Integrating Missionally

Count it up!

The easier something is to quantify, the less it is worth.

Think about these words. They were written by Seth Godin in his new book call Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?.

Now apply these words to how we do church. What do you quantify? Money. People. Baptisms. Sunday School Attendance. New Members.

Quantification in this regard, does 3 things:

1. It devalues the person. Actually, I think it dehumanizes them
2. It elevates the quantifier. In this case, the number of…
3. It celebrates the one who produces the result.

What do you count? How does that affect how you view the church?

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In part 1 of this short series, I described how to do international missions on USAmerican soil. Today I want to offer some ideas on how to do international missions outside of the traditional parachurch mission sending agencies. I want to make suggestions for individuals and families as well as for churches. Finding the location for missions requires us to listen to the heart of God and then consider one of two paths: to adopt a people group and go to that people group or to adopt a city and invest there.

For Individuals
The easiest way to do international missions overseas is the find a job either where your adopted people group live or in the city God calls you to. Many American Christians are taught that being a professional missionary is a higher calling. In the thinking of many, the best and most appropriate way to respond to a call to missions is to find a parachurch missions organization and work through them to be sent to the city or people that God is leading you to. However, being a full-time Christian worker is not the only way to be an effective missionary. In fact, in some circles the best way to be a missionary is not to be a professional missionary. The most effective way many people can make an impact on the city or people group is to enter the culture as traditional employee – someone facing similar work and life situations as their peers.

I have actually found this to be the most effective way to be on mission in the States. I have been more effective and had more opportunities to talk about Jesus as a coworker than as a pastor. They get to see you live out your life and you get to invest in their live in powerful simply by being co-workers. As a pastor, particularly in some areas of the country, people may not even talk with you because you are a pastor.

For people who are interested in working in Europe, the Skybridge Community exists to help people in various business professions connect with each other and possibly find positions.

For Churches
For churches, the process is much more broad. As God leads you to adopt a city or people group, challenge your church through these avenues:

1. Challenge your church to rent a small apartment in the city. Allow members of the staff and other church leaders to take turns living in that apartment while seeking people of peace, those who may be sensitive to the Gospel and who have themselves been seeking God’s presence and activity in their community. This is not a time where the staff member goes to preach or hand out tracts, but a period of learning, praying, relating, and loving. It is a time to ask God to show you people in the city who are seeking God themselves and who can help establish God’s presence in that city.

2. Begin to schedule missional journeys to that city. With the knowledge gained through staff and other leaders, begin to bring groups to the city on a consistent basis to build relationships and love the city or people group. I am not talking about coming over to do what people think of as mission trips, but missional journeys where relationships are developed and cultivated over long periods of time. Use social media to meet people prior to the trip. You should be able to find people who want to speak and practice their English and you can begin to learn the language of the people. You can continue these relationships through social media and continue cultivating those relationships.

3. As God allows, begin to have spiritual conversations with those whom you have developed a relationship. This may take some time. It might take a period of two or more years of cultivating that kind of relationship. When people are comfortable, begin to gather them together for communal discussions of faith. Yet you must understand, this takes time. It requires a long-term commitment and consistency in investment.

If you are small church, partner with other smaller churches in your area to adopt the same city or people group. There is much you can do together in this way.

We need to get away from the professional missionaries – there is still a place for them, but there is a great disconnect with international missions when the church is only giving money. The church needs to be the missionary, not surrender it to parachurch organizations.

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One of the biggest issues facing us in the US is international missions. How do we do international missions in the 21st century? How do we think of missions as a community of faith in the 21st century?

In my denomination, the way we do international missions is simply by giving money. It has been that way for years. Your church gives money to a central planning group who distributes that money based on a formula. International missions gets the largest chunk of that money and uses it to hire professionals to go overseas as missionaries to people groups. This makes missions a money issue yet leaves the church otherwise uninvolved in impacting a world for Christ.

Threfore we need to rethink how we do international missions. Rethinking how we do international missions requires us to rethink international missions in general. Our country is becoming an international mission field itself and that opens the doors for international missions to occur on our own soil. Therefore, there are ways for us to do international missions in our own community as well as overseas. In this post, I want to talk about doing international missions on our own soil.

Adopt a people group. There are easy ways to do this. One option is see what people groups are in the area in which you live and your church operates. Chances are there are a large Hispanic population or maybe a Chinese population. However, there may be other people groups. Large cities offer a great opportunity to adopt a people group. New York for instance has at least 88 distinct people groups. These are people who are in New York for education or business or whom have immigrated to the US. They may be first, second or third generation visitors or immigrants. If you live in a large, diverse area, find out what people groups are around and consider adopting one.

If you don’t live in a large, diverse area, begin to pray that God would give you a heart for a particular people group. Look through the website Peoplegroups.org. Regardless of where you live and the type of community you live in, you can adopt a people group.

One you have targeted a people group, think internationally.

1. Begin to host exchange students from that people group or country. Use this as an opportunity to learn about the culture, beliefs, and practices of that people group. Imagine the potential impact on the world that could be made if 50% of your church families would host an exchange student each year from your target people group.
2. Sponsor a child from your targeted people group. Using services like Compassion International, each of your small groups could sponsor one or more children. This offers an opportunity for a long-term investment in a child who could be used of God to impact the world around him or her. With Compassion, you can even arrange visits with the child you sponsor. Therefore your small group could help send a different couple once or twice per year to visit, love, and invest in that child.
3. Adopt children from that target group. My wife and I have mentioned this ourselves. Families in your church could adopt a child internationally. As they acclimate to your own culture, you could encourage and help them to maintain the language and customs of their own culture. In doing so, they can walk in (at least) two cultures, offering an opportunity for them to be a missionary back to the culture of their birth.
4. Encourage your members to find jobs with companies that have a presence where your people group is located. Volunteer for trips to that country and learn the culture and customs which you can then share with your church.
5. Get involved with groups on a college campus that focus on your people group. There are all kinds of diverse groups on college campuses and you could volunteer, build relationships, host parties and even do ESL with them.

If your church adopts a people group who has a local presence, and your church has applied one or more of those ideas, it gives you a great entrance into that local community. Your church can host a meal for the exchange students, adopted children and those who are local. This allows you to build relationships and make the investment of Christ into that local community of immigrants.

Yet it also allows your church to make an international investment. As these exchanges students return home, as those college students return home, as those migrant workers or immigrants go back to visit or even return home, you have sent a part of yourself, your church, and your Lord back with them. This can have a great impact on their families and friends back home.

Don’t just send money. Impact the world globally with your love, presence, and Faith.

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I came across this idea inadvertently. As a pastor, a couple of mornings per week I make my way to a local restaurant for breakfast. I would also take a book and read or do some studying there when all was quiet. I got to know all the wait staff and management. I also do this a couple of times a week at a local cafe where I would go have a late lunch, and sit, study, read and chat with the staff and ownership. I never really told the what I did intentionally. However, by the work I was doing and the books I was reading and the conversations we had, they figured out I was a pastor. Soon, I noticed something that just sort of happened. I became the pastor to those businesses. They would sit down and talk and share their problems, ask questions, and seek counsel. At Christmas time, I brought a bucket of gifts to them that included gift cards, homemade treats, and other things.

Your church can do this as well. You can adopt a business or businesses. You may, for example, adopt a large store like Home Depot or Lowes. Have your small groups adopt different departments in that store: one could adopt the paint department, another the electrical department and still another the lighting department. The small groups could get to know the people in those departments. Then they could write notes or even give gifts on holidays or special days. Imagine an employee walking into work with a group of folks from one of your small groups throwing a surprise birthday party for them! There is something about making a person feel special for both you and the person.

Or, another twist of this idea would be to adopt several stores on main street or in a strip mall. Those mom and pop stores that are crucial to most town’s main street could be adopted by your small groups. Shop there, get to know the people there, and bless them. Work with them to set up a special shopping day where your church provides food (snacks, hotdogs, etc) and fun and then stores have special sales. You could even do the advertising for them.

If you have sharp business people in your church, they can volunteer their time to work with the mom and pop stores which are generally owned by entrepreneurs who are learning business practices through trial and error. That ministry would be invaluable.

In doing this, you are blessing the business(es) on multiple levels. You are building foot traffic for sales so you are helping the business. This is IMPORTANT! You are providing them with FREE consulting services and promotions which many small businesses need. You are blessing the employees and owners. You are blessing, either directly or indirectly, the community. And you are building a positive reputation in the community.

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One of my favorite shows on tv is NCIS. I understand it may be the most watched show on television actually. The last episode before Christmas was entitled “Faith”. The episode tells the story of an enlisted son of retired Colonel-turned-preacher is found dead. The team believes he may be the victim of a hate crime. Meanwhile, Gibbs’ father comes for a holiday visit. (You can watch the whole episode here). At the end of the episode, the NCIS team share Christmas with a few folks in a creative, inspirational way.

A couple of notes on the clip to help you better understand the scene:

1. Special Agent DiNozzo gives his “Secret Santa” gift to Delores, the director of HR. She is known as a very difficult lady.
2. McGee pulls some strings to get expensive and restricted satellite access to the Indian Ocean so Fisher can see his mother on Christmas.
3. Gibbs’ Father comes to see him for Christmas. They have a difficult relationship but towards the end of the episode a time of healing and hope develop between them. Gibbs’ dad helps him finish making toys for the Children’s hospital where Gibbs is set to play Santa.

Here is the clip:

Often times, our Christmases are filled with trinkets and simple gifts that do not have real meaning. But we can change people’s lives with our investment in theirs. Did you do that this Christmas?

PS: The music behind the video is Kangaroo Cry by Blue October. It’s a powerful song. The whole song with words are in this clip:

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