How Do You Do Missions?

The immense difficulties of world missions is at times staggering. From the value of the dollar on the world exchange, immigration policies of individual countries, training, languages, culture to raising enough funds from reliable sources to get there, one can wonder that missions can be done at all. Hearing this past week of the challenges our missions departments face was amazing. The fact that we are actually gaining ground in planting churches and spreading the gospel is a miracle of great proportions. Essentially, three things are needed in abundance to make missions work: 1. People who are called 2. Correct strategies 3. Money.

Fortunately the first category seems to be percolating along fine at the moment. However, it is not something to be taken for granted. Missional vision must be implanted into young people at an early stage. A calling comes from a prepared heart. It takes someone who would rather help others than make a lot of money or spend all of their time thinking about themselves. The possibility of living this way must be presented in a way that holds this kind of worldview high. What we champion, celebrate and who our heroes are will communicate to a young person the kind of life they will choose to live.

The second category is also presently doing well, although it is in great change. The classic missionary strategy that sends a missionary to a foreign country to get an unrestricted visa to live in that country for an indefinite period of time is quickly becoming and even now may be obsolete. Many missionaries are having to do their work on temporary two to three month “tourist” visas as it is. Even “friendly” countries like England have put people like Benny Hinn and Don Fransisco on the next plane out of the country when they tried to get through customs on a religious visa. We have previously called these countries “restricted access” countries. We are now calling these countries “creative access” countries. These countries who doubt the value of Christianity still want people who will bring value to their countries like teachers, or business people. Going to a Bible school and then into missions work will probably only survive in the short term. What is needed now are doctors, nurses, language teachers and business people who can do the missionary work while employing their professional expertise. The strategies to do missional work must continue to evolve as the political environment of the world changes.

The third category is the troublesome one. There never is or rather, never has been enough money. The need is a yawning chasm at every turn. Not only because of a shrinking dollar but because of the nature of how the strategy of missions is changing. One of the open doors to us is humanitarian aid. Medical missions needs a lot of money. So does feeding orphans and helping people in poverty. It is a hole so deep you can’t fathom the bottom of it. But we do what we can with what we have so that we might save some. How do we continue to raise funding for an increasingly large missions force? We must simply find ways. Plant churches, grow churches, ask every Christian to give to missions, find ways to harness the non-Christian world to fund missions. How do we do this? That question has to be asked each day, every week and all year long. Recessions or not, the Great Commission takes no time off and makes no excuses. It simply must be done. What can you do? What can I do? What can we do together? I am confident that the Lord of the Harvest will give us current strategies and ideas to answer the questions we raise. In a day where we are reaching further, opening previously unopened doors, and seeing more people won into the kingdom than ever before, we cannot slack now. Maybe we might actually have to consider personal sacrifice in order that we may do more. We might have to actually win more people to Christ than ever before to spread the vision of missions. Whatever it is, it will take more from us than it is at present in order to do what God has asked us to do. I’m up for it. Are you?