In Search of the Real Jesus

Letter to the Editor
U.S. News and World Report
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Re: In Search of the Real Jesus

Jesus bashing again! Why does U.S. News and World Report so predictably assault orthodox Christianity at Christmas and Easter? Out of the tens of thousands of theologians from around the world, you select a half dozen from the fringe who were condemned by the Apostle Paul as hollow and deceptive (Colossians 2:8). Gnosticism was most profoundly debunked, not by Athanasius but by the Apostle Paul.

Your cover story is analogous to writing a story entitled, “In Search of the Real Holocaust” while primarily interviewing Iranian clerics.

At Christmas, why not write about the vibrant growth of global orthodox Christianity?

Letter to the Editor
Jim Plueddemann
US News and World Report
letters@usnews.com
Tuesday, April 11, 2006

I get tired of the annual Easter Jesus bashing by second-rate scholars who can’t tell the difference between a novel and history. I too have a PhD and teach at reputable Divinity School. If I were to write an article on a theory that Jesus was made out of green cheese, I suspect that I would make your cover next year. Why do you report on pipedream theories of scholars who represent less than 1% of global Christianity? Surely you can do a better job of reporting on a person who has won the hearts of two billion people.

New Element Discovered - Administradium

My Dad was a research chemist. He is now with the Lord, but I have heard that Edwin P. Plueddemann continues his research from heaven. There is a heavenly rumor that he has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element know this far to science. The element, tentatively named Administradium, was discovered by Ed in heaven. It has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of zero. However, it does have 1 neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons, and 111 assistant vice neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together in the nucleus by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons.

Since it has no electrons, Administradium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction with which it comes in contact. According to the discoverers, a tiny amount of Administradium caused one reaction to take over 4 days to complete when it would normally occur in less than 1 second.

Administradium has a normal half-life of approximately 3 years. At this time it doesn't actually decay but instead undergoes reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons, and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually increases after each reorganization.

Researchers in other laboratories have indicated that Administradium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate in certain places such as universities, government agencies, large corporations, and school systems. The element is usually found only in the newest, best appointed and best-maintained buildings.

Scientists point out that Administradium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can destroy any productive reactions where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how Administradium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results are not promising.


Adapted from: http://www.crummy.com/warren/files/06/admin.txt

Children: Great Need—Great Potential

By Carol and Jim Plueddemann

In recent years many have awakened to the horrible realities of suffering children around the world. We weep for the abuse and exploitation millions of children face in today’s sick world of slavery, child labor, child soldiers, street children and prostitution rings.

In this reality, the story of Naaman and the young slave girl in 2 Kings 5 takes on new meaning. Imagine the horror this child survived when bands from Aram raided Israel and took children as slaves. She ended up in the house of Naaman, commander of Aram’s army. Who knows what life was like for this young girl snatched away from her family and living in a strange country? No doubt she was treated as a piece of property, abused and dehumanized.

But look what God did in this dark situation: the child slave pointed Commander Naaman to God Almighty! “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel,” Naaman confessed. The slave girl became one of the most influential missionaries in the Old Testament.

Children today represent both great need and great potential. We must cry out against the atrocities they face, but we can take comfort in our God, the Redeemer. He can change the most awful evil into good. A child can be a mighty asset in breaking open an entire culture to hear God’s voice.

Who knows how God might use the child slaves from southern Sudan who have been taken from their Christian families and sold into Islamic nations? God may penetrate dark cultures with his light, and perhaps children will be the key.

A young man at a missions conference told us, “I’d like to serve in missions, but I don’t have a lot of skills. I just work with children.” Just? Nothing is more important—or more demanding. It’s a huge challenge to learn how children develop and learn in order to help them understand spiritual truths in a life-changing way. Children’s ministries call for the best we can offer.

Here are three big reasons why missions should renew emphasis on children’s ministries:
1. Children are most often victims during times of turmoil. The needs of hurting children are greater than ever.
2. Children are often sensitive to Jesus’ tug on their lives and seem to see with unusual eyes of faith. A high percentage of believers decided to follow Christ as children.
3. As the story of Naaman shows, children make wonderful missionaries.

Let’s pray faithfully for children who are in perilous situations. Ask God to protect them and deliver them. Pray for those who are working to change unjust practices.

Pray, too, that children will be a means of blessing to the adults around them. Often children are more open to the gospel and then become the means of bringing adults to Christ.

Pray for missionaries who reach out to children through camping programs, street children’s ministries, feeding centers and Bible clubs. Encourage and support these efforts. Make sure that children’s ministries are honored for the important and strategic part they play in world missions.

Those who minister to children often lack the status of those working with adults. May God call and prepare many to minister to the world’s children. It is a high calling that demands the finest minds and most creative energies to reach these who have great needs and great potential.

Why Missionaries Care About The Unreached

Some people think that missionary-minded Christians are bigoted, narrow-minded and intolerant when we loudly sing, “Everybody Ought To Know Jesus.” Don’t the Bengali, Fulani and Quechua have their own religions? Why do they need to know Jesus? Yet missionaries have a passion to reach everyone with the wonderful good news about Jesus. If such thinking seems impolite in a “politically correct” environment, why do missionaries have a desire to reach the lost? Why do missionaries and supporting churches sacrifice much to reach out to unreached people groups in distant corners of the world? Here are a few reasons.
1. The God who created every bone and every cell in the Somali of East Africa, the Baluchi of Pakistan and the Guarani of Paraguay loves them, died for them and wants them to know and love Him.
2. The God of all creation commanded people who know and love Him to go and tell this good news with the whole world. Jesus commanded us to share the good news of how human beings can be fully human, how they can know God and get rid of hopeless futility caused by sin.
3. We have wonderful news that God wants to adopt us as His children from every tribe, language and nation The good news of Jesus is like a miracle medicine. He cures all the sadness and sickness of the world. The gospel medicine is free and there are no side-effects. Even if missionaries are misunderstood we must not withhold such wonderful good news.

We must not go with an attitude of superiority attempting to force a Western religion down the throats of unwilling people. We go as a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We sadly confess that at times missionaries have gone with an attitude of superiority.

What do we mean by the unreached? A person is unreached when he or she has never had a chance to hear the wonderful good news that Jesus died for our sins. Some people have heard the good news many times, but cultural or communication problems might make it difficult for them to understand and accept such wonderful news. Other people may think they are Christians but they believe in a false unbiblical kind of Christianity. We have a great desire to reach these individuals with the true answer to their deepest needs. The key question is not, “are the people unreached?” but do the people truly know and follow the Jesus of the Bible?

Another popular phrase these days is “unreached people group.” We define an unreached people as an ethno-linguistic or affinity group which does not have a viable, accessible witnessing church among them. We want to reach out to people so that they can come to Jesus and become a part of a community – a local church of their own. In addition, daughter churches are also reaching out to many other groups. Without our witness, some of these people have almost no chance of hearing of a God who loves them, who died for them, and wants them to live with Him forever. Our hearts go out in a special way to those who have never clearly heard.

When people are reached with the good news and they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they are like babies in their spiritual growth. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment include much more than reaching the unreached. We are commanded to make disciples in all nations, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. Discipleship must take place in a community of believers.

Missionaries have a great desire to reach those who are totally unreached with a message of hope and joy, to plead with those who have heard but have not accepted the message of forgiveness and love, and to nurture healthy churches for those who have accepted the message of abundant life.

Join us as we reach the Yao of Malawi, the Mapuche of Chile and the Hui of China with a new song of joy. Help us reach the world with an exuberant, fulfilling message of hope! Help us teach the world to sing a new song.

Should Missionaries Evangelize or Nurture Churches?

Follow this mythical dialogue between Joe Missionary and his Guru.

Guru: Young man, if God wants to mature an indigenous church, he'll do it without your help or mine. You must get on with the task of being a true missionary. Repent of your truncated church development syndrome. Missions is world evangelization, not national church development.

Joe: Sir, I know the local church in our area of Africa is self- governing, self-supporting, and growing rapidly. But the pastor is begging me to show him how he can disciple the elders in his church. Many parts of Africa are heavily churched, but spiritual maturity is often shallow.

Guru: Your attitude is very much out of date. You're showing advanced signs of the disease of ethnocentrism. First, it appears that you don't trust the national to be able to read his Bible and contextualize it for his own culture. You seem to be saying that if these believers don't follow the American pattern and don't use Western tunes in church, that they aren't growing Christians. Second, you don't trust the Holy Spirit. So you think that the Holy Spirit can only work through Americans?

Joe: Sir, you've made two points that I need to be careful about. I don't want to encourage the church to follow Western patterns, and I must trust the Holy Spirit. But am I not a part of the Body of Christ? Or does each homogeneous unit form its own Body? The Apostle Paul seemed to have a deep concern for the maturation process in the churches he planted. Paul spent most of his missionary career nurturing churches. Are you saying the apostle shouldn't have wasted his time or repeated visits and letter writing to the early churches once they become self-governing? One could use the argument of ethnocentrism against your concern in evangelism and church planting. Don't you trust the nationals to do this? Do you think the Holy Spirit can only use Americans to do cross-cultural evangelism?

Guru: Don't you believe in evangelism? In reaching the least reached?

Joe: Yes, I surely do. I understand the urgency to reach the unreached 2.5 billion. We both need to learn to work more closely with national Christians, and trust the Holy Spirit. But even if we would evangelize the whole world, our job is not finished.

Guru: Son, I can see that you don't know the history of missions. Traditional missionaries settled on a compound, started a dispensary, a school and sometimes a church. Then they spent their time building and administering institutions, while ignoring the thousands of nearby villages.

Joe: Yes, we missionaries have made mistakes. Yet with such a large church in our country, the missionaries must have done a few things right. To say that traditional missionaries did not evangelize is most inaccurate. But we also need to seek new approaches for encouraging the maturation of the church.

Guru: Joe, I know you're a dedicated missionary with a great academic future. But don't you realize that with your present attitudes you're out of step with the whole field of missiology? How can you measure spiritual maturity? We are most interested in quantifiable results. Your interest isn't academic. Son, if you want to get ahead in the field of missiology, get a degree or two with us, write a few articles, and get invited to a couple of world congresses. Soon, they'll be asking you to lead workshops. Forget about the maturation of the indigenous church. It's a dead-end-street, academically.

Joe: Well, sir, I surely appreciate your personal concern. I'm encouraged with the interest on reaching the unreached. But I sense that something's missing from the field of missiology. I look around me in Africa and see hundreds and thousands of churches, yet there are so few well-taught believers. The major emphasis of the New Testament writers seems to be the encouragement of believers toward maturity in Christ. Yet when I search in the field of missiology I see little of this New Testament emphasis.

I'm deeply concerned for the billions who are unreached. But if "being evangelized" results in thousands of weak and dying churches, then something is wrong somewhere. When I compare the church in Ephesis that Paul encouraged with the same church that John criticized in Revelation, I shudder to think of what could easily happen in Africa. The urgent need in the spiritual battle for Africa is to facilitate growth toward biblical maturity in the local churches. But when has anyone suggested a world congress on building up the body of Christ? Church revitalization must be the starting point for world evangelization. A large carnal church must be an embarrassment to the name of the Lord, but a vital maturing church will not only grow but will please the Lord. A vibrant national church will also have a passion for sending missionaries to the unreached.

Guru: Son, this discussion has been stimulating. But I'm sure you'll realize why we can't reserve a place for you in our school. We need students who are less dogmatic and more open to new ideas.

Should Missionaries Evangelize or Nurture Churches? Yes.

Adapted from the article by Jim Plueddemann “Church Maturity: Old Hat?” Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 1980, 19, 139-141.

Seven Missionary Lessons from my Dad

My Dad (Edwin P. Plueddemann) was a research scientist who had 100 patented inventions before he went to heaven. His discoveries are being used today in computer circuit boards, the space program and medical technology. While he was famous in the field of adhesives, his most powerful influence on me was through his life. Here are some of the most important missionary lessons I learned from my Dad.

1. Don’t complain when life is difficult. Dad grew up during the depression as one of nine children in the home of a poorly paid preacher. But in telling about his childhood, he only reminisced about the fun they had. Contentment characterized his whole life. When the doctor told him there was nothing more they could do to treat his cancer, he never complained. Rather than mope, he worked on improving his golf game and kept experimenting in the lab. What a lesson for missionaries!

2. Enjoy life to the fullest. Dad had a wonderful enthusiasm for life. When I was a child the children in our neighborhood often came to our door asking if Jimmy’s Dad could come out and play. Dad was constantly amazed that his company would give him a free chemistry set and pay him to play with chemicals all day.

3. Be curious about everything. As a scientist, Dad was curious about molecules, but he was also curious about the stock market, astronomy, world history, theology and politics. He taught himself German, Russian and Greek so he didn’t have to depend on others for translations. He never quit learning and even had a chemistry experiment going in the lab the night he died.

4. See all of life as Christian service. Dad felt that God had given him 24 hours a day. Ideally, he wanted to work for 8 hours, sleep for 8 hours, and be involved in Christian service for 8 hours. While he was a research scientist he also pastored a small church for a salary of $1.00 a year. In the lab he assumed God was peering over his shoulder to see if he could discover how the Creator had constructed molecules.

5. Debate ideas, not people. I learned as a child that people could disagree about ideas and still be good friends. If a conversation became dull, my Dad would stimulate debate by taking the opposite opinion. If he convinced folks with his ideas, he would switch sides again. I chuckled inside as I watched my Dad spice up the conversation with wild ideas.

6. Study the Bible with excitement. Nothing was more enjoyable for my Dad than Bible study. He spent many evenings in his easy chair reading the Bible and commentaries. He was known to stay up until 2:00 in the morning discussing the Bible with a small study group. Sermon preparation was one of the delights of his life.

7. Live for the next world. As cancer spread throughout his body and heart attacks destroyed his heart, the elders of the church came to pray for him. When they asked Dad how he would like them to pray, he replied, “Well I don’t expect to live much longer in this body, and I’ve lived longer than I thought I would. Just pray that I’ll keep rejoicing in the Lord.” As we sat around him with tears in our eyes, Dad talked about the questions he would soon ask Jesus, and he began to design heavenly three-dimensional golf courses. He knew he was leaving the world of the dying and going to the land of the living. Dad exuberantly enjoyed life, but longed for the place Jesus was preparing for him.

A joyful, creative, curious attitude is not something easily taught in College or Seminary. Dad’s missionary training helped me face many challenges in cross-cultural work.

I hope I’ll always keep an excitement both for this world and for the world that is coming.

Appropriate Sacrifice

Carol Plueddemann

About twelve years ago, the publishing company I (Carol) worked for gave me an assignment: Read several dozen missionary biographies and prepare an anthology of quotations from those books. The result was World Shapers: A Treasury of Quotes from Great Missionaries.

Was there any common theme in the 40 books I read? Yes—sacrifice. Almost every significant cross-cultural endeavor has been birthed in sacrifice as lives were laid down for the sake of taking the Gospel to unreached places.

To the Golden Shore* is the story of Adoniram Judson, pioneer missionary to Burma. The book includes this letter Judson wrote to the father of Nancy Hazeltine when he was asking for her hand in marriage:

I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; …to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God?

The author continues, It was a letter that must have made John Hasseltine’s eyes pop nearly out of his head. With many misgivings, he left it to Nancy to make up her own mind. Whatever her choice, she had his blessing. Nancy wrote, “I have come to the determination to give up all my comforts and enjoyments here, sacrifice my affection to relatives and friends, and go where God, in his providence, shall see fit to place me.”

Judson’s letter turned out to be prophetic. Nancy Hazeltine Judson died in Burma, as did three of her children. Judson re-married, and his second wife Sarah also died. Two of her children died as well. Judson lost two wives and five children. What a huge cost! He wrote, “If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.”

In today’s world, the Judsons’ experience would never be tolerated. If any mission agency allowed this scenario, it would probably be black-listed by various organizations and periodicals. Maybe rightly so. But what is appropriate sacrifice? (Is the term appropriate sacrifice an oxymoron?)

Seminars on risk assessment and risk management are a necessary part of missions today. But Phil Parshall, (SIM, Philippines) rightly raises concerns about this emphasis. “It seems the spirit of courage and daring has been somewhat replaced by a conservative attitude that keeps missionaries packed up, ready to evacuate to a ‘safe haven’ at the first sign of upheaval.”

The emphasis in missions today is sometimes more on member care than on vision. Of course member care is crucial and can be an integral part of Kingdom vision. But member care is not the reason mission agencies exist! The joyful task of missions is to plant, strengthen, and partner with churches around the world.

What will it take to continue the work of missions in the spirit of our pioneers? Increasingly, our world is fragmenting and becoming more and more unsafe. There are fresh martyrs’ graves as well as old ones. Will today’s missionaries and future recruits be willing to serve in hard places? Will mission committees allow them to be assigned in high-risk areas?

In our travels to many different countries, we have been very moved by the willingness of many to serve in difficult places. Armed robbery, dangerous roads, and tropical illnesses are eminent dangers in many areas. Financial limitations, loneliness, and cultural alienation are assumed sacrifices for those who serve cross-culturally. And who can count the cost of those who leave grown children and grandchildren in their homelands to answer God’s call? God gives grace for these sacrifices just as He gives grace for the ultimate sacrifice.

Jesus didn’t say “Go into all the safe places of the world…” But along with the command to go into to all the world, He gave the promise of His power and His presence.

Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

------------------

1.To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson, by Courtney Anderson. New York: Little Brown and Company, 1956.

Meekness & Missions

We live in a world that worships power. People flock to assertiveness training sessions where they can learn to get ahead. But when was the last time you heard about a workshop on meekness? Books like Looking Out for No. 1 and Winning Through Intimidation are best-sellers in the cut-throat business world.

But missionaries are different, right? Missionaries have given up all rights to themselves. They should be experts on meekness. Well, if you are like me, we still have a lot to learn about Jesus’ radical call to meekness. In fact, I think missionaries suffer from two diseases that can be cured by meekness.

The first is the disease of superiority. Our missionary status symbols may be more subtle, but we still have them. For some, a 4-wheel-drive Toyota and a healthy ministry account might send a message of being exceptional missionaries. For others, working 16-hour days in a hospital or office may give a sense of superiority. A few may take pride in the fact that they have no indoor toilets or have exceptional ability to thrive in another language and culture, looking down on people who seem less competent. A sense of superiority often leads to the disease of racism, poisoning relationships with coworkers and the people to whom we minister.

The other sickness disease of inferiority. Missionaries with this disease become discouraged by a sense of incompetence, especially when they measure themselves against others who seem more capable. Some who have this disease come down with a variation of the illness called the “imposter syndrome.” Those with this syndrome do everything they can to hide their lack of ability and often worry that eventually their supporters and fellow missionaries will recognize their incompetence and reject them. For them, any kind of evaluation is a major threat. This disease leads to profound discouragement and interpersonal friction.

The best medicine for both of these diseases is a strong dose of biblical meekness. Meekness? Who wants to be meek? In many people’s minds, meekness and weakness are synonymous—they even rhyme! We tend to think of a meek missionary as a wimp who allows everyone to push him or her around. Yes, even missionaries live in a competitive world that worships influence, efficiency and competence.

Actually, true meekness requires unusual strength. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes that “meekness is essentially a true view of oneself…The person who is truly meek is the one who is truly amazed that God and others can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do.” Because those who are meek have a biblical view of themselves, they treat others with gentleness, humility, and patience.

Dear missionary, meekness is a quality of God’s kingdom people. Once we understand how radical Jesus’ call to meekness is, we may be tempted to dismiss it as impossible. But we have supernatural resources and strong examples to follow, including Jesus Himself. And the rewards are eternal! Hang in there!

Are Missionaries Really World Christians?

Missionaries would seem to be the epitome of world Christians. But are we really? Even though many of us work far from home, I suspect that most of us limit our horizons to our present ministry. Do our prayers reflect a passion for the whole world? Do missionaries in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, Bolivia and India pray merely for local needs? Do our Sending Offices limit their prayers to missionaries sent out by their office?

I was deeply moved when missionaries in one of our most challenging Asian countries spent half a day praying for missionaries in South America.

Here are a few suggestions on how we can be more global in our vision:

* Pray through the world news. Are you depressed as you listen to BBC, VOA or as you read news magazines? Take world events to the Lord in prayer.
* Request prayer letters from missionaries in different parts of the world. Intentionally keep up with friends you met in candidate school, consultations or home-assignment seminars. And stay in touch with missionaries from other missions, too!
* Pray through Operation World. It is a powerful tool for seeing the world from God’s perspective.

We have another motivation to be world Christians. We are a church-planting mission with a passion for evangelism and discipleship. But our goal includes equipping churches to fulfill Christ’s Commission, so we are also a mission-board planting mission. How can we challenge and equip national churches to be world Christians if we ourselves are not missionary-minded? We teach more by our example than anything else. Missionaries in South America with a passion for the lost in China teach churches more than they know.

I would be interested to hear other suggestions. Feel free to comment. I may add your suggestions to the next blog. :)

Lord Jesus, help us to be fervent world-Christians, and then make us role-models, helping the Body of Christ to fulfill Your Commission.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Missionaries

Jim & Carol Plueddemann

What makes an effective missionary? While most missionaries dread evaluation, church mission committees themselves aren’t sure what questions to ask—or what exactly they’re evaluating. A church’s attempts at evaluation can be sadly comical. On a home assignment from Africa, our supporting church’s missions committee members couldn’t think of anything to talk about, so they asked if we had any snake stories.

Another time, a Christian foundation director asked Jim, “How many people did you win, and how much money did it cost per soul? If we fund this project, how many people per dollar will come to Christ?”

The snake story episode reveals wasted chances to ask probing, meaningful questions about the essence of our work. Instead, the committee mired in trivial things irrelevant to assessing our effectiveness. The cost-per-soul discussion revealed crass materialism and a behavioristic mindset for what only the Holy Spirit can bring about.

So how do you evaluate missionaries?

“Vision-driven, outcome evaluation” considers everything according to the kingdom vision God has given the missionary, rather than simply judging a missionary’s work by a checklist. For example, instead of focusing on how many times the missionary showed the Jesus film, a vision-driven evaluation asks, “What difference will the film’s message make in people’s lives and, what are the next steps for those who have viewed it?”

Here are seven vision-driven development points to move missionaries to reflect, plan and be highly effective in their lives and ministries:

1) Spiritual: Are you growing in grace or stagnating in your relationship with Christ? What’s helped you grow? What’s hindered you? What needs to change? How does your missionary experience enhance or detract from your spiritual growth?

2) Family: How is your marriage? Your relationship with your children? What specific things have you done to build both? If single, how have you nurtured healthy relationships with others?

3) Mental: Are you growing in wisdom and knowledge? What have you done this last year to gain professional, language and cultural skills? What could you do specifically to continue developing your mind?

4) Physical: What have you done to maintain physical shape? Would more rest, better diet and consistent exercise help?

5) Relationship: Have you developed strong cross-cultural friendships? How are your relationships with missionaries and national co-workers? What has helped or hindered the growth of loving, trusting relationships? List ways you will prayerfully develop love and trust within your team this year.

6) Vision: What are your hopes and dreams for God to use you in others’ lives? If God were to richly bless your ministry, what difference would it make in other people and the church? What indications show that God has been using you to make an eternal difference in others’ lives?

7) Activities: How has God used your ministry to fulfill the kingdom vision? What have you done to hinder fulfilling it? What belongs on your “to-do” or “stop-doing” list?

This evaluation helped a missionary at one of our Kenya seminars. He found the root of his many frustrations with his work was the mismatch in his ministry. He was doing administrative tasks, but his real passion was to teach Bible. As a result, he moved to a Bible college to teach. Later he told us that this exercise greatly improved his ministry, personal life and marriage. Another missionary went through this process and moved from Bible teaching to the ministry of financial administration which more closely matched his gifts and passion.

For ten years we’ve traveled to 56 different countries, challenging and encouraging missionaries to evaluate their lives and ministries for the kingdom’s sake. We hope these seven habits may guide mission committees to move from snake stories to vision-driven evaluations that further the kingdom cause. We invite missionaries to prayerfully reflect on them to evaluate the past and plan for the future. Discuss your findings with a mentor and with your church missions committee.

What’s been your experience with evaluation? Let us hear from you as we seek ways to be highly effective servants for the kingdom.

Women and Leadership

I suggest that the testimony of the whole body of Scripture encouraged woment in positions of leadership, but that the role of women in leadership must take into account cultural limitations.

From an interpretation of I Timothy 2: 12, and 1 Corinthians 14:35, we have two options. Either we require that women never teach men and totally keep silent in every educational situation, or we understand the passage as a restriction of particular first-century women in their cultural setting. If women are to remain silent in churches, then we should exclude women from the choir, congregational singing, and from the nursery. If God intended that women never teach men, as a universal ethical moral principle, then we would expect the rest of Scripture to support the restriction. Yet we find many examples of women teaching men. The prophetess Huldah proclaimed the word of God to the king Josiah and the High Priest Hilkiah, while her husband was in charge of the wardrobe (2 Chronicles 34:22). It is quite possible that the apostle Paul was taught by the four unmarried daughters of Philip (Acts 21: 9). Moses was taught by the prophetess Miriam (Exodus 15:20). Deborah was not only a prophetess but a judge and she commanded an army general (Judges 4:4). Jesus chose women to be the first to proclaim the Good News of the resurrection to the apostles. There are many more examples.
There are not only biblical reasons to encourage women to take a stronger role in leadership, there are also theological reasons. The royal priesthood of all believers includes women. Women have direct access to God, and God communicates directly with women who then have the obligation to communicate with others. Spiritual gifts are given to all believers, and there is no indication that some of the gifts are masculine and others feminine.

Biblical leadership is never dictatorial control over people. Even the God of creation gives people free will. Leaders are not dictators but influencers. Leaders take initiative to use their spiritual gifts to influence the Body of Christ, and the world. In this important sense of the word leadership, all Christian women are expected to be leaders.

Thus to make 1 Timothy 2: 12 a universal moral principle, one is forced to deny the plenary (or whole) inspiration of Scripture. If we hold a plenary view of the inspiration of Scripture we must not limit the role of women, or men, in leadership except for reasons of cultural appropriateness.

But, cultural relativity is not absolute relativity. There are absolute biblical principles of graciousness and cultural sensitivity that make it inappropriate for men or women to teach or assert authority in some cultural situations. If I were to write a book on Muslim ministry, I might write, "it is not good for men to hold Bible studies in the homes of Muslim women." I should not feel that my personhood as a male is being violated just because there are times when it is not appropriate for me to use my spiritual gifts of Bible teaching. There may be some cultural situations where women should graciously decline to use their God-given gifts in teaching for the sake of the gospel. Our strategy in using men and women must be sensitive to cultural expectations.

Forces within evangelical Christian education today attempt to polarize us. Some are trying to unbiblically and inappropriately limit the role of women in Christian education. If these forces gain influence the Body of Christ will suffer. Other forces demand that women play a dominant role no matter what the cultural expectations. The use of gifts by men and women is not the ultimate purpose of ministry. Spiritual gifts for women and men are only a means for edifying the Church.

We must have a unqualified commitment to all of Scripture. Where Scripture is clear we must be dogmatic, but where Scripture is unclear, we are unbiblical to be dogmatic. The role of women in teaching and leadership is not without possibility of several interpretations. We need patience with people who argue on either side of the debate as long as they argue from a high view of Scripture. We must continue the conversation with a love for the Word, and a love for one another even while we disagree.

The Body of Christ is under attack. I fear that we are not using all our God-given resources. Let us put the whole armor of God on the whole Body of Christ. We must grow toward Christlikeness as the whole body is joined and held together by every supporting ligament. We can only build up the body of Christ as each part does its work in love.

Serving With Eyes Wide Open

Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence.
David A. Livermore. Baker Books, P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287. 2006, 188 pages, $12.99.

Reviewed for EMQ by James E. Plueddemann, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL.

“The world is crawling with foreigners,” exclaimed a student in one of my cross-cultural communication classes. Cultural intelligence is often missing in the 4 million Americans who travel abroad each year to do short-term mission work. While there are several good resources to help short-term missionaries know how to apply for a passport and where to get yellow-fever shots, Serving with Eyes Wide Open is based on solid research and fills an important gap in the literature. It is a most readable book with many examples to help short-termers understand cultural pitfalls and gain cultural intelligence.

David Livermore begins with a succinct overview of the world and the global Church. It is important for short-term missionaries to realize that the Church outside of the United States is growing rapidly, often faces persecution, recognizes spiritual warfare and is becoming a major sending force. Such an overview may help overcome the “here I am you lucky people” complex.

The next section looks at the motivation for short-term missions. I am impressed with the balance in this section. From his own experience, Livermore points out the shallow motivation that drives many short-term missionaries. He gives sad but humorous examples of what pastors from the United States thought they were teaching and compares it to what the national pastors actually thought of the teaching. He describes misunderstandings between short-termers and host people in the use of time, the urgency of the task and oversimplification of complex situations. He is concerned that too often short-termers parachute into what they perceive as a backward culture, distribute goods and then retreat.

“Open your eyes!” is the continual challenge of this book. Readers will find practical steps for gaining cultural understanding in four areas. Short-term missionaries need to gain knowledge of basic cultural differences. Then using this knowledge they can interpret cues about what is really going on in the other culture. Livermore encourages perseverance as short-termers deal with confusing situations, and gives practical advice on how to behave while applying the above three principles in another culture.

Livermore concludes with a powerful chapter on “The Heart of the Matter,” doing missions out of a genuine love for people and for God. If short-term missionaries can love the people to whom they minister they will treat them with dignity and respect. If they serve because of their love for the Lord, they will avoid a self-serving motivation and focus on genuine service.

Finally I have an accessible book on short-term missions that I can use as a textbook and also give to our youth director as she prepares a group from our church to spend two weeks in Brazil. The book is grounded in research by respected theorists such as Geert Hofstede, Robert Levine, Edward T. Hall and Robert Kohls, yet the book is written for the layperson with compelling examples and insights from practical experience. Many books on short-term missions are either descriptions of the “nuts and bolts” of how to lead a team, or are naïf propaganda extolling the virtues of the so called “next paradigm in world missions.” Serving with Eyes Wide Open is written with a perceptive understanding of the dangers and problems of short-term missions. It also gives a sense of hope by encouraging godly motivation and cultural intelligence.

Other valuable resources for short-term missions:

David Mays of ACMC has put together a valuable CD called, Trip Stuff: Stuff You Need To Know About Doing Mission Trips In Your Church. (April 2006) Contact him at www.davidmays.org.
Elmer, Duane. 2006. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility. IVP Books.
Judge, Cindy, 2000. Before You Pack Your Bag, Prepare Your Heart: 12 Bible Studies for Short-Term Mission Preparation. Wheaton: Campfire Resources.

Spiritual Formation and Missions

Spiritual formation is the driving force for world missions. Cross-cultural missions is the task of helping people in other cultures come to Christ and be formed into His image. The task of the missionary is teaching people to obey all Jesus commanded. The missionary Paul did not claim to have finished his task until the whole body attained to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ; until Christ was formed in His Church. The on-going task of cross-cultural spiritual formation includes justification, sanctification and glorification, and will not be finished in this world.

Spiritual formation is also the driving force for all aspects of human development. People who are not being formed into the image of Christ are not fully human, and thus in an important sense they are lacking in cognitive, social, physical and moral development. There should be no tension then, between spiritual formation, cognitive development, social development and community development. All God-ordained development is included in spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation is far more than mere behavioral change. People can memorize Bible verses, attend church five times a week, pray for an hour a day, fast weekly and still make no progress in spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is much more than observing spiritual disciplines. Of course outward behavior is important, but only as a genuine indication and outworking of inner heart development. While we praise the Lord for the growth of churches around the world, numerical church growth is not necessarily an indicator of spiritual formation. Neither is spiritual formation the mere transmission of Biblical or theological information. People with advanced degrees in theology have not necessarily made any progress in spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation is a process that takes place on the inside of a person and is not something that can be quantified, controlled or predicted. Spiritual formation is a life-long process and is not a precise task which will be finished by the year 2000 or even 3000 AD.


A Plea for a Paradigm Shift in World Missions

The dominant paradigm for missions is that of an efficient machine. Spiritual formation is neglected because it does not easily fit the assembly line paradigm. The factory paradigm encourages missionaries to set objectives for mere outward behavior. It is primarily interested in quantities. How big is the church? What is the rate of growth? How many unreached people groups can we identify?

The factory paradigm just doesn’t fit the real world. Can you imagine the absurdity of a family trying to raise children with an assembly line world-view? Parents feeding the baby would be challenged to promote the most weight gain with the least amount of food. Child-rearing experts would challenge parents to set growth objectives for the child to grow six inches in the next 18 months. Efficiency experts would suggest a ten year plan to produce as many babies as possible with the least amount of cost. They might do computer projections on “baby growth” to the year 2020 and beyond. Spiritual development is not produced in a factory.

The mechanistic paradigm makes an idol of efficiency, control, predictability and measurement. Success is measured by how many people come forward, by the number of those who complete a discipleship booklet or by how many join a church. While all these things are good, they don’t measure inner growth. Too often mission agencies, missiologists and local church missions committees have unthinkingly accepted an ungodly missiology.

The mechanistic paradigm has contributed to the theologically anemic and lukewarm churches on so many mission fields. Mechanistic missiologists would count countries like Congo, Liberia and Rwanda as already “reached” because a certain percentage of people claim to be Christian. Could it be that a faulty paradigm is partly helps explain for the massacres in these countries? Without a paradigm shift we are merely going into all the world to make converts. Jesus’ command was to make disciples. By aiming only for what can be predicted we are by definition aiming at something temporal. Eternal, inward results cannot be predicted or easily measured.

I’m convinced that we would do a better job of world evangelism if we could better understand the process of cross-cultural spiritual formation. The plea for a paradigm shift in missions does not come from a desire to de-emphasize evangelism. I pray daily that we will win the world for Christ in this generation, but if we neglect spiritual formation we will be forced to re-evangelize the world in every generation.


Facilitating Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation comes by grace and is a mysterious process. The farmer in Mark 4:26 has a responsibility to scatter the seed faithfully and harvest it at the right time. But night and day, whether he is asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows. He doesn’t know how this happens. Just as the farmer can’t force growth by pulling on a stem of wheat, so spiritual formation cannot be forced.

Spiritual formation is a battle between evil forces and godly forces. Prayer is a powerful force for spiritual formation. By prayer the Spirit helps us to see the relationship between the problems in our own lives and solutions from the Word of God. Prayer unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to obey everything Jesus commanded.

The best way to facilitate spiritual formation is to make available the means of grace that God uses to promote the process of maturity. The primary means of grace are 1) the Word of God, 2) the Spirit of God, and 3) the people of God. The Holy Spirit helps individuals to understand and obey the Word of God as they are taught by people with spiritual gifts.

As Christ is being formed in people, they will progressively evidence the fruit of the Spirit, have a burden for the lost, and a passion for world missions. The goal of missions is to foster the life-long process of spiritual formation among every tribe, people and language so that together we may sing the Hallelujah Chorus at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Worship is both the motivation and the goal of spiritual formation in world missions.

Innovation and Missions

The following has been taken from my Forward to an upcoming book, Innovation in Mission, by Jim Reapsome and Jon Hirst.

Change is exhilarating, terrifying and unavoidable. The innovations are real and are influencing the practice of missions. Missionaries, mission executives, mission pastors and mission committees need to stay current with global changes in order to adapt strategies effectively. Whether the innovations are helpful or harmful, a fad or a long-term trend, we need to understand them and be ready to modify programs.

Innovations are often uncomfortable. As I was stepping down as International Director of SIM (Serving in Mission) a veteran missionary asked me if my successor would make as many changes as I had. She went on to say that during my tenure I had made way too many changes and hoped there wouldn’t be more. Another missionary often quoted “change and decay in all around I see” from the hymn Abide With Me. But if the world around us is changing, our methods also need to adapt in order to fulfill the unchanging vision. Not all innovations are helpful in promoting the global cause of Christ, yet most innovations provide outstanding opportunities in ministry. For example, the internet provides amazing opportunities for life-long-learning, communication, and resources for pastors and theological students.

For ten years my wife and I traveled the SIM world holding vision seminars. We talked about the need for programmatic change within the context of an unchanging vision. First our leadership team solidified the SIM vision statement and core values and then we began to reflect on massive global innovations and our need to adapt. During those ten years the mission changed its name, merged with another mission, expanded into China, reworked the support system and challenged Sending Offices to facilitate missions “from anywhere to anywhere.” While vision and core values don’t change, everything else is open for innovation.

As we evaluate innovation in the context of missions, it’s helpful to focus on three concepts:
1. The Vision: Where are we going? We need our eyes fixed on the unchanging North Star, the changeless nature of God and the unchanging vision for world missions.
2. The Situation: Where are we? – We must understand the changing world, technologies, opportunities and resources. What are the innovations that influence our opportunities in missions?
3. The Program: How do we get there? Mission programs must always be open to evaluation and modification. If the situation changes the program must also change. Otherwise, we will not fulfill the vision.

The most important things in life never change. We can take great comfort in the changeless nature of God. In this fallen world human beings will continue to fall short of the glory of God and will be in need of Jesus Christ as their Savior. Until the Lord returns we will always need to live by faith with an unchanging hope of eternal life in the unfailing love of the Lord. Our vision for a lost world and for a holy church will not change until the end of the age. None of these foundational convictions are fazed by developments in the digital revolution, the use of business visas or the low cost of airfares for short-term missionaries. Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

Once we rest secure in an unchanging God and an unchanging Gospel, we can embrace innovation. We can seek out unfolding opportunities to make whatever changes are necessary to better fulfill the vision.

I would hope that mission executives and church mission committees will reflect on Innovation in Mission chapter by chapter, asking if each of the innovations might be incorporated into the programs of their church or mission. Each one is profound and cannot be ignored.

We don’t worship innovation, so if the innovation does not contribute to the vision, simply move on. But neither do we worship programs. Mission institutions and church activities will be strengthened by the thoughtful application of innovative trends and solutions outlined in these pages.

Lighthouse: A Vision for Life

How can we plan our future when the world is so confusing? What is the good of long-rang plans when the winds and waves of daily pressing crises keep blowing us off course? We need a lighthouse that shines in the storms and guides us through the uncertainties of our lives. The most secure things in life–God’s promises, His character and His eternal plan–do not change. His vision for the salvation of the lost and His passion for the holiness of the Church are constant. His unchanging vision becomes our driving force in a chaotic world. This unchanging purpose encourages and motivates us when we are discouraged and tempted to quit.

Vision is like a lighthouse keeping us on course during the storms of life. Lifelong vision is unchanging, rooted in God’s character and purposes. Daily strategies needs to change continually, but it should always lead us to accomplish our lifelong vision. The Apostle Paul received an unchanging vision on the road to Damascus. This helped him endure shipwreck, beatings and stonings. This vision was his lighthouse for the rest of his life. When he faced beatings and hunger, he knew the big purpose of his life. Even though he modified his daily plans in light of changing opportunities and unexpected opposition, he kept his eyes focused on the lighthouse of the Damascus vision.

The Apostle Paul looked to the leading of the Holy Spirit for daily guidance. For example, the Holy Spirit did not give him permission to move into Asia or Bithynia, but then gave him a vision for Macedonia. Paul’s Macedonian calling was a short-term purpose that fit his lifelong vision to turn the Gentiles from darkness to light. He learned to “play it by ear” with daily goals because his ear was in tune with the Spirit. He wasn’t sure how long he would stay in Derbe, Iconium and Lystra. In fact he had to be evacuated out of most of his “fields” during his first term. Through eyes of faith Paul still had daily leading because of his lifelong vision.

As missionaries, our daily “to-do” lists can be planned but must also be flexible and open to change. Who we witness to partly depends on who the Lord leads our way. What we teach in a Bible college class depends on how well students understood the last lesson. Daily activities for an administrator depends on which problems come up that day. But daily action always needs to be guided by the lighthouse of a lifelong vision. We need to ask the Lord to rekindle and sharpen our lifelong vision. There are still four billion people in the world who are outside of the family of God and about two billion who have little chance of hearing the Good News. Over one billion so-called Christians urgently need to grow in grace. God’s unchanging ultimate purpose acts as a lighthouse in a world of shifting currents and waves. We can be enthusiastic as we prayerfully reflect on daily vision because we know that it leads to an eternal vision of the Kingdom of God.

Dear missionary, if you are like me, there are times when you feel like quitting, wondering if it’s all worthwhile. It is easy to lose sight of the lighthouse vision when people aren’t responsive to the Gospel, when pollution levels and heat become unbearable, when cultural frustrations overcome us and when we long for the comforts of home and family. I pray that the Lord will rekindle in each of us a mighty lifelong vision. May His unchanging vision for the nations motivate and encourage us with a fresh sense of encouragement. In the midst of storms and crashing rocks on the shore, may a clear vision of God’s Lighthouse keep us rejoicing in hope, patient in affliction, fervent in prayer.

Dozing in Prayer Meetngs

I know in my head that prayer for world missions is of critical importance. Jesus commanded us to pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers, and the first missionary journey began with prayer. While I don’t fully understand the theology of prayer, I know from experience that God answers prayer. I suspect that I’ll be embarrassed for praying so little when I get to heaven and finally figure out why prayer is so important.

But if prayer is biblical, urgent and important, why does my mind wander during my personal prayer time and why do I become sleepy in missionary prayer meetings? As a new missionary serving in Nigeria the most difficult part of the day was not Hausa language study but staying awake in afternoon prayers. The heat was unbearable and I was still waking up from a much needed nap. We prayed for people I didn’t know who lived in places I couldn’t pronounce. But I knew I would get in trouble with the District Superintendent if I missed afternoon prayers.

If prayer is a ladder between two worlds, a breath of heavenly air, and a telephone to the King, why do I doze in prayer meetings?

Strong faith leads to fervent and consistent prayer, while weak faith results in a guilt-motivated duty of going through the motions of prayer. I suspect that we neglect prayer when our eyes of faith have become near-sighted. Could it be that our prayers are weak because our faith is anemic?

Maybe the heart of the problem is that we don’t realize we are at war. The Church is fighting in two wars – an earthly war, and a heavenly war. We struggle on two battle fronts – the struggle we experience in this world and the unseen conflict between forces of evil and the armies of God. Prayer is the emergency phone call from weary and wounded soldiers calling the heavenly King for instructions, comfort, and reinforcements. Prayer is battle communication between two worlds.

Suggestions:

Missionaries, when you write prayer letters, include highlighted prayer requests and be sure to report on answers to prayer. Too often prayer letters tell about family news and exotic experiences but overlook the central role of stimulating people to pray.

Pastors and Church Mission Committees, ask yourselves if there is more you could do to stimulate fervent prayer for missionaries. Are there ways that you could encourage informed prayer in small groups, Sunday School classes, the Sunday morning worship service, and in elder and deacon meetings?

Christian, pray daily for missionaries. Consider using your computer to remind you to pray for missionaries each week. I divide the missionaries into seven groups and pray for one group each day of the week. Or use an old-fashioned note book to keep track of needs and answers to prayer. When you receive a prayer letter, update requests and praise the Lord for answered prayer.

For reasons we don’t understand, the sacrificial going and making disciples of all nations will not succeed without faithfulness in prayer. Can you imagine the impact that prayer could have on the world? Through eyes of faith, picture hundreds of millions of people who live in darkness finding the Light of the world. Picture churches around the world becoming salt and light in decaying societies. Prayer is God’s crucial tool for changing the world.

When you are tempted to doze in missionary prayer meetings remember that your prayers have a powerful influence on what is happening half way around the world; and amazingly, they also influence supernatural powers before the throne of grace.

What Is the Cutting Edge in Missions?

Recently a mission “expert” was giving advice to a pastor. “Your mission program is good,” he said, “but it is rather traditional. You are no longer at the cutting edge.” He went on to say that traditional churches support long-term missionaries while cutting-edge churches support short-term missionaries, nationals or form church-to-church partnerships.

The internationalization of modern missions is indeed one of the most exciting movements of our day. This movement, however, has a long history and it didn’t just happen in a vacuum. It is the fulfillment of the goals and prayers of long-term missionaries who have consciously fostered the formation of national church leadership and missionary societies in the non-western world. Since the earliest days of cross-cultural ministry, missionaries who have given their whole lives to planting churches that are equipped to fulfill Christ’s commission.

God has used the efforts of “traditional” missions in such an outstanding way that today the numbers (and perhaps the spiritual vitality) of the non-western church outstrip that of the West. Because of God’s blessings, “traditional” missionaries have been effective beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Possibly the main reason they have been so effective is because they have taken the time to learn the culture, cultivate trust with nationals and learn the language well. The patient endurance of long-term missionaries is a critical factor in their success. I would like to suggest that the cutting edge of missionary strategy is still long-term missionaries working together with national churches to win the rest of the world. As we work in joyful partnership, we model the unity that God intended for His church and we become more effective in the task of world-wide evangelism.

God’s call to “go” must continue to be answered in every culture and era. If we ever dilute that call to simply “send money,” or merely travel during our vacation time, we will lose our sense of God’s heart for the world. Our missionary vision will be reduced to fund raising and mission tours. Of course we must help national churches to fund their ministries. But we need to help responsibly without creating an unhealthy dependence that robs churches of initiative and ownership in their missionary outreach.

Sent ones from every culture working together in loving fellowship worldwide form the most powerful strategy in missions. The cutting edge of world evangelism hasn’t changed in the last 2000 years!

Thoughts on Theology of Leadership

Many people think that the world is divided into two groups – leaders and followers. Strong leaders are thought to be visionaries with powerful personalities and super management skills. They are extraverts who now how to make good decisions and know how to get other people to follow the their vision. Good followers are thought to be people who recognize strong leaders and follow them with enthusiasm.

Older research in leadership shows that among most animal species there is a “pecking order.” The corollary, they say, is that since animals dominate animals, people should dominate people. In the human species leaders get work done through followers. The old philosophy argues that “leaders know the art of inducing compliance.” Leaders are the kings, chiefs, rulers, generals or heads of state. With the “ruler” concept of leadership, a distinction between leaders and followers is crucial. This is a common but dangerous understanding of leadership.

Rethinking Leadership

Secular researchers are beginning to rethink leadership.

"Leadership is an interaction between two or more members of a group that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectations of the members. . . It should be clear that with this broad definition, any member of the group can exhibit some amount of leadership. "(Benard M. Bass. Bass & Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership 1990, p 20)

Leaders are people who influence people and circumstances. In an important sense every Christian should be a leader. Every Christian has been given spiritual gifts for the sake of influencing the Body! We all have a sacred obligation to take initiative to use our gifts to help change the world.

We are called a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).We often talk of the priesthood of all believers. We also need to talk of the royalty of all believers. We are all queens and kings! The dichotomy between commoners and royalty is not a biblical ideal. The status dichotomy between leaders and followers is unhealthy.

Leadership in the sense of “inducing compliance” is not a spiritual gift. The gift of administration in 1 Corinthisns 12:28 (kybernesis) is an important gift for guiding people, but it is not a gift for controling people. Administrators have been given special abilities by the Holy Spirit to coordinate maximize and encourage the gifts of influence in the rest of the Body. The gift of leading (prostatis) in Romans 12:8 is better translated the gift of giving practical aid to people in need. The doctrine of spiritual gifts undercuts the idea that a few people are born to give orders and the rest are born to obey orders. The doctrine challenges each Christian is to take initiative to use her or his God-given gifts to influence the body.

But human beings tend to either want to control people or to be passive and let others use their gifts. Some people have the tendency to rebel against all external influence and seek to do what is right in our own eyes. The Bible does not allow believers to be dictators, doormats or lone rangers. The Holy Spirit gives some believers the gift of coordinating, maximizing and encouraging the giftedness of others. Often organizations give formal authority to people who evidence the gift of coordinating maximizing and encouraging the gifts for the good of the body. We are called to submit to people who are given formal authority to coordinate and maximize the leadership gifts of others in the body (1 Peter 5:5).

Here are some possible implications for Christian leadership:

1. All Christians are called to take inituative to influence the body, thus in an important sense all Christians are leaders. It is not appropriate for a Christian to merely sit back and wait to be told what to do because he or she is merely a follower.
2. People who have the gifts of helping the body to work together toward a God-given goal need to be respected. The primary quality of for both people who have maximizing leadership gifts and those who have direct ministry leadership gifts is humility (1 Peter 5: 5b).
3. No believer has all the spiritual gifts, so all Christians in most areas of life must also be be influenced by the leadership gifts of others. Thus at times we are all followers as we submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21.)
4. Hierarchical structures might be helpful organizational tools in some cultures to coordinate people and tasks, but organization charts seldom reflect true influence, and they never reflect a person’s significance or insignificance.
5. A primary task of all believers is to fan into flame the leadership gifts of each person ( Timothy 1:6). The idea of superiority or inferiority of Christians is goes against the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 12.
6. The only ruler in the Body is the Head -- Christ alone. The doctrine of the one body and many parts does not specify a gift called the head. (1 Corinthians 12: 12-20.) People were not intended to dominate other people in the church.
7. Planning, leading, organizing, and evaluating need to be functions of the whole Body. Spiritual gifts need to be organized and coordinated by capable administrators. Egalitarian leadership must not promote confusion but community.
8. Everyone is a leader, but people cannot merely “do what is right in their own eyes.” We are all held accountable to the absolute standards of the Word of God. We are commanded to work in a community. We are all leaders in a community of kings and queens, and directly to the King of Kings.

If you are tempted to be an autocratic leader, you need to be reminded that you are coordinators of the leadership abilities of the Body, and all have a direct connection with the Head, Jesus Christ. On the other hand, are you fearful of taking initiative? Then you need to be reminded that the Lord calls you to take initiative and be a visionary, dynamic coordinator of the gifts of the Body.

“The body is a unit,
though it is made up of many parts;
and though all its parts are many, they form one body. . .
Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it.”

1 Corinthians 12: 12, 27

Evaluation: My Second Most Favorite Activity

I had just finished an end-of-term evaluation by the Board of Governors. While the evaluation was affirming and pointed out helpful areas where I could improve, I have decided that evaluation is my second most favorite activity . . . My most favorite is having my teeth drilled.

The very word evaluation floods our minds with painful memories of school. From the first grade we are evaluated by how many words we misspelled, how many “sums” didn’t add properly and by inability to identify what happened in 1066. Evaluation is often a synonym for embarrassment.

A common disease of missionaries is the “impostor syndrome.” We often have a deep-seated feeling that we are not as good as people think we are, and fear that someday people will discover how incompetent we really are. Evaluation becomes a dreaded enemy, or a game for hiding reality.

The threat of evaluation can make us defensive rather than visionary. We are tempted to set easily attainable goals so as to look good on an end-of-term evaluation, rather than setting big audacious faith goals which if not attained may make us look bad.

Missionaries are often at the point of being overwhelmed with heat, culture shock, political instability, fear for safety, loneliness or worry about financial support. The last thing you need is an article from “those dunderheads in Charlotte” waxing eloquent on the glories of evaluation.

In light of our fears, here are some thoughts on evaluation.

1. Jesus’ love for us doesn’t depend on our score on a language exam, our level of cultural adjustment or our third-culture-kid parenting skills. His love for us doesn’t depend on a performance evaluation interview. There is no way he could love us more, it is pure grace. What a relief!

2. The word evaluation means to place value or worth. Each of us has infinite worth in the eyes of God. We have no idea how greatly we are valued by the person who knows us best. What wonderful medicine for the disease of the impostor syndrome!

3. Since God’s evaluation is not based on performance but on grace, we need to evaluate each other through God’s eyes. He isn’t finished with any of us yet so we need to be patient with each other. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, if we could see the seemingly least competent missionary or national brother as they will be when the Lord is finished with them, we would be tempted to bow down and worship them. Let us love one another!

4. Our Father in heaven loves us so much that he hates any idols or sins in us that get in the way of his love. He evaluates our hearts so he can bless us more deeply. May His loving evaluating drive us to daily confession, cleansing and refreshing revival!

5. We should love Jesus so much that we should constantly seek to improve our effectiveness in serving Him. How amazing that the King of kings should choose us to be His ambassadors. The best motivation for evaluating our ministry is love for Jesus!

6. Our loving Father doesn’t demand results, but requires faithfulness. We won’t be evaluated by how many churches we planted, how many students we taught or how many sick people we healed. May we always seek excellence as we serve the Lord with gladness and wait for His final evaluation:

“Well done good and faithful servant.”

A 100 Year Plan for World Missions

Every mission agency, every church and every Christian should have a 100-year plan to ensure the continuation of world missions.

Some people may object to such a wild idea. How can anyone plan even one year ahead when the world is so changing so rapidly? How in the world can a church make plans for the next 100 years when the global, political and economic future is so uncertain? In an unpredictable world, we need a new kind of strategy to keep the missionary vision alive until the Lord returns.

I believe that the most important strategy for long-range planning is to focus on children. We need to do everything we can to challenge children with Christ’s world-wide commission.

The teen years are a good time for teaching missions through short-term mission trips, but younger children can learn about missions too. I made a solid commitment to be a missionary when I was ten years old. I was deeply moved by a film showing the problems of leprosy in China and I began to have a concern for the needs of the whole world. A missionary to Africa, Don McClure, stayed at our house when I was a child. This man, who was later martyred, had a passion for life and for the needs of the world. I wanted to be like him. Since my parents were also enthusiastic about world missions there was really nothing else I wanted to do when I grew up. My childhood decision affected all the decisions I made as a young adult–what to study in college, who to marry and what to do when I graduated.

I have always been challenged by the world-changing potential of children. This motivated me to teach a Sunday School for 10-12 year old boys for many years. The boys called themselves the FBI Class or the “Faithful Bible Investigators.” One Sunday a missionary came to the class and told how he was working with needy children in Honduras and why he needed prayer and financial support. The boys took the rest of the class asking probing questions. The FBI class decided to adopt this missionary. Every Sunday they insisted we pray for the missionary and carefully read every prayer letter he wrote. When the missionary was successful they felt a part of his success. When he faced trials, they prayed even more. They gave sacrificially from their allowance money and from job earnings. They did extra baby-sitting and worked hard at mowing lawns in the summer. They put so much money in the Sunday School envelope that they insisted I write a note to the treasurer saying, “All the money in this envelope came from the boys. The teacher did not put in any money.”

Children are the future of missions. Parents need to read missionary biographies to their children, watch mission videos together and pray through books such as Operation World or You Can Make a Difference to pray about help their children to be aware of what God is doing in the world.

Many churches have a strong missions program for children. Churches can build up a strong children’s missions library and schedule the best missionary speakers for children’s classes. Sunday School classes can adopt a missionary family with children about the same age as class members. Children should be encouraged to make friends with children from other cultures in their neighborhood or school.

Nothing is more important for long-range planning in world missions than children who are well informed, challenged and enthusiastic about God’s plan for the nations. The hand that leads children is the hand that will change the world.