Beyond Cannibal Jokes: Teaching Missions in Sunday School

Many Sunday Schools do a great job of teaching missions. Evidence of success is seen throughout the whole church. Children are excited about a coming missions’ conference. Dozens of high-schoolers have had short-term experience serving in another culture. Almost 50% of the church budget is designated for missions. Every year three or four young people or families from the church are commissioned for service with missions. Church members remember to pray daily for missionaries.
A church with a vital interest in world missions will be a church with vitality in other ways. People with a personal interest in missionaries pray for current events in the world. It is also likely that their eyes are opened to the needs of people in their local community. Many churches seek out an international community near them. A strong interest in missions not only makes a difference in the world, it also makes a difference in the local church.
But when a Sunday school fails to teach missions, the whole church will suffer. Even a concerned pastor has little to reinforce his preaching about missions and must beg the congregation to attend the missions’ conference. Very few youth seem interested in being missionaries. Adult Sunday Schools become inward-looking and don’t want their activities to be interrupted by an unfashionable missionary. Mission giving declines each year. World missions is neglected as the church slides into lukewarmness.
Two problems will result if the Sunday School fails to stimulate world Christians and the church has no vision for the world.
First, the cause of Christ around the world will suffer. Missionaries will become less effective because of weak prayer support. Fewer missionaries will be sent, and less money will be given to build and strengthen the church around the world. What a tragedy! Over half of the world or more than two billion people have not clearly heard the good news. There are tremendous needs in discipleship and leadership development in many world communities. Jesus’ last words to his disciples was a command to be world Christians. What a crime if the Sunday School rejects Jesus’ command.
Second, the church will become self-centered and lukewarm. A church without a vision for the world will also be a church without a vision for the needs in the local community, and believers will stagnate in their own spiritual growth. Ministry opportunities revitalize and strengthen Christians. Supporting missionaries is not a burden. Missionaries supported by the church with prayer and finances are doing that church a favor! No church, no matter how small or how poor can afford to have a feeble missions’ emphasis in Sunday School.

The Challenge
It isn’t easy to cultivate a dynamic concern for world missions. Many families are so overwhelmed with their own problems that they can’t even begin to think of the needs of the rest of the world. Churches have so much debt from their own building programs that they don’t think they can afford sacrificial giving for the needs of the world.
It’s not easy to get the Sunday school concerned about the needs of the world. Many people feel uneasy watching the evening news vividly portray dozens crises around the world. The rest of the world seems to be an enemy. Foreigners smuggle drugs, take our citizens hostage, cause our banks to collapse by defaulting on loans, and produce unemployment through cheap imports. During a discussion on missions in a Sunday School class, one discouraged adult blurted out, “The world is crawling with foreigners!” Is it any wonder that missionaries on furlough are encouraged to entertain Sunday School classes with cannibal jokes and snake stories rather than challenge people to be world Christians.
Most people see their family and friends as the comfortable center with a hostile world all around them. But Jesus died for the whole world! It is sinful to be “ethnocentric”, believing that Jesus loves only me, my friends and my country. While it is difficult for people to see the world from God’s perspective one goal for teaching missions in the Sunday school must be to broaden our perspective. People who see the world from God’s perspective become world Christians.

The Next Step
Catching a vision for the Sunday School and the whole world is the first step. The next step involves prayer and planning for the Sunday School. Perhaps teachers could meet on a Saturday morning to discuss Sunday School and missions.
Begin with a time of prayer for the world and for the Sunday School. Challenge each other with the importance of having God’s perspective of the world. Some may read Scripture telling of God’s care for the nations. Others may tell of how the Lord helped them overcome ethnocentrism. Before the Sunday School can produce world Christians, the teachers themselves must have God’s heart for the world. No missions curriculum, no matter how good, will stimulate people for missions if the teacher is half-hearted.
Next, brainstorm ways to motivate an interest in missions for each age group. Here are some beginning suggestions.

Preschool
Some child psychologists claim that all children are creative geniuses until they go to school. Imagination is never more vivid than in preschoolers. The child has a profound intuitive grasp of the immediate world. While children may not be able to explain complex concepts such as evangelism, they can feel and express joy from hearing good news. It is easy for imaginative four-year-olds to picture a God who is everywhere at the same time. Literalistic ten-year-olds have more difficulty trying to explain God’s omnipresence. Preschool is a crucial time to begin missions’ education.
Missions education must be concrete. Avoid the symbolism of challenging preschoolers to be fishers of men. Delightful five-year-olds will take you literally and pretend to throw fishhooks into people’s mouths. Preschoolers have a difficulty thinking about time and numbers. To say that William Cary lived a long time ago may seem like a week ago to a five year old. To say that a billion people live in China is almost meaningless.
The heart of world missions is a loving God who wants to be our friend. Preschoolers can learn about the personal love of God. Children can draw pictures of doing loving things for others, make get-well cards for a sick child, pantomime how Jesus loved the children, or make up a story of a child who did loving things for other people. The beginning of missions’ education is the truth that “Jesus loves me” and “Jesus loves all the children of the world.”
Another crucial missions’ concept is that God is creator of everything in the world. “God made me! God made my mommy and daddy. He made the beautiful flowers and the children I play with.” As children begin to joyfully associate the God of creation with their beautiful world it will be easier to teach that God made all the people in the world, including foreigners.
Invite missionaries and missionary children to the Sunday School class. Children may learn more from the smiles, hugs and tone of voice of missionary visitors to class than they will from their stories. Informal teaching is crucial.

Elementary
I decided to be a missionary when I was in fourth grade. I saw a film about a missionary in China working with children who had leprosy. It struck me for the first time that God loves people who are not like me. Elementary school years may be the most important years for teaching missions in Sunday School.
Elementary children have experienced tremendous intellectual growth but are still not able to understand abstract concepts fully . They have potential for an empathetic understanding of people in other cultures, but may be confused with the idea that Jesus is the light of the world. The fourth grade boys in my Sunday School class had seen an object lesson about a flashlight that needed batteries before it would work and how this was a lesson of us needing Jesus in us before we can be a light to others. When I asked them to explain it, they mimicked Popeye the Sailor Man swallowing batteries before witnessing to friends.
Even though elementary children are literalistic, they are beginning to understand concepts of space and time. True stories of missionaries or heroic national Christians are powerful. Introducing children to real missionaries and missionary children is important. They are able to empathize with the needs of people outside of their home or school setting.
When one of our high-school students planned to make a missions trip to Latin America, I asked her to come into my junior boys’ class. She told about how she wanted to help the people in one village to have clean water and to hear about Jesus. She said she wanted to play soccer with the children in that village. The boys in my class got so excited about her missionary trip that they began to get extra jobs so they could have more money to put in the Sunday School offering. The guys made me write a note for the Sunday School superintendent saying that all the money was contributed by the boys and not by the teacher! They prayed for her every Sunday. When she returned, she didn’t have time to make a presentation in my class. All she could do was answer questions. At least two graduates of that Sunday School class are actively planning to be missionaries.
Elementary children are being exposed to a wide world. The Sunday School teacher can give the children assignments to more intentionally explore this wider world. Refugee families with children moved into our community. I asked the boys in my Sunday School class to become friends with a child in their school who was different from them. One of the boys came to Sunday School the next Sunday shocked to discover that a boy from Cambodia had never heard about Jesus. He became a cross-cultural missionary in the fourth grade.

Junior High and High School
Junior high and high school are the “best of times and the worst of times” to teach about missions. Youth are beginning to think realistically about specific decisions for their lives. Teenagers think more clearly about the purpose for living. This is a crucial time to emphasize missions.
Once I realized that God wanted me to be a missionary, I knew I had to make some decisions about courses I should take in high school, girls I should or should not date, and about the kind of college I should attend. I figured that I needed to learn to eat all kinds of food. The possibility of missions’ involvement motivated me to be a Boy Scout and to learn camping and boating skills. (I used these skills later as a summer missionary in the jungle of Peru.) I listened intently to anything that anyone had to say about missions. As a high school student I took a summer job working in the fields with Mexican immigrant farm workers. These were some of my first friends from another culture. I was deeply impressed with how much they helped me to learn Spanish and to hoe beans. They were my friends and teachers.
But adolescence can also be a difficult time to learn about missions. Peer pressure and self-consciousness become more intense. Temptations to be inward-looking and self-centered are greater than ever.
Sunday Schools can be a bridge between what teenagers are learning in school about the world and God’s perspective of the world. As students are required to read Time or Newsweek in a high-school course, the Sunday School class can pray through the magazines and follow the development of the church in those countries.
Much could be written about short-term missions projects for high-school students. Such experiences if rightly done can provide an earthshaking experience for youth. One high school student from our church went on a short missions trip to help with a building project in a poor country. When he returned and reported to my junior boys class he was obviously overwhelmed by his experiences. He was so emotionally moved by the poverty he had seen that he could hardly get the words out. This teenager will never be the same. He wants desperately to be a missionary.
When missionaries come to talk to a teen Sunday School class they should tell the specific steps needed in planning to be a missionary. Most of the time could be spent answering questions teens have about missions.

Adult
If adults are apathetic toward missions the rest of the church will soon become indifferent. Adults can set the tone for the rest of the church. Missions should be more than an elective in the adult Sunday School. Adults often become so overwhelmed with family and financial needs that they stop thinking about the needs of the rest of the world. They become so preoccupied with paying bills and rent or mortgage that the challenge of sacrificial giving for missions is seen as a threat.
Only a few adults in most churches are genuinely concerned about missions. Few see the world from God’s perspective. It might be good to do an informal survey of adults in the church to get their opinions about missions. What hang-ups do they have about missions and the church around the world? What responsibility do they think we have for others in the world? The missions program should then be built on these questions.
Bible studies can include the study of God’s plan for the world. Small groups can be challenged to pray for the church around the world. Many adult Sunday School classes have adopted an international student or a refugee family. One adult Sunday School class used their summer vacation to go with their families to a needy area of the United States to work and witness. Adult Sunday School classes can strategize about how to resolve tensions between evangelism and social action. They can make recommendations about the church budget and about communicating with church-supported missionaries.
What could be more exciting! If the Sunday School can become revitalized through a deeper understanding of God’s love for the world, the whole church will be renewed. If the church is renewed, the world will be different--in fact all of eternity will be different.

Local Church and Mission Agency - Working Together

Look in on this email conversation between the mission pastor of New Life Church (NLC) and the director of a mission agency called Bread Company to the World (BCW).

To: Director, Bread Company to the World
From: Mission Pastor, New Life Church
Subject: Appreciation

I’m writing to thank you for the good interaction we’ve had with Bread Company to the World Mission about our missionaries Joe and Sally Kuhl. Our church here used to think that you were out to beg for money and steal our best people. We also thought mission agencies like yours were bogged down with needless overhead. So we decided to cut out the “middle man” and send our missionaries directly to the field. Boy, did we get in trouble! We had to hire extra staff here at NLC to handle training, shipping, visas, overseas banking and dozens of details we never thought of before. We didn’t have a clue how to provide schooling for the Kuhl children or language study for the parents. We couldn’t provide field administration, accountability or pastoral care. When the Kuhls arrived they weren’t part of a team and struggled to develop personal relationships with the national church. And guess what? They ended up using a lot of the services that mission agencies had put in place. We’ve learned to appreciate you folks at BCW and understand now why there has to be some administrative overhead.

To: Mission Pastor, New Life Church
From: Director, Bread Company to the World
Subject: Re: Appreciation

Well, thanks! I’m afraid that we mission agencies have been at fault for not working closely enough with churches like NLC. I’m so sorry that we didn’t learn to listen to each other sooner. We used to accept candidates even if they didn’t have strong references from their churches. When missionaries hit difficult times, we tried to help them but failed to communicate with their church. I’m so glad we now insist that each candidate has a home church, and we’ve learned to pay careful attention to your references. We also gained a lot of valuable input when our mission leaders spent a day with you and other pastors to listen to your vision for outreach. Our role is to help you fulfill the missionary vision God has given you for your church. I’ll send you a copy of our “end-of-term” evaluation with Joe and Sally Kuhl. We listed several areas where we need your advice on how to help them prepare for their second term with BCW.

The partnership between churches and mission agencies has not always been harmonious. At times churches have charged mission agencies with taking their people and funds while allowing little opportunity for local church ownership. Individual churches sometimes set up their own sending agencies only to discover the inefficiency of providing services and accountability.

I’m delighted at the growing cooperation between mission-focused churches and mission agencies. Mission organizations have been listening to sending churches, and sending churches have grown in their appreciation of the unique help of sending agencies. We need each other.

Throughout history sending churches and mission agencies have been wonderfully used of God to plant and nurture churches in every country of the world. The Bible illustrates the distinct but complementary role of church and mission. Mission agencies fulfill the traveling prophetic and apostolic role and churches carry out the local priestly and elder function. Prophets and apostles are sent out; priests and elders are called to local evangelism and nurture. The local church and mission agency form an interdependent bond, each needing the other and both included in the Church, the worldwide Body of Christ.

While harmony is growing, we could do more to strengthen the partnership and accomplish Christ’s worldwide commission.

Suggestions for Mission Agencies

* Collaborate closely with sending churches in the selection and placement of missionary candidates.
* Expect candidates from para-church backgrounds to take part in the life of a local church before sending them to another culture
* Ensure that missionaries communicate regularly with their sending churches and relate closely with the pastor and missions committee.
* Keep churches up-to-date on special issues as they arise, or from end-of-term evaluations.
* Create forums for listening to the vision of pastors and missions committees. Then find innovative ways to help them fulfill their vision.
* Suggest mission resources, sermon ideas and curriculum for pastors, missions committees, small-group leaders and Sunday School teachers.
* Expect missionaries to invest time with their churches while on home assignment, realizing that missionaries have a responsibility both to plant churches in another culture and to be a blessing to their sending church.

Suggestions for Sending Churches

* Teach God’s plan for the nations in every facet of the church, including the pulpit, Sunday School and small groups.
* Challenge church members with cross-cultural ministries, coming along side them to select a ministry, mission agency and location.
* Support home staff missionaries who amplify the effectiveness of field missionaries.
* Give freedom to the field ministry. Even mission agencies must allow flexibility in strategy for their field teams.
* Partner with the mission agency in the ministry of healing for missionaries who face burnout, frustration and depression.
* Expect regular interaction and prayer requests from those you send.
* Assign missionaries to Sunday School classes and home groups for consistent prayer and communication.
* Draw the whole congregation into prayer for missionaries. World missions is the joyful privilege of every Christian, not just those serving in another culture
* Honor missionaries on home assignment and those returning from short-term trips with opportunities to stimulate missions and enthuse the church with God’s plan for the world. Too often missionaries come home from life-changing experiences with no occasion to communicate their passion.

The Body of Christ includes both the church and the mission agency. When the two join together in harmony, the local church is richly blessed and together they become a powerful tool for influencing the world.

Strategic Stumbling About In Search of Surprises

Precise long range planning isn’t difficult. It’s impossible!

We often talk about the need for a gracious and humble revolution in mission leadership, but we are vague about precise objectives. I suggest that powerful leaders must have a compelling vision, but they seldom are sure of precise outcomes. They recognize success when they see it, but aren’t sure what it will look like ahead of time.

Many books by management experts proclaim that the first thing a person needs is a measurable goal. They say “If you don’t know where you are going, you may end up some place else.” Some management consultants teach the need for precise long-range goals, divided into short-range goals and then put on a time chart They say you can not plan unless you have predictable goals. But leaders disagree. They say if you have precise, predictable goals you are aiming at something of secondary importance. Peter Drucker writes: “the non-profit organization exists to bring about a change in individuals and in society.”[1]

1. The most important goal is to glorify God and help others come to Christ and progress in their pilgrimage toward Christlikeness. Such goals are imprecise and will not be fully accomplished this side of the Jordan River. It is impossible to predict how much progress pilgrims will make in the next few weeks or few years. But when we see growth toward maturity we will recognize it and rejoice. We cannot predict where the path will lead, but we know where it will end.

2. The means for facilitating Christlikeness are also out of our control. We are involved in a spiritual struggle with forces not made of flesh and blood. The best teacher plays only a minor role in the process of Christian maturity. Spiritual growth comes only by the grace of God, not by precise methods. We need to be committed to the methods God uses to bring us to himself.

Tom Peters, famous for the book In Search of Excellence, writes in a recent article:

"Plans? Goals? Yes, I admit that I plan and set goals. After I’ve accomplished something, I declare it to have been my goal all along. One must keep up appearances: In our society “having goals” and “making plans” are two of the most important pretenses. Unfortunately, they are dangerous pretenses -- which repeatedly cause us to delay immersion in the real world of happy surprises, unhappy detours, and unexpected byways.
Meanwhile, the laurels keep going to those mildly purposeful stumblers who hang out, try stuff with reckless abandon-- and occasionally bump into something big and bountiful, often barely related to the initial pursuit.”[2]

Too often, business-oriented management theory dominates Christian views of leadership. According to management theory, leaders need specific, measurable goals. “If we aim at nothing specific, we’ll hit it every time.” Or, “what gets measured gets done.” But precise goals are alien for pilgrims who are facing unpredictable dangers on the road. There are too many precarious experiences along the path. Pilgrims must have a strong sense of direction and destination, but they are not specifically sure where the path will lead in the near future. Leaders who get bogged down with measurable, short-term objectives often miss unfolding opportunities that arise around them. By definition measurable and predictable goals are not eternal! We are headed to a heavenly city. We are concerned with the inner character development of pilgrims. We are fighting for the souls of people. The most important things in life and in eternity are not measurable: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17).

Yet pilgrim leaders don’t lack vision. Effective leaders must have an obsession for the glory of God and a passionate love for other people. They have a picture of how eternity can be different because of God's influence through them. They have a strategic vision for eternal goals and they know how to respond to the opportunities unfolding around them in light of that vision. Christians may achieve excellence as managers and administrators and yet damage pilgrims. Good management can be a useful tool, but management should never be confused with leadership. Pilgrim leaders are people with a passionate love for God who use their spiritual gifts for developing other pilgrims.

Pilgrim leaders are also concerned to stir up a clearer sense of vision in other pilgrims. They study God’s vision as explained in the Map of the Word. Their focus in not on short-term activity, such as “covering” a certain amount of material, but on the long-term development of people for the glory of God (pp. 71,71).[3]

Pilgrim missionaries who are deeply committed to promoting the development of people for the glory of God are not afraid to stumble about. But the stumbling is not random or irrational -- but purposeful. We need to plan with much common sense and clearly focus on a vision. But for some reason, God intended life to be unpredictable -- at least from our perspective. We long to be in control of results. But while God gives us a significant task, he does not allow us to be in control of our own lives or want us to control the lives of other people. And yet our stumbling is not aimless or purposeless. We stumble about led by the unseen hand of a loving Father who delights in giving us joyful surprises.

“Since future victory is sure, be strong and steady, always abounding in the LORD’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted.” 1 Cor 15: 58

[1] Drucker, P.F. (1990). Managing the non-profit organization. NY: HarperCollins.
[2] Peters, T. (Feb. 1991) in The Bookstore Journal.
[3] Plueddemann, J.E. & Plueddemann, C.E. (1990). Pilgrims in progress. Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers.

The Silent Famine

In my travels throughout Africa I have seen corn stalks parched in the dry ground while starving people wait for rain. I was overcome with grief. The famine was ugly.

Yet another kind of famine may be even more dangerous; a silent famine. Most people are too distracted to care about this kind of famine. A few struggling people see the great need and are willing to give their lives to prevent this famine. But little money is available and few volunteers are willing to help. Relief organizations ignore this famine. The famine I fear most is described in Amos 8:11.

The days are coming
declared the Sovereign LORD,
when I will send a famine through the land -
not a famine of food
or a thirst for water
but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

The Church in many parts of the world is large and growing, yet ominous clouds are on the horizon. Bible-believing Christianity is facing a time of crisis. Liberal Christianity challenges the authoritative foundations of Scripture and promotes a universalism which undercuts the urgency of evangelism. Fanatical Islam threatens to disrupt political stability encouraging politicians to see religion as a social evil which could upset national stability. Militant Hinduism seeks to legislate against orthodox Bible teaching. Secular postmodern values are sneaking into Bible-believing churches.

Meanwhile the evangelical church is searching for theological leadership: pastors who are able to struggle with local needs in light of well thought out evangelical theology. Local believers are wrestling with anti-biblical beliefs and practices while much local leadership is not able to give thoughtful biblical help.

The greatest need in the world-wide church is to prevent spiritual famine. The development of spiritually minded, theologically grounded pastors, professors and missionaries is a most urgent task. Evangelism, church planting, church growth, discipleship, and nurture are all dependent on this critical task.

The greatest need in the world-wide Church today is for theologically sound Bible teachers who are skilled at applying the solutions of the word of God to the critical needs of the world. Why is it that so many evangelical Bible Colleges, Christian Liberal-Arts Colleges and Seminaries are facing urgent financial needs while hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent on important but temporal physical needs? Imagine what might happen if Bible-believing Christians would catch the vision for supporting theological education the with the same passion with which they support tsunami, hurricane and famine relief? Picture student enrollment trends in theological schools if Christians would be as motivated as passionately by spiritual needs as we are about physical needs. Yes, it is good to be deeply concerned about meeting physical needs, but may the Lord stir up a fresh fervency for the eternal needs of the silent spiritual famine.

In Praise of Long-Term Missionaries

Jim & Carol Plueddemann
><>
In the last ten years, we have made repeated visits to 56 different countries. Our minds often reflect on the heroes we’ve met – highly effective long-term missionaries. We stand in awe of these enduring servants of the Lord who not only survive but thrive in the most challenging circumstances.
We appreciate their effectiveness, singles and families who have taken years to become fluent in a language, have learned to enjoy cultural differences, and have taken time to build the trust that takes decades to grow. Because of their long endurance they have been richly used of the Lord to make a powerful impact on the Kingdom through evangelism, healing the sick and planting vibrant churches.
We appreciate their long-term sacrifice. They have given up well-paying jobs to live in countries where they will never quite feel at home. Some live where they are targets of terrorists and armed robbery. Others live in the most polluted cities of the world, where malaria and AIDS are rampant. Part of the sacrifice is not being home for Christmas, birthdays and family reunions.
Yes, we understand the importance of short-term missions. Both of us had positive and influential experiences as short-term missionaries. Jim spent three months with Wycliffe in Peru, which confirmed his desire to serve long-term in missions and Carol grew up as a missionary kid in Ecuador and then spent a summer while in college with her parents, working with them with HCJB radio and church planting. Our two children have also had life-changing short-term encounters working with SIM. Our daughter Shari taught English to Somali refugees in the Chicago area, and Danny spent six months living with a Bolivian family. We thank the Lord for our excellent short-term experiences.
While short-term experiences provide valuable insights for the missionaries, and often provide important services on the field, the majority of the most critical tasks are best done by missionaries who take the time to learn the culture, learn the language and build lasting friendships. Bible translation demands years of study, friendship-building, teaching as well as translating. Cross-cultural seminary teaching requires not only academic qualifications, but a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of pastors. Mentoring local leaders is best done by people who have earned respect of lasting friendships. There is a critical need for many more long-term missionaries.
While we appreciate short-term missionaries, we wonder the ratio is balanced? It’s estimated that each year about a million short-term missionaries travel from the United States to serve cross-culturally. Compare this to about fifty thousand long term missionaries sent out from churches in the United States. We wonder if U.S. churches should be sending 5% of their missionaries as long-termers while sending 95% as short termers. Many long-term candidates become discourage and drop out because of the difficulties of raising support. Yes, we see the value of short-term missionaries but why are we sending so few who are willing and qualified to serve long-term?

Here are some suggestions

><> ><> ><>
* Those who have had short-term experiences – Ask the Lord to show you if your experiences should be a stimulus for long-term service.
* When you return from a short-term trip, work hard to communicate your experiences to the church. We realize that many of you have had life-changing experiences and few in your church seem to care.
* If, after a short-term missions experience, the Lord definitely leads you to stay home, pray fervently for missionaries, and be an example of someone who is willing to sacrifice financially to support long-term missionaries.
* If you are considering a short-term missions trip ask the Lord to touch your heart with the opportunities of long-term service.
* Church mission committees, we encourage you to make the support of long-term missionaries the backbone of your missions program. We realize that short-term missions might seem more “glitzy” but your first obligation is not to provide interesting experiences for members of the church, but ask yourself “how can our church make the most difference in the worldwide Kingdom of God?
* Long-term missionaries, hang in there. Yes, you are sacrificing much but your effectiveness for the Kingdom can grow every year you are on the field. No reward in the whole world can begin to match the commendation from Jesus “well done, good and faithful servant.”

Requiem Grace

By Carol Plueddemann

Music is one of the most significant “means of grace” in my life. I enjoy a whole variety of music—hymns, country, contemporary, Black gospel, jazz and all varieties of ethnic expression. I’m no expert when it comes to classical music, but Brahms’ Requiem has become one of my favorite pieces. Each year during Easter week, I listen to this celebration of those who have died in Christ. I give it my full attention, following along with the score and the English translation of the German text.

Why this Requiem? I first sang this piece with the Jos Community Choir when we served as missionaries with SIM in Nigeria. We weren’t a polished group, but we sang from our hearts. Though still in my twenties, I had begun to experience the sorrows of death in the loss of our close friends Len Dyck and Elsbeth Christensen. Later I sang this work with the Wheaton Choral Union on the first-year anniversary of my father’s death. Unlike other requiems, the text of Brahms’ Requiem is all Scripture.

The piece begins slowly with a somber melody: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall have comfort and soon moves to the glad reminder that Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then an ominous pounding of drums announces, Behold all flesh is as the grass. The grass withers and the flower decays. In contrast, The Word of the Lord endureth forevermore. Here the music becomes bright, solid and hopeful and transitions to the joyful parade of the redeemed as they come to Zion. Joy and gladness, these shall be their portion. Pain and sighing shall flee.

As I turn the pages of my score, I see margin notes pencilled in during the many rehearsals I attended. I smile as I note that these musical reminders are also appropriate life challenges: Watch! Sustain—don’t fade. Don’t rush. Support—breathe! Sing sweetly.

Lord, make me to know the measure of my days on earth—to consider my frailty—that I must perish…Now, Lord, O, what do I wait for? My hope is in Thee. And then the sweet music of the well-known piece How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs for the courts of the Lord. My soul and body cry out for the living God. These words from Psalm 84 resonate with my longings for our true Home. The subject and counter-subject weave a glorious blend as They praise thy name evermore.

The fifth movement is written in memory of Brahms’ mother. I will comfort you as one whom his own mother comforts. The soaring, sorrowful soprano solo is among the loveliest music composed by mortals. I remember listening to this piece with Gail Pauls in Chile. We both agreed that it is almost too exquisite to bear and truly makes one homesick for heaven where we will experience music in brand new dimensions.

Here on earth we have no continuing place. The music is foreboding at this point but becomes brighter as pilgrims are assured Howbeit, we seek one to come. And then, Lo, I unfold unto you a mystery… (Brahms’ music here rivals any mystery soundtrack.) We shall not all sleep—We shall all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the sound of a trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. (in-cor-RUPT-ible!) For death shall be swallowed in victory! (Can you hear the blast of the trumpets?) Death—where is thy sting? Grave—where is thy triumph?

Now the music explodes in a glorious chorale: Lord, Thou art worthy to be praised! And then a confident, calm affirmation: Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. They rest from their labors and their works follow after them.

Those who live and die in the Lord have eternal significance. Though their earthly lives are like grass, they will be raised—incorruptible-- to praise God forever. Brahms’ Requiem is a foretaste of that praise.

Revitalizing Leadership: The Story of A Conductorless Orchestra

The 12 hour flight from Dhaka to London challenged me to reconsider my theology of purgatory. In spite of the tiredness, boredom and cramped seats I began to reflect on our time in India and Bangladesh. The more I pondered the more I realized the amazing goodness of God. Carol and I had visited India six years ago when morale was at an all-time low. Our team strategy seemed to be withdrawal with dignity. When I asked about a five year plan one joked, “The last person leaving, turn the lights out.”
What a difference this time. Now, India is our fastest growing field. The team is working in partnership with over a dozen groups and moving ahead with innovative even audacious strategies. Our spiritual life conference ended with a time of worship on the beach watching the sunset over the Arabian Sea. Our hearts were filled to overflowing as we sang “Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nations.” We ended our time with fireworks, a bonfire and watched the excited young people swirl around the beach with sparklers.
How can a dying, visionless field be revitalized? It is God from first to last, but how does God do it? In India God used our new director Dr. Aletta. She became deeply disturbed that we were declining just at a time when God was beginning to do a new work in India. She traveled around the world powerfully challenging each of our sending offices, in fact almost giving them an old-fashioned guilt-trip for their neglect of India. Soon a small but talented team of new workers built up in India. Aletta didn’t become a visionary dictator, but worked as a team-player with a growing group of possibility-thinking young people. This group worked together on a vision statement that reflected a real gleams in their eyes, then they together initiated some of the most innovative strategies in our 100 year history. Aletta is a medical doctor, but she recruited talented business people, visionary planners, linguists, computer experts and other medical people. The whole team shared innovative leadership working together to fulfill the vision. No one person had all the gifts needed to revitalize the work in India, but God used the whole Body of spiritually gifted people to create opportunities and generate excitement. The India team is facing discouragements and huge challenges, but they are moving ahead with prayerful vision.
On long sardine-can flights I often take a book, something I should be reading but never seem to find time. I read the book, Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World’s Only Conductorless Orchestra the story of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra by Harvey Seifter and Peter Economy. The book tells of a small group of people who are passionately dedicated to a vision of excellence, have learned how to listen to each other, share leadership and depend on the creativity of individual members. What a delightful difference from the two extremes of domineering leadership that squelches initiative, and the demoralizing leaderless style that encourages everybody-do-what-is-right-in-your-own-eyes.
I wonder if an important part of the solution to the problem of lethargy in the work of the Kingdom is the need for a gracious revolution in the theology and practice of leadership? What would leadership look like if we radically understood the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and the doctrine of spiritual gifts in the Body?

(Leadership Ensemble: Lessons in Collaborative Management from the World’s Only Conductorless Orchestra the story of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra by Harvey Seifter and Peter Economy)

Memo from Hell

From: The Evil One
To: The Demonic Army
Subject: Strategy Report: Is Jesus Really The Only Way?

Good news, comrades! There are more non-Christians in the world today ever before. We have more than 4 billion people firmly in our demonic camp.

The bad news is that there are more people who call themselves Christians than ever before. Fortunately, the vast majority of these people are half-hearted, carnal Christians. Lukewarm Christians don’t hurt us too much. In fact, they might help us by embarrassing the King.

But we have to be careful. If Bible-believing churches really catch a world-wide passion for reaching the lost and for strengthening lukewarm Christians, we will be in serious trouble. Churches have way more power to change the world than they could ever dream.

Now, here is our strategy. Don’t challenge Christians directly. Be subtle. Remember our approach with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Don’t tell them that God is a liar. Just nudge them to doubt by asking questions. In a sincere tone of voice ask them, “Do you really think that Jesus is the only way to God?”

You have done a good job to spread a spirit of relativism. It really isn’t polite these days to claim that Jesus is the only way to God. This helps our cause enormously.

If Christians doubt that Jesus is the only way to God, their urgency for world missions will be seriously dulled. Doubting the uniqueness of Jesus as Savior is the delightful slippery slope that will lead to glorious victory for our evil armies.

If Christians doubt that Jesus is the only way to God, interest in world missions will be reduced to a fashionable activity with no passion. Churches will send missionary candidates who are merely looking for a cross-cultural adventure. There will be little sense of sacrifice in such missionaries. They will only volunteer for locations with a good climate and the best MK schools. They won’t go to countries where we have our greatest strongholds.

If churches begin to doubt that Jesus is the only way to God, they will go through the motions of missions but will spend more and more of their money on their own local programs. Prayer for missionaries will be dignified, but no one will weep for the lost.

Keep these churches away from crucial Bible verses, especially, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). If they do read verses like this, make sure they don’t connect them with a map of the world.

Be careful! If churches realize the importance of their task and how much power they have. . . if Christians realize their potential for Jesus to change the world, we will be doomed.

Revival, One Missionary At A Time, One Day At A Time

We often think of revival as an emotional experience in church, at a youth camp or a religious retreat. While I praise the Lord and pray for church-related revivals the ideal revival is the daily searching our souls for anything that would hinder our daily fellowship and apprenticeship with Jesus.

We can fool each other and we often fool ourselves about the state of our souls. But God is constantly searching our hearts and knows our thoughts. Our loving Father urges us to test our hearts and examine our motives.

More than 200 years ago members of the John Wesley’s Holy Club asked themselves these questions every day in their private devotions. Picture the potential world-wide impact if every Bible-believing missionary would daily re-attune our hearts to the living and loving Father? How can we be effective missionaries of the Gospel if our hearts are not right with God?

This is not a threatening activity, but a soothing exercise of the soul. I invite you to join me in daily prayer for the refreshing of our souls as we prayerfully search out hearts with these 21 questions.

Twenty One Questions
By John Wesley

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me every day?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else of my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. How do I spend my spare time?
17. Am I proud?
18. Do I thank God that I am not as other people?
19. Is there anyone I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so what am I doing about it?
20. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
21. Is Christ real to me?

The Quandary of Missionary Leadership

Missionaries are people who are not afraid to take bold risks. They often march to a different drummer, and have an entrepreneurial spirit. Missionaries are a delightful yet peculiar people. When it comes to leadership they face a quandary:

* Individualistic missionaries are often called to work under the direction of missionaries or nationals with widely different views of leadership.
* Missionaries may be called to lead multi-cultural teams of fellow missionaries and nationals who have radically different expectations of leadership.
* Missionaries teach in pastoral training institutions in cultures with dissimilar ideas about the leadership role of the pastor.
* The dominant worldwide assumption is that leaders have the responsibility and power to control people. The North American corporate CEO, the South American caudillo, the Asian Confucian elder brother, the Middle-Eastern paternalistic father-figure or the traditional African chief, all fit the model of leadership as power.
* Missionaries in a post-modern culture react against a domineering view of leadership, feeling called to “do their own thing.” They see leadership as a service function with little or no authority.

The Quandary

So here is the quandary. Many post-modern missionaries have a passive view of leadership, while the rest of the world assumes that leadership is power. Yet today’s missionaries are expected to work under leaders and to train leaders in cultures with different hidden assumptions of leadership.

A Possible Solution

Leadership is a spiritual gift mentioned in Romans 12:8, but footnotes show that the word might mean to “provide for others” or to “give aid.” The list of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:28 uses the word “administration” in some translations, but in others it is translated “guidance” or “those who can get others to work together.” Here is a tentative definition: Good leadership is the spiritual gift of harmonizing, enhancing and focusing the spiritual gifts of others toward a common vision of the Kingdom of God. This definition assumes neither “leader as controller” or “leader as cheerleader.” The model takes the task of the Kingdom seriously and assumes that the leader will be proactive and take initiative, while also being an encourager and a developer of people.

I’m hopeful that this model of leadership will allow missionaries to be more effective in multi-cultural settings.
* It brings out the best of the controller and the encourager models while overcoming the weaknesses of both.
* It allows missionaries to be proactive, to take initiative and to keep focused on the vision, while working under people with diverse leadership styles.
* It has the potential of being a bridge between the dominant modern view of leadership as power and the post-modern passive view of leadership.
* It provides a starting point and a goal for developing leaders in other cultures.

Few things in life are more rewarding than working with missionaries and church leaders of other cultures. I pray that the Lord will continue to show us how to harmonize and enhance the spiritual gifts He has given believers in every culture so that we may be used to fulfill a vision of His worldwide Kingdom.

Are Lost Sheep Unreached or Unevangelized?

* Once upon a time, long ago, in a distant land, a shepherd made a paradigm shift. He decided that it was not cost effective to go wandering around at night in dangerous places during a storm just to look for one lost sheep. How much was just one sheep worth compared with the hourly wages of the shepherd? He decided that precision, efficiency and predictability were more important than meandering around in the night calling out for just one lost sheep that had already heard the call many times. He decided it would be a much better use of funds if he would allocate his resources to locating lots of sheep who had never heard the call of the shepherd. He thought, "if a lost sheep clearly hears my call one time and doesn’t come, it’s time to move on to other potential lost sheep." The new paradigm would cost a lot less per sheep. “Fewer dollars per lamb” was the new slogan.
* Since the emerging paradigm demanded precision, he met with an international committee of itinerant shepherds to precisely define unreached and unevangelized. Maybe the unevangelized sheep were those who had never heard the call of the shepherd, and unreached are sheep who heard the call, but have not yet arrived back in the sheep fold. Since sheep tend to move in flocks they could proudly proclaim that an area had been fully reached when 20% of the lost sheep were safely in the fold. With this wonderful paradigm, billions of sheep could now be classified as evangelized and reached while every single one of them is still lost and outside the fold.
* The parable could go on and on, but maybe the crucial problem is not the definition of evangelized or unreached, but the deeper problem of an innapropriate paradigm shift. The Good Shepherd doesn’t count the cost of finding a lost sheep and is not motivated by a cult of efficiency, but is passionately in love with lost lambs.

Why Christian Love Muslims

Christians must love Muslims because God loves Muslims. Because of His great love, the Lord God Almighty has commissioned Christians to share wonderful good news with the whole world.

Out of love we share this good news and invite Muslims to become followers of God and His Living Word.

1. All people are invited to love God and submit to him all their hearts.
2. Christians are disciples of the living Word of God, Kalman Allah, Jesus Christ.
3. We seek to obey the written word of God, the Holy Bible.
4. The Bible tells us that God created the every human being in the whole world. He created us so that we would worship and love the true God. But all people rejected Him and rebelled against His love.
5. God has given the whole world wonderful Good News. He loved us so much that He came in the person of Jesus to die in our place, for our sins so we can be forgiven, adopted into His family and live with him forever.
6. The Spirit of God gives His disciples the power to live holy lives. People who live holy lives will love God, love all people and influence society for good.
7. The Bible commands all of Jesus' disciples to go into all the world and share the Good News with all nations. Missionaries can’t make converts, only God brings people to Himself.
8. God longs for all people to know Him but has given freedom to accept or reject His free gift of eternal life through forgiveness of sins. God will not force himself on anyone.
9. Missionaries share the Good News with humility and respect. We do not coerce or trick people into believing the Good News. We love Muslims and want to share the Good News without pride, committed to the dignity of all people.
10. Because we love God and love Muslims, we warmly invite Muslims to accept God’s love and forgiveness. We invite you learn more about the Word of God by reading The Gospel of John in the Holy Bible.

Interview With God

http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html

The Membership Club

Once upon a time there was a wonderful club. It was called The Membership Club. The only purpose for its existence was to gain more members. Here is a sample of the Constitution.

Aims:
1. Get more members, so as to get more members, so as to get more members, etc.
2. Establish new members in branch clubs which will be self-governing, self supporting and self-propagating.

Activities:
1. Study books on “Club Growth.”
2. Mobilize every member for a continuous “Total Mobilization Membership Movement” (TMMM).

Club Motto: “Joined to Reproduce.”
Once in a while a crisis would arise. There would be a problem member in the club. One such member had the nerve to raise his hand in a meeting and ask:
“Why should I be a member of this club?”
The answer quickly came from the members in unison:
“You are “Joined to Reproduce’.”
“Yes, but why?” the rebel stammered.
“So that new members can be self-propagating,” sounded the chorus in an angry tone.
“Yes, but...why should we...?”
“Sit down.”
“Heresy.”
“Liberal,” shouted the angry mob.

Are we merely planting membership clubs?
After all, nothing is born merely to reproduce - except maybe weeds, and membership clubs.

We are born to sing praises to God, and then invite the whole world to join the choir. Numeric growth might be good, but ONLY if the growth is an outcome of a healthy missionary community of worshipping of pilgrims who are becoming like Christ. I suspect that external quantities are most often not a true reflection of inner qualities.

Stages of Emerging Missionary Activity

Emerging churches don’t immediately or automatically begin to send missionaries to the ends of the earth. A study of Scripture and church history suggests that the typical response of local churches is to look inward and neglect God’s call to be a light to the nations.

Acts 1:8 can be seen as a possible model for stage development in missionary activity. Using this model, Jerusalem evangelism might entail sharing the Gospel with family and friends. Judea evangelism might include witnessing to people of the same culture and language in nearby towns. Samaria missions might expand outreach to people of near but different cultures and languages. Ends of the earth missions take place outside of the country’s boundaries where missionaries would learn another language and culture.

Stage 0: Receiving the Gospel
When the gospel is first introduced to a people group, there may be a struggle to understand the message and when it is accepted, believers are often like new-born babes dependent on outside nurture. New-born Christians are naturally dependent on those who brought them the Gospel. There is nothing abnormal when new-born believers see themselves primarily as recipients of the Gospel. A problem arises when they fail to grow in the faith and neglect the commission Christ gave. In spite of the growing emphasis on missions from everywhere to everywhere, it is quite possible that the dominant attitude of many emerging churches is an unhealthy dependency and lack of missionary vision. Joel Simbitti, a missiologist in Tanzania, writes that “The greatest missionary problem of the church in Africa . . . is lack of mission-mindedness in response to the Great Commission” (Simbitti 2003). Could it be that the “cutting-edge” of mission strategy should be to challenge and assist emerging churches around the world to catch Gods’ vision for the world?

Stage 1: Sharing the Gospel Locally: Jerusalem Evangelism
When a people group comes to Christ there should normally be a healthy response of wanting to share the good news with family and friends. Often whole families are so eager about their new-found faith that they can’t help but tell aunts, uncles, classmates and neighbors. For example, the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church has grown to over 5,000 churches, not primarily through missionary influence, but through new believers enthusiastically sharing the good news locally.

Stage 2: Evangelizing near people groups: Judea Evangelism
When the Gospel is enthusiastically accepted by people in one town or village, the natural response is to share the good news within the people group. In rural areas, families from neighboring towns walk a long distance to attend church. Eventually a group of people decide they do not need to walk so far to attend church, so they begin a church in their own town. Stories of exploding church growth in Nigeria and Ethiopia show that the Gospel spreads from witness to near neighbors, to the multi-village markets, and through contacts with relatives in nearby towns. Such growth is usually spontaneous and seldom results from planning with demographic maps and a five-year plan.

Stage 3: Sending missionaries to cross-cultural people groups: Samaria Missions
A church that is grounded in the Bible and is obedient to the commands of Christ will have a passion to take the Gospel to neighbors who might have traditionally been enemies. For example, the Gourma church in Burkina Faso caught the vision of Christ’s commission and began to take the Gospel to the Fulani people, traditional rivals of the Gourma. The church in Ethiopia began sending “barefoot evangelists” to neighboring people groups who had been hostile to their people group. At times these missionaries were persecuted and even killed for their witness. But the word of the Lord continued to spread through well-taught believers, obedient to Scripture.

Stage 4: Sending missionaries to distant people groups: Ends of the earth missions
Possibly the most dramatic development in missions since Acts 2 is the expansion of world-wide, cross-cultural missions. No longer do Africans, Latins and Asians reach out only to people who speak their own language. The enlarged vision for cross-cultural ministry is a healthy and hopeful sign for worldwide missions.

Every mature believer needs to be involved in some way in all four of these spheres of ministry. If we are called to serve within our own culture, we need to be prayerfully involved in supporting cross-cultural ministries. A healthy church in any people group will have some level of ministry in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.”

Emerging Churches = Emerging Mission Agencies?

About 95% of the world’s people have a Bible or a New Testament 99% can understand the Jesus film and 99% can hear the Gospel through radio in a language they can understand (Johnstone and Mandryk 2001). As peoples from every corner of the world hear and respond to God’s plan of salvation, they are also hearing and responding to Christ’s admonition, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:2). Each of the 500 Bible translations contain Christ’s command to make disciples in all nations and to be witnesses in their own Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. It is no surprise that as the Church emerges around the world, missionary activity also emerges. When emerging churches are taught to obey everything Jesus commanded, they also obey his command to make disciples in all nations. Mission activity should naturally emerge from obedient emerging churches.

I'm Tired of Paradigm Shifts

Twenty years ago few people heard of a "paradigm shift." For the longest time I though it was “the movement of two dimes.” But now every fad is called a paradigm shift. I suspect there have only been a half dozen true paradigm shifts since the beginning of the world in August 4004 BC. The coming of Christ was a massive paradigm shift. The Copernican Revolution was a paradigm shift. The return of Christ will be a paradigm shift. But I suspect that trends like generation X and postmodernism are merely temporary fads or variations on old and reoccurring themes. Why is it that so many so called paradigm shifts are only found among white, upper-class, college students in the Western world? I suspect that if people had invented the term they would have called mini-skirts, bell-bottom trousers and the Edsel, paradigm shifts.

I’m bothered by the use of the term paradigm shift in missions. People are saying that the sending of long-term missionaries is an old paradigm, while the newer paradigms are short-term missions, supporting nationals and church-to-church partnerships. All four models have been around since Acts chapter 2. My hunch is that while all these trends are potentially useful, the last three are techniques limited to white, wealthy Western churches. While these may be useful strategies for 5% of the Christians of the world, they certainly aren’t paradigm shifts. The paradigm that shouldn’t change, is local churches sending missionaries who, over the long term, build personal relationships, develop trust and become incarnated into the language and culture of the people to which they minister. I doubt if this paradigm will shift until the return of Christ.

Thoughts on Christian Missions

The Web Log will the thoughts of a missionary and professor of missions. I will comment on some of the trends in world missions in light of the Bible and experience. I am committed to the Bible, God's word and will try to evaluate some of the developments in world missions.

We live in the most exciting era of Christian missions. Not only has the church of Jesus Christ expanded into every country of the world, but the newly formed churches are reading the Bibles translated into their own language, and discovering the commands of Jesus to make disciples in all nations.