Living faithful, fruitful and fulfilled on the mission field
I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon on holiness. In some ways, the move away from hellfire and brimstone preaching has been so important. We don’t want to coerce people to put their trust in Jesus because we’ve scared them to death! …
It’s Christmas Eve here in Thailand. The sun is about to rise. I’m drinking my morning coffee and gazing at the candle glowing on my living room table. The lights on the Christmas tree flicker. Soon I’ll begin baking and cooking, preparing a special meal …
I lay awake at night thinking about some big bills, yet unpaid. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was overwhelmed by worry about money. There was a tightening in my stomach and a feeling of stress as I pondered. How would we pay …
“Change will be a constant,” the speaker said. My mind knew what he said was true, but my heart rebelled. “I don’t like change!” a voice screamed inside my head. Our missionary lives are filled with disruption. It is the reality we face as Christian …
I’ve always hated fish. Since I was a little girl, it was the one thing I really didn’t like to eat. My mom would serve it, but it remained on my plate. This wasn’t much of a problem until God called us to a people group that ate fish several times a day! Little fish, big fish, pickled fish, curried fish…fish, fish, fish! Arghh! What was I going to do? I knew God had called me to love this unreached group. Would they feel I loved them if I hated their favorite food? Loving people cross-culturally means learning to love the things they love.
I needed God’s help. I prayed, “God, you have to change my taste buds! Give me a love for fish. I am willing, but you have to do this. I can’t make myself like it.” I did my part and God did His. Within a few weeks, to my amazement, when I ate fish with my new friends it tasted okay. A few weeks later, I surprised myself by asking for a second helping when served fish curry. It tasted delicious!
Some cultural adjustments are easier to make than others. For me, fish was hard. I needed a miracle. Other times, it’s a more simple choice to enter into the culture where we serve. We choose to do uncomfortable things to enter their world and context. Jesus did this for us when He came to earth as a human. He ate our food, wore our clothes, suffered the same difficulties we do, and showed us a God of love. Evangelism starts with love.
People are 100 times more likely to listen to your message if they feel like you love them.
People are 100 times more likely to listen to your message if they feel like you love them. Think about it. Do you listen more to the people you know like you? Don’t you tend to discard the input of those you know who don’t enjoy being around you very much?
When we enter a culture intentionally, people interpret that as love. As we love the things they love, they open their hearts to us. It is much easier to influence people who know you love them than those who feel you are there to change them.
In practice, how do we love our neighbors from other cultures?
There are so many ways to show love. Just make sure that you are speaking their “love language” rather than your own!
You might be saying, “I’m not musical! I can’t even play an instrument from my own culture.” It’s the heart that counts, more than becoming an expert. Many cultures have simple instruments as well as more difficult ones. Find someone who knows how to play and ask them to give you some lessons. You don’t need to spend a lot of money. Start with a simple flute or drum.
It can be a form of cultural imperialism when we import our own music. We bring in guitars, electric pianos, and Western instruments. It says to them, “My music is superior to yours.” Valuing the cultural music of their land is the same as valuing them.
You may eventually end up using a combination of Western and local instruments in worship. But an interest in their instruments speaks of your love for their culture and ways. You’d be surprised how many bridges this builds into homes and hearts!
While it might be easier for me to bake brownies and give them to my Thai neighbor, that isn’t her love language. But if I make a traditional Thai dessert of bananas in coconut milk and give her that, she will feel much more loved!
Many local foods are not that hard to make. But don’t learn from a cookbook or recipe online! You build wonderful relationships with people as you ask them to teach you. It’s fun too! Even if you aren’t a good cook, people get excited that you like their food enough to want to make it yourself.
Again, the emphasis here isn’t on becoming an expert. It is wonderful if you can reach a stage of amazing fluency and have a perfect accent. It takes a lot of hard work and years of effort to get there though. Be patient with yourself if language learning is hard, but get started. Even being able to say a few words of greeting opens hearts.
There are many different ways to go about learning a language. Each person needs to choose the approach that works for them in their particular context. You may learn with a total immersion approach, or you may work at it a bite at a time. The important thing is to get started and be consistent in your efforts. Download my free resource at the end of this blog. Choose the language learning approach that is best for you!
You need the local language to communicate the gospel and make disciples. You also need it to communicate love!
Find out how the people in your new culture play. What do they do for fun? Where do they relax? How do they celebrate?
Join them in these things. Take part in a local football (soccer) club. Learn their easiest cultural dance. Walk in the early morning when they do. Hunt and fish with them (using their methods and tools). When we show up in the community and play in local ways with local people, they feel you have become a part of them. The likelihood that they will listen to your message increases exponentially.
Here’s an example of an easy Thai dance I learned a few years ago! And I’m not a dancer! If I can do it, you surely can too!
Many missionaries are afraid to take part in local festivals. This is due to the religious nature of these events. Don’t be afraid, be curious. Be a learner. Go along with your friends and ask questions. Observe. Try to understand what the festivals mean to them. Sometimes what you read in a book or online is different from the common meaning. If you read about Easter and its definition, you’d get one understanding. Join an American family observing that holiday, and your insights would be different.
If there are things you don’t feel comfortable doing, politely decline. Say, “I’m still learning and understanding. I’ll just watch this time.” They won’t be offended and will feel happy about your interest in them and their lives. You can participate with the community, without joining in the worship parts of most events.
Take a step forward toward loving people cross-culturally this week. Do one new thing to show love to those around you by loving what they love. What is that one step you will take? I’d love to hear about it in the comments or on the Missionary Life Facebook group. Post a picture there. Show us how you are loving people cross-culturally in your situation. Your step forward will inspire others!
Missionary teams go through hard seasons. Disagreements, leadership crises, or a high turnover of staff can leave everyone feeling insecure. Or, you might experience a major traumatic event that shakes everyone’s foundations. Another difficulty can be when there is a lack of focus or momentum. …
There is nothing like learning a new language to make you feel like a total idiot! It’s humbling. Sometimes it’s humiliating. For months and even years- it can feel like forever- you speak at the level of a two or three-year-old child. Then, after much …
Balance. This word is important but over-used. It’s not balance we need. We need wisdom to live in the tension of seemingly opposite values with equal importance. This is a skill effective leaders develop. How can you be both good at completing tasks and also very relational? Great leaders are.
As a Westerner, I’m from an individualistic culture. If you are from the Global South (Asia, Africa, Latin America) you are from a more community-oriented worldview.
Fruitful missionaries learn to be reliable in completing tasks, and also are loving in the way they interact with people. Too often we use culture or personality as an excuse. Instead, we must become skilled in both task completion and relationships.
My friend Suzy* is from Malaysia. She is a business minded person and quite task oriented. I can count on her to get things done and often have to remind her to rest. At the same time, I feel like she cares about me. She takes time when we meet to ask how I am doing before jumping into business. Often, I get a text from her asking how I am, or about a personal or family issue.
This makes me feel loved. I know our friendship is not only about work. She knows the names of my kids. I know hers too.
What does friendship do to our working relationship? It makes it far easier. Our relationship is the oil that makes the ministry machine work. When there is conflict or misunderstanding, it is not hard to pick up a phone and call.
“Hey, Suzy. How are you doing? How is Timothy recovering from his car accident?” After catching up personally, it is easy to say, “Can I talk to you about what you said in the meeting yesterday? I felt a little confused by the tone in your voice when you said…”
It’s not worth debating which is more important, task or relationship. The answer is both. Without relationships, our tasks are empty. Without tasks, we spin around in circles and little progress is made.
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
Luke 9:51 NIV.
The above verse is a clear example of Jesus’ focus on the task. His job was to go to the cross and redeem mankind. He determined not to be distracted from His overarching purpose. Yet, He always made time for people. When a blind man cried out, He stopped and healed. Children felt free to climb up on His lap.
Take time for people. Pause. Breathe. Listen. Observe. The projects only have value if they serve and develop people.
Love, for many, is expressed through giving quality time to them. If you say you love your spouse but don’t take time to listen to her share about her day, you aren’t doing a very good job of demonstrating your love. The same goes for your disciples. Do you make time to listen?
The Bible commands us to be faithful. Faithfulness is shown by our reliability in doing what we say we will do. Does your yes mean yes? Reliable stewards will be given more authority and responsibility by God (Luke 19 parable).
If you are so busy relating to people that you never have time to take action, you will disappoint. Yourself, others, and even God will soon realize that you only talk, but don’t do what you talk about. Make time for the doing as well as the talking about doing.
Many of us preachers, teachers, and writers are good at speaking about Kingdom work. We need to stop talking about it and start doing it! Are you making disciples personally? Reaching out to lost people? Spending time in intercession?
You can’t balance doing and being. Nor can you hold tasks and relationships in balance. These are both/and values. We live in the healthy push and pull of life and keep both as important values.
Jesus was very relational and also completed the tasks God gave Him. Would you pray this prayer with me?
O Christ, when I look at you, I see that you were never in a hurry, never ran, but always had time for the pressing necessities of the day. Give me that disciplined, poised life, with time for the thing that matters. Amen. – by E. Stanley Jones
Which do you struggle with task completion or making time for relationships?
Share in the comments below or on the Missionary Life Facebook group.
*Not her real name.
In our day, we frequently hear the words inclusion, diversity, and equality. Should missionary teams also be like that? Were Jesus and Paul ahead of their times in developing diverse, multi-ethnic, teams made up of both genders? Much of what we see in the world …