully transformative moments in my spiritual life have come from the deserts.
Receive the blessing. Watch for it. Wait, but not in hopelessness.
Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song when he grieved the loss of his daughter. He wrote,
“We have this hope as an anchor,
‘Cause we believe that everything God promised us is true, so…
We wait with hope,
And we ache with hope,
We hold on with hope,
We let go with hope.”
In the waiting of this season, how is God filling your heart with hope?
Let me know in the comments below or on the Missionary Life Facebook page.
Join me on an imagination exercise. Think of that day when you first see Jesus face to face. What an incredible moment that will be! Just gazing at His incredible beauty. My heart longs to see Him! I wonder, will He say to me – …
The last few weeks I’ve been falling in love again. It’s a wonderful feeling! Has my husband been extra romantic lately, you might be wondering? No, not really. I’m talking about my love affair with the Word of God. The Bible has been a foundation …
It is easy to get busy with life. Where do you buy cooking gas? In some countries, it can be quite a process. First, you need a special government-issued card, which you wait in line for hours to get. Then you have to find the particular shop where they sell it. That shop may be out of gas this week and send you to a different one in yet another unknown location. Google maps has no idea how to get there, nor do you! Your day is filled just meeting the basic needs of your family.
Sound familiar?
Staying focused on your mission can be challenging. Our families have needs that must be met. Children want friends, and so do we. Language learning slows us down from feeling we have much capacity for ministry.
This is hard but is not the greatest threat to fulfilling your God-given calling. What is? Let’s call it the missionary bubble. We need to recognize the bubble and break out of it.
Missiologist Donald McGavran wrote years back about the homogeneous unit principle. It’s somewhat controversial in church growth circles today for a few obvious reasons. It can seem a bit discriminatory at first glance. The principle contains some truth, however.
We humans like to be with others who are the same as us. We identify with those who share our culture and worldview. It is easier to be with these people and is more relaxed and comfortable than when interacting cross-culturally.
Because of this, missionaries tend to create “missionary bubbles.” Westerners create playgroups for their kids to get together and have fun. Koreans meet up with other Koreans to pray, share meals, and speak their own language. These are not wrong things to do. They can even be good for our emotional health and sustainability.
It becomes a danger, though, when we bond more closely with other foreigners in the country than we do with local people we want to reach. Or, when we spend the majority of our time with other missionaries rather than investing in relationships with nationals.
When we moved to India from Nepal, our children needed friends. The girls spoke decent basic Nepali already, but our son was only three. The city we moved to was multi-lingual. Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, English, and other languages were spoken. We decided to home-school our kids there.
Meeting the few other foreigners in our location, our kids were thrilled to have a chance to play with them. They didn’t have to worry about their toys being broken or stolen with these children. The language wasn’t an issue for them or me. It was fun to get together.
Looking for a church, we were a bit confused about what to do. Our kids didn’t speak Bangla or Hindi and we were still learning. Eventually, we found a church that had an English service where a handful of foreigners met. The missionary bubble at that time was small in our city, and fairly easy to avoid. There simply weren’t that many cross-cultural missionaries there. In many ways, it forced us to press into local relationships more.
Chaing Mai, where we now live, is different. There are thousands of foreigners living here! Our city has three or four English churches complete with a children’s program and youth group. This location has many international schools as well – filled with missionary kids. It is very easy to be absorbed into the missionary bubble here!
There are Bible studies to go to, kid’s events, tutorial groups, prayer meetings, playgroups…you name it. On top of that, most people also have their own mission meetings to attend. Without realizing it, our lives can grow full of events where we spend most of our time with other Christian foreigners.
We study the Thai language, and may chat with our neighbor or the taxi driver, but have few Thai relationships of depth and substance.
This is quite common here. No blame or condemnation intended. It’s the natural flow of things. Without resistance to this trend, it is just what happens. The missionary bubble is very good at sucking us in.
Your situation may be more like mine was in India, or more like mine now. Regardless, be aware of the natural tendency to drift into the missionary bubble (however small or big) and take steps to prevent its pull.
Language learning is an almost never-ending process. Like me, you may have starts and stops. Keep pressing forward. Step, by steady step. Eventually, if you don’t give up, you will learn to speak and understand. The main thing is to be consistent and keep moving forward.
Use what you do know whenever you can. Learn power phrases so you can ask questions like “How do I say _____________?”
Pause your busy life and do an assessment log for a few days. How many hours are you giving to doing what you came to do in missions? Where could you squeeze in more time for local relationships and language practice in the community?
Think synergy. Is there an event I currently do with other foreigners that I could do with local people? Could you give up a mission prayer meeting to attend one at a local church? Any other changes you’d like to try?
In my missionary life, I’ve seen that friendships are a blessed gift from God, whether foreign or national. Make them a matter of prayer. Ask God to bring people into your life through divine appointments. Be on the lookout for those people He is releasing, even those not yet believers.
Give time to local relationships. These are the people who will not move away when their term is over. They will guide you and help you adapt and navigate things in your host country.
May I give a small challenge here?
This is a hard one. As a mom and grandma, I get it. We want our kids to be happy. When they are uncomfortable, we are uncomfortable…even pained. Being uncomfortable never killed anyone. In fact, it can grow character in our lives.
In the long run, if you are planning to make missions a career in the nation you are in, your kids will do better if they push through. If they learn to adopt your host nation as their own, they will settle well. As they become comfortable in the language and cultural environment, they will thrive. If they do not, this will always be an issue for you. It could perhaps even cause you to return home prematurely.
Kids are super resilient. They can learn the language fast. Much faster than we do. Encourage them to have local friendships, help make that happen for them. Set up playdates not only with foreigners but with nationals. Go to the park and play football with the local kids and men in the evenings.
It may be uncomfortable at first, but the benefits are huge!
What will you do this next few weeks to break out of your missionary bubble?
Let me know in the comments below or drop a comment about it on the Missionary Life Facebook group.
Paul Akin, of the Gospel Coalition, writes this. “The most common reason missionaries go home isn’t due to lack of money, illness, terrorism, homesickness, or even a lack of fruit or response to the gospel. Regretfully, the number one reason is a conflict with other …