Right now it seems as though the Church is changing in many dramatic ways, and it can feel a bit scary. The thing is, the Church has always been changing. Regardless of the tradition you come from, it has changed. Historically, we can see that the Church reconsiders doctrines, and it reflects and reforms. Martin Luther — the great reformer — knew this. The Reformation was a mammoth shift in the way the Western Church looked: It was a shaking, a sifting and ultimately, a renewal.

There is much discourse in the contemporary Church about the “falling away” of young people from Christian belief. A Barna Group survey from 2019 shows that 64% of young people stop attending church between the ages of 18-24. The pandemic has also left a lasting mark on church attendance.

But perhaps the most relevant and influential shift that I see taking place in the contemporary Church is the shift of power dynamics away from the traditional senior pastor into a diffusion of influential voices across the digital space, from blogs to YouTube channels to podcasts. These days, some of the most influential voices in the Church are not pastors, and never will be pastors. Instead, many of them are podcasters.

What does it mean for the global Christian Church when many of its most influential voices do not have any particular church affiliation?

If you google the top 50 most popular Christian podcasts, you will find most of them are not associated with a church or run by a pastor. They are run by “Christian journalists, researchers, scholars, apologists, influencers and artists,” to name but a few.

Why are people choosing to listen to these podcasts? Why are they so popular among young Christians?

I believe these are questions the Church should be asking. It may be that many pastors already recognize that the seat of power and influence is moving to the digital space because large numbers of them are moving there too.

From Pastors to Podcasters

On December 24, 2021, the Washington Post published an article entitled “The first Christmas as a layperson: Burned out by the pandemic, many clergy quit in the past year.” On February 21, 2022, the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled “Houses of Worship Face Clergy Shortage as Many Resign During Pandemic.” Even the secular outlets are noticing the changes.

The Wall Street Journal article reports that the pastors they interviewed repeatedly admitted that “the job of being a pastor, while always demanding, has become almost impossible during the pandemic: Relationships with and among parishioners have frayed, and political divisions have deepened, fueled by fights over Covid-19 protocols.” A Barna Group survey of Protestant pastors published in November 2021 found that 38 percent of Protestant senior pastors surveyed have considered leaving the ministry over the past year. Among pastors under age 45, that number rose to 46 percent.

I can think of quite a number of pastors who have stepped down in recent times. I am sure you can too. Many of them are starting non-profit organizations or different discipleship ministries outside the context of the local church. And, of course, many of them are starting podcasts.

These changes are in large part due to the pandemic we have just been through, which rapidly and dramatically shifted the “way” we do church. All over the globe, Sunday morning services transferred to the digital space. I ended up watching many different sermons, in addition to my own local church, as YouTube suggested videos to me. In many ways, it was wonderful to engage with other Christian voices and perspectives. It was also formational for my faith in unexpected ways, as I am sure it was for you too.

The point is, we are not the same. The Church is not the same. We have been through a dramatic season of change. And we need more than ever to meet God in the present, to find Him in what might seem like unfamiliar or confusing settings.

The secular journalist Ian Lovett (writer of the above-mentioned Wall Street Journal article) states that “The labour shortage within the clergy, which parallels shortages in other industries, is reshaping worship in some parts of the country as more congregations search for ways to operate without a pastor. Lay people are filling more roles and congregations are sharing leaders.”

How is the Church reshaping? Where is God taking us?

I would suggest that God is taking us to the MISSION FIELD. What do I mean by this? I do not mean that you need to get on a plane. No. This new season of dramatic change is our mission field.

In the past decade, we have watched the trickle in the decline of church membership turn to a geyser. Young people doubt their faith en masse. There is persecution and war. Dogmatism and confusion are epidemics because of the proliferation of digital echo chambers. Politics is king, and confusion abounds.

This is our mission field. This is the space that needs God’s truth spoken in love. It is the place that needs the light of the gospel, now more than ever.

A missionary must learn the place in which they are called to, i.e., the language, the culture, the people. But now, in 2022, we need to learn how to navigate the changed face of our culture so we can effectively reach it.

How do things work on the mission field?

First, I would say that everyone is used on the mission field. Hierarchies break down if you are ministering in the jungle, so anyone willing to serve is given a chance. The Church cannot afford to strain out a gnat when the world is in such desperate need. I would suggest that our hierarchies are already being undermined by all the podcasts our congregants are listening to anyway.

Paul, our great example in missions, was willing to use all kinds of people. He was innovative and flexible rather than rigid and legalistic. He had Timothy circumcised when he felt it would help the mission (Romans 3). He worked in a secular job outside of ministry (Acts 18). He spoke to secular politicians (Acts 26). He advocated for enslaved people to be freed and then used them in the ministry (Philemon). He willingly used women in extraordinary ways (Romans 16 and elsewhere). It was these early God-directed, flexible choices Paul made that enabled the successful spread of the early Church.

The Church in 2022 is still vitally important in the world.

How can we be a connected and useful body if we are just dispersed across the digital space?

In the digital space, we can choose not to be challenged by choosing to listen only to voices we fully agree with or affirm us completely. Yet, sometimes we need to be challenged. The body of Christ is bone, muscle, and sinew that are closely connected and work together for God’s Kingdom (1 Corinthians 12).

If the real live Church is to continue toward renewal, we must be willing to have a missionary mentality because 2022 is our mission field.

So let us throw open our doors, roll up our sleeves, and decide to work together. We need everyone in this mission. We need all the outlets at our disposal. We need NGOs, podcasts, cathedrals, and school gymnasiums. The Church is made up of women and men, those with disabilities along with the able bodied, all colours, nationalities, genders, and races. We are the body of Christ, together reaching out to this contemporary mission field.

In 2022, we need everyone. The harvest is ripe, but the labourers are few. But God is in control. He will bring renewal from this turmoil, but it will not be a return to something: It will be a new work.

And all of us are needed on the field to work together for God’s Kingdom.

Bibliography:

Boorstein, Michelle. “The first Christmas as a layperson: Burned out by the pandemic, many clergy quit in the past year.” Washington Post. December 24, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/12/24/christmas-covid-pandemic-clergy-quit/

Lovett, Ian. “Houses of Worship Face Clergy Shortage as Many Resign During Pandemic.” Wall Street Journal. February 21, 2022.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/houses-of-worship-face-clergy-shortage-as-many-resign-during-pandemic-11645452000

CGN Giving Tuesday Testimonials

Ministry leaders and believers alike have faithfully donated to the network to help support churches in their calling to share the gospel around the world!

One story is from Esteban Valenzuela!

Esteban leads Raíces Madrid Evangelical Christian Church in Madrid, Spain. Through YOUR giving, Raíces Madrid has been able to secure their own building to facilitate their church gatherings that also meets city requirements. Esteban was able to complete a few necessary installments that approved their congregation number to grow by city standards. Praise the Lord!

Read About Our Story in India and More!

Why plant churches?

This question will be addressed at the Calvary Chapel Global Missions 2020 Conference and will go in depth about what church planting is, why its worth it for the Church to invest in missions and more! As a movement that has been missions-minded from the beginning, Calvary Chapel is excited to have you come and see how the Lord will speak and move! The conference hosts many missionaries from around the world, so this will be an opportunity to personally meet, talk and pray with them!

The conference speakers have 20+ experience in the mission field and are excited to be a part of this conference! It will run from Monday, January 6, to Friday, January 10, at the Murrieta Hot Springs Christian Conference Center in Murrieta, California.

Please join us in Southern California at the start of the New Year for a time of edification, fellowship and refreshment.

REGISTER

Is it possible that the first miraculous sign Jesus did, turning water into wine, might actually provide some easy access points to Gospel truths for our neighbors that come from other nations?

I believe so.

But before I lay out my reasons for why I’ve come to that conclusion, here are a few obvious and logical questions that I believe naturally spring forth from what is recorded in John 2:1-11:

. Why did Jesus use a word to address His mother that was apparently not mother-like?

. Why did He turn around and do what He just told His mother He was not inclined to do?

. And the biggest question of all: Why did He turn water into wine as His introductory miracle rather than something much more mind blowing like walking on water, healing a man born blind or raising someone from the dead?

I’m convinced that the answers to these questions and the reason why John summarized the event the way that he did, can only be fully discovered and understood by viewing what took place through nine non-Western cultural glimpses.

The following is what that looks like.

NOTE: If you’re not familiar with the broad descriptions of cultures as either Guilt/Innocence based or Honor/Shame based, watch a very informative five minute video below that will bring added clarity to what you’re about to read.

“On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding” (John 2:1-2).

Based on Mary’s actions that are described in these verses, it appears that she had been invited to a wedding feast that was being put on by friends that she cared deeply about.

Jesus and His disciples were also there as invited guests.

THE CRISIS

“And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine'” (John 2:3).

If Mary was there as a close friend of the family, she was probably doing what most of us do at the wedding of a family member or very close friend—helping out in whatever way possible to ensure that the wedding is the source of joy that the family, including the bride and groom, long for it to be.

As the traditional components of the wedding unfolded, including the distribution of wine to the guests, Mary discovered that the wine supply had been completely consumed. Culturally, wine was served throughout a wedding feast.

It was one of those components of a wedding that is taken for granted and not even noticed, unless it was no longer available. Its sudden absence would draw much more attention than its presence in the eyes of all the family members and guests.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 1

Contrary to our individualistic culture’s conviction that the primary purpose of a wedding is to fulfill the lifelong dream of the bride-to-be, in a collectivistic, honor/shame-based culture, a wedding is an entire family event that is also a community event, and that provides a unique opportunity to reinforce or increase the honor and prestige of the family in the eyes of those that matter to them.

In that specific culture at that time in history, running out of wine was viewed as a catastrophic event.

Not only would it bring shame and dishonor on the family, but some scholars believe that it also opened the door for them to have a lawsuit brought against them by those they invited–that it was considered as equivalent to committing fraud.

How is that possible?

Because the family putting on the wedding was giving the appearance of having sufficient resources for the number of guests they invited, and its accompanying honor, when they clearly didn’t.

Regardless of whether legal action was taken or not, the family that was unable to keep the wine flowing at the wedding they were hosting would actually be destroying the one thing that mattered the most to them–their family honor in the eyes.

MARY’S FIRST ATTEMPT TO SOLICIT HER SON’S HELP

Knowing that the wine was gone and understanding the damage that could be done to people she cared about, Mary went to her Son—not to a member of the family that was putting on the wedding or to the master of the feast—and told Him that the wine was gone.

Clearly, she believed that Jesus had the ability to do something to avoid the impending disaster that was about to envelop a family that mattered to her.

Jesus knew immediately and exactly what His mother was asking Him to do, even though her few words just presented a fact, not a request.

CULTURAL GLIMPSE # 2

This is an example of one of those interesting dynamics of culture and language.

Words, especially spoken words, are not just conveyors of ideas or information. They are also tools that can be used to get someone to stop or start doing something, even though the words used aren’t giving a direct command to the other person.

Words are containers that carry and express both explicit and implicit meaning.

To a cultural outsider, it appears as if the main purpose of words is to provide information or declare a fact.

But to a cultural insider, those same words not only provide information or facts, they can also be a command or a request to act.

In the next post, we’ll see that Jesus understood what His mother was actually doing, what His response was and the extreme cultural leverage she used on Him to get Him to do what He said He wasn’t inclined to do.

Enjoy the first part of this series as well!

By God’s permission and design, people from around the world now live in my community and have become a part of my day to day and week to week sphere of life.

I regularly interact with a Sikh gentleman from Punjab state, India, a hard working cultural Muslim man from Iran and various culturally Muslim men from Bangladesh. My guess is that at least 60% of the people living within a mile of my house are Spanish-speaking cultural Catholics, originally from Mexico or a central American country, and who only speak English when they are at work or out and about around town.

Where you live may not be as ethnically diverse as my community, but it’s probably moving in that direction.

As a follower of Jesus who takes the Bible seriously, I’m not discouraged about the changing ethnic makeup of my community and my country–I’m actually excited about it. Why? Because I’m convinced that the God I serve, the God who has revealed Himself through His written word, is intentionally permitting these precious people from around the world to relocate in to our communities.

And He has already told us what His “end game” plan is going to be. At some point in the future, He will receive worship from at least a portion of every people, tribe, tongue and nation that He originally created to uniquely reflect His glory.

I’m overjoyed at the reality that participation in the Great Commission that Jesus gave to His followers to make disciples from among every ethnic group is no longer limited to those who leave everyone and everything behind and relocate to faraway places for the sake of the Gospel.

Oh, He still calls some of His servants to be missionaries, to leave everything behind and go to those faraway places, and He is still calling the rest of His people to send and care for those who obey and go.

But He is now giving those of us who send and care for missionaries the added opportunity and privilege to participate directly in fulfilling the Great Commission by reaching out with His love and truth to our new neighbors that He is bringing to us from around the world.

In order for us to communicate His love and truth effectively to these precious people who He also created in His image and likeness, but whose cultures are radically different than our own, I believe that God calls us to think about and study what the culture of His Kingdom is, what our own cultural values are, and what the cultural values of our new neighbors are.
When we take the time to do that, we discover that:

. Western culture in general and American culture, specifically, is fundamentally different than both the cultures of the vast majority of the rest of the people that live on this planet, and the cultures and values of the people that are recorded in the Bible.

. By understanding and viewing God’s word and truth it contains through a non-Western lens, we can increase our hunger to worship Him for His goodness and grace for all people, AND our ability to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the most life-changing way possible with those from other cultures.

In my next few posts, I will unpack the first miracle that Jesus did, turning water into wine at a wedding.

But I will do so through the non-Western cultural lens through which those who were there at the time, and the vast majority of the people on our planet today, perceive life through.

Even more importantly, my prayer is that by understanding these things, when given the opportunity, you’ll have the ability to share the Gospel with those from other cultures using an emphasis that you may not currently be familiar with.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do [it].” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw [some] out now, and take [it] to the master of the feast.” And they took [it]. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the [guests] have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him (John 2:1-11).

“Is there one key conviction or one fundamental ingredient that local churches who send well have in common?”

Due to the scope of the ministry the Lord has bestowed on me and the number of relationships I have with leaders of local churches and many of the missionaries from those churches, I’ve been asked that question in one form or another dozens of times over the past few years.

Yes, there is one key ingredient: conviction or mindset that I’ve observed is almost always present in every church I know that sends and actively cares for their own members that God calls to be missionaries.

Although I’ve answered the question in a variety of ways over the years, these days my default answer makes use of an illustration that I first heard many years ago from a friend whose heart beats in unison with mine for God’s glory among the nations.

AN EIGHT-SLICE PIE OF MINISTRY

Think of a local church as an uneaten pie cut into eight equal slices, sitting snugly in the pan it was baked in. The leaders of the church have determined how many slices there are and what ministries each slice represents.

In most churches, the eight-slice pie of ministries looks something like this:

Slice one: Nursery, toddler and children’s ministry through the fifth or sixth grade

Slice two: Junior and senior high school ministry

Slice three: College/young adult ministry

Slice four: Women’s and men’s ministry

Slice five: Small group ministry

Slice six: Outreach (local, domestic, international)

SUNDAY MORNING ADULT SERVICES-TWO OF THE SLICES

Slices seven and eight: Two slices are dedicated to the Sunday morning ministry to adults because the energy and resources committed to make it the best experience possible is substantial.

. From the thoroughly studied and powerfully presented message by the pastor

. To the diligently prayed through song selection and the prepared and rehearsed worship team

. To the faithful, behind the scenes efforts of the audio and visual crew

. To the greeters, ushers and parking lot attendants

The reason why this is true is easy to understand; the Sunday morning adult services receive much more attention than the other ministries because they are usually the first slice of the church’s ministry pie that most visitors will taste.

This reality, coupled with the fact that each of the single-slice ministries are promoted a few times each year from the pulpit during the Sunday morning services, provides a fairly clear declaration that Sunday morning is actually two slices of the church’s ministry pie.

WHEN GLOBAL MISSIONS IS A PART OF ONE OF THE SLICES

In a church where the leaders view the ministry pie in this way, global missions is viewed as part of the “outreach” ministry slice-not significant enough to warrant having a whole slice dedicated to it. And the frequency and number of references to global missions during the Sunday morning adult services reflects the importance the leaders have assigned to it.

Although there are always exceptions, when a local church views global missions as just one part of one of its ministry slices-or even if one whole slice is dedicated to it, the odds are that the missionaries that go to the mission field from that church will be sent, but usually not cared for in a manner worthy of God.

WHEN GLOBAL MISSIONS ISN’T A SLICE, BUT THE PAN THE PIE SITS IN

Keeping the pie illustration in mind, the key conviction or ingredient that churches that send well have in common, isn’t a larger slice or even more slices of the ministry pie dedicated to global missions.

Instead, it’s their view that global missions isn’t a slice of the ministry pie at all; it’s actually the pan the whole ministry pie sits in.

These church leaders and all the members of the church are convinced that participation in God’s global purposes is a foundational reason for their existence and should therefore permeate and give meaning to all of the slices that make up their ministry pie.

All slices of the ministry pie in this kind of church are continually reminded that the church as a whole and their specific ministry serves an important role in what God is doing around the world, and they are also kept aware of the progress God’s kingdom is making among the variety of ethnicities and languages He’s created.

Every ministry slice, including the children’s ministry, knows who the missionaries are that the church supports, especially the church’s own members that have been sent to the field; they are kept updated regularly, and they are praying for them.

When God’s heart for the nations is in the DNA of a local church and global missions isn’t a slice of the ministry pie, but the pan that holds the whole ministry pie together and that every slice rests upon, missionaries will be sent well.

I really like hot sauce. In fact, I recently tried to make my own. I went to the farmers market and bought some seedlings. I planted, watered and tended to my peppers for several months until they were mature for harvesting. After much research, I discovered that fermenting the peppers enhances the flavor so, of course, I chose to go that route. I prepared the brine, added my peppers and began the waiting process. And then, like a very sad anticlimactic twist in my adventure, I heard about botulism (a deadly illness caused by incorrect fermentation). My heart sunk. Had I fermented properly? Was it worth the risk to move forward? Six months later, my potentially poisonous peppers are still fermenting in the corner of the kitchen like a harsh reminder of my unfruitful labors. I haven’t thrown them out. I’m still in denial.

Had I taken the necessary precautions, my story would have ended differently. In the same way, none of us want to invest our hearts, time or money in something that doesn’t have lasting value. When it comes to short-term missions trips, we should carry the same mindset. Having been on both the going and receiving ends of short term teams, I have seen trips that truly benefited the local ministry and trips that were more of a burden than a blessing.

We must aim for the long term benefit of the local ministry. If we don’t, there is a strong chance that we will be left with the question ( What did we really accomplish? ) and be disappointed with the answer. Before you go, ask God how He would use this trip to strengthen the local ministry in a sustainable way.

As we examine fruitful and effective short term missions trips, I think three aspects should be considered: the missionaries, the local church and the native people.

1. The Missionaries

Imagine treading water and trying to juggle at the same time. Welcome to the life of a cross-cultural worker! Missionaries have the unique job of ministering the gospel in a foreign context, and it gets tiring. Remember that most missionaries live on a tight budget and don’t have family around. They often feel isolated and discouraged. Also, don’t forget that missionaries are the ones who stay after your team leaves! When planning a trip, do all that you can to strengthen and refresh them.

Suggestions:

Send a missionary couple on a date while someone watches the kids. This was a huge treat my wife and I enjoyed after eight months of not being on a date.

Relieve them of all financial burdens they wouldn’t have if the team wasn’t there. Pay for their meals at restaurants. You’re probably eating out more than they normally would. If you take the team on a day trip, pay for their gas and tolls.

Take them out for coffee and see how they’re doing. Even missionaries need to be ministered to!

2. The Local Church

Unfortunately, I’ve seen churches on the mission field frequently host teams from abroad to do things that the local believers should be doing. I believe this stunts the growth of the local believers by making them feel inferior or incapable of doing what the teams come to do. It can also communicate an unbiblical dependence on the West to serve and evangelize.

The reality is that the local believers are probably more capable than your team is at communicating the gospel in their context! They know their people, speak their language and remain when the team leaves. During your trip, try to do all you can to include them, encourage them and connect them to the unbelievers you’re ministering to.

Suggestions:

I strongly discourage street witnessing with a translator. Imagine how strange it would be for someone and their translator to approach you on the street like that. Have the translator share the gospel!

Let what you’re doing be a joint effort. Whether you’re doing outreach or working on a building project, involve the members of the local church.

Do something that the local church can’t do by itself. For example, a team from America recently hosted free English classes at our church. Some of our believers and many unbelievers from the city attended. I taught the classes, and the team led small groups and built relationships. At the end of the week, we invited our English learners to a concert where they heard testimonies and a gospel presentation in their language.

The team had a specific purpose in coming. They did something we couldn’t do by ourselves. Most importantly, this event connected unbelievers to our church, and we are still ministering to them.

3. The Native People

I’m not saying that missions teams aren’t important! As foreigners, you will have open doors that the locals won’t; people will be intrigued by your presence. Part of God’s plan is to use His people to share the gospel cross-culturally. Just remember to be sensitive to the culture you’re visiting, and be careful not to be offensive. Also, keep in mind that cultures outside of the West are generally more relational, so take time to talk and get to know people!

Suggestions:

Ask the missionary for cultural do’s and don’ts before you arrive!

Don’t be obnoxious. If you’re coming from America, remember that we tend to be much louder than other cultures. Keep in mind that you are representing the local ministry you’re working with.

Learn some basic phrases in the local language. It shows that you care.

Build relationships as a way to share the gospel with the natives. Remember that these are people, not a task.

In the end, my hope is that these thoughts can help us do short term missions trips even better for the glory of God. May He prepare us for that day when we, with people from all nations, will be worshiping around His throne!

Patrick Johnstone, author of Operation World, will be our keynote speaker for the 2018 Global Missions Conference, happening January 2-5. Registration for the conference is still available!

How will future historians write about the first decade of the 21st century? I reckon they will comment on the massive tectonic shifts in political alignments, economic upheaval, ideological failures, global connectivity, etc. of that decade.

Consider the following:

1. Christianity has become global and indigenous for the first time in history. We have had the greatest ingathering of people into God’s Kingdom ever known. This peaked in the 1990s. I look back over the past 50 years with amazement at all the answers to prayer for Kingdom growth! Most Christians have not realized this was happening because we are too focused on the bad news and the general spiritual decline in the West.

2. There were major breakthroughs in Africa from the 1960s, Latin America in the 1970s, East Asia in the 1980s, the former Communist World in the 1990s, and in some Muslim nations in the 2000s (especially Iran and Algeria).

3. In 1960 there were possibly 43 countries with no known indigenous group of worshiping believers. Now there are less than eight – most very small.

4. The center of gravity of evangelical Christianity has moved from the West to the non-West.In 1960 only 20% of Evangelicals were in the non-Western world; by 2010 this had become over 60%.

5. A global mobilization of missionaries from nearly every country to every country.

The Present Changes

The first decade of this millennium was a time of pivotal change:

• 2000 – The publication of the first full list of the world’s peoples and languages (The World Christian Database, Joshua Project)

• 2001 – “911” and Jihadist Islam’s war on other forms of Islam and also the West is generating massive flows of refugees, a developing Sunni-Shia “Middle East War” leading to a huge disillusionment among Muslims.

• 2003 – The Allied invasion of Iraq with all its strategic mistakes and cultural blunders –marks the beginning of the gradual loss of Western dominance morally, economically and in politics.

• 2005 – Missionaries from Asia, Africa and Latin America became more numerous than those from the West

• 2007 – The year when the majority of the world’s population became urban rather than rural. This will result in 90% of the world’s population in 2100 being city dwellers.

All these are related and deeply impact the way we need to function as missionaries.

The Future Challenges

These developments will mean massive re-thinks of our strategy in:

1. Urban ministry

For years we have focused on the least evangelized people groups in the world. Such unengaged groups today are few and small. During the 21st century the number of languages that will become extinct is estimated to be over 2,000 of the 6,500 spoken today. Children will speak the main languages of the cities. We have to do missions in a different way – mainly through intense, intentional discipling of future leaders. Cities will increasingly be the focus of our ministry.

2. Hostile governments

The decline of Western influence has accelerated. Many Muslim lands ignore the UN Human Rights and religious freedom promises to which they signed up. Since 2015 the governments of China, Russia, India, Nepal, Myanmar (over half the world’s population) have passed legislation limiting or banning evangelism and conversion because they know they will not be challenged by the West or the UN. Persecution of Christians has become widespread – how do we function as a mission force in such a world?

3. Islam

How do we disciple the millions disillusioned with Islam? I reckon that in 1960 there were less than 60,000 believers in the world who had once been Muslim. By 2015 this had risen to probably 10 million. In my home church in England, we are baptizing former Muslims every month – mainly Iranians, Afghans and Kurds.

4. Multicultural teams

How can mission teams from multiple countries work effectively without slowing down the work to cope with our cultural differences? We can only do this by taking our cultural identity to the cross and embracing a biblical Kingdom culture!

Are we ready for these challenges; there is still lots we have to do to evangelize and disciple the 21st century world!

When an individual Christian or the key leaders and members of a local church come to understand the bigger picture of God’s plan for humanity that He has recorded in His written Word, His Spirit will move them to engage at whatever level possible in helping to bring about His endgame of receiving worship from representatives of every people, tribe, tongue and nation that He Himself created.

One simple way to discover the bigger picture, which includes His endgame for humanity, is to freshly examine in chronological order, the central truths communicated at seven key moments from within the real life history He has given us of His interaction with certain individuals and specific groupings of people.

1. Abraham’s Descendants Are Blessed…to Be a Blessing to All People

He told Abraham that He would bless him and his descendants and that they would be the group of people that He chose to be the channel or vehicle of His love and desire to bless people from within all of the ethnic groups that He created (Genesis 12:1-3).

He then repeated His plan to bless Israel and to bless the ethnic groups through them, to Abraham’s son Isaac, and to his grandson, Jacob (Genesis 26:4; 28:14).

2. Israel’s Priestly Role for All Humanity

He told Moses to remind Israel that He had delivered them from bondage in Egypt and that they were a special group of people, a “kingdom of priests” who were in a unique relationship with Him, called to represent Him to all people and groups who were not in the same relationship that they were in and interceded on their behalf to Him (Exodus 19:3-6).

3. A Temple Where More Than Just Israel Worshiped and Prayed

King Solomon, obviously influenced by his father, King David, included a court for the Gentiles as part of the grounds of the first temple constructed in Jerusalem.

With thousands of Jews gathered at the dedication of the temple, Solomon stood on a platform and prayed for God to bless the temple and His people, Israel.

Guided by God’s Spirit, Solomon also declared that non-Jewish people from different countries would hear of God’s greatness and come to the temple to worship and pray to the God of Israel.

What Solomon said next was another window into God’s bigger picture for humanity.

He pleaded with God to not only hear the prayers of these non-Jewish worshipers, but to also answer their prayers so that as they returned home, all of the people of the earth would know Him and fear Him, following Israel’s example (2 Chronicles 6:32,33).

4. A Jewish Baby’s Birth is for the Good of All People

When God sent an angel to announce the birth of Jesus to Jewish shepherds, the angel told them what took place that night was good news that would produce great joy for ALL people, not just Israel (Luke 2:10).

When that angel was joined by a multitude of others, and they all praised God together, they declared that God was glorious and that peace was now embodied on earth as a demonstration of God’s goodwill toward all humanity, not just Israel (Luke 2:14).

5. A Lamb That Takes Away the Sin of Any Member of Humanity

At some point during the height of his ministry, John the Baptist saw and recognized that Jesus was walking toward him.

He immediately invited everyone listening to behold Jesus and declared that Jesus is the Lamb of God that came to take away the sin of the world, not just Israel’s sin (John 1:29).

6. Outward Focus from the Initial Invitation to Follow

In the very sentence in which Jesus called His first disciples to follow Him, He made clear that their relationship with Him was for a purpose larger than their own interests.

Although He was clearly inviting them into a personal, intimate and interactive relationship with Him that would benefit them in ways they never dreamed of, He wanted them to know from the very beginning that the blessing of being in relationship with Him also brings the responsibility and privilege of helping others to enter into the same blessed union with Him that they themselves enjoyed (Matthew 4:19).

7. The Message of His Death and Resurrection Must Go Global

After miraculously appearing to His gathered disciples and eating a few bites of food, Jesus told them the whole Old Testament pointed to Him and then helped them to see and understand the scriptures in a way they never had before.

He then told them that because everything in the Old Testament had to be fulfilled, two key things needed to take place.

First, that He had to suffer and then rise from the dead, which is what they had all just witnessed.

Second, that the message of repentance and remission of sins that are only found in His name must be preached to all ethnic groups wherever they live, even as that message is preached to the people living in their own villages, towns, cities and country.

If They Needed a Fresh Review, What About Us?

Even after almost three years of being with Him on a day to day basis, Jesus had to do a fresh review of God’s Word in order to get them to see the bigger picture of what God was really doing (Luke 24:42-47).

If they needed that kind of review to understand how much global missions matter to God and should matter to His people, a fresh review for believers and local churches in our day is necessary too.

An open letter to Senior Pastors and church leaders about missionaries:

“Brethren,

As a former missionary, church planter and pastor, I’d like to provoke you to think a little deeper about the members of your church that you have sent out as missionaries and/or the missionaries that your church loves and supports financially.

A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT PASTORING

Why do local pastor-specific gatherings take place on a regular basis in almost every town and city around the world? Why do senior pastors’ conferences exist? Why are there online-limited-access groups, chat rooms or bulletin boards for pastors? Why do a number of local churches have board members that are pastors from other churches in other cities or even other states?

Why does a pastor, who needs wisdom and seeks out counsel regarding an aspect of leadership or a major challenge within their church, usually makes a call to someone else who is or has been a pastor at some time in the past? Why do many senior pastors usually let loose with a little chuckle and a grin when one of their assistant pastors has filled in for him while he was on vacation, and then says that he now knows what it’s like to be a senior pastor?

A UNIQUE CALLING WITH UNIQUE CHALLENGES AND STRESSES

Obviously, the underlying answer to all of the above questions is that being a pastor, especially a senior pastor, is a unique calling that brings with it unique challenges and stresses. It is hard for someone who hasn’t been a pastor to understand or relate to.

Even though most pastors have the leaders and certain members of their churches speaking in to their lives in many areas, when it comes to ministry issues or family issues that are tightly connected to ministry, they know that someone else who is or has been a pastor is more likely to be able to relate to them and to provide ministry-specific counsel.

A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT BEING A MISSIONARY

If the questions and observations that I’ve written above have any credence, then I believe pastors and leaders of local churches, especially those from local churches who have sent some of their own members to the mission field, should also consider these questions:

• Is there anything uniquely challenging or stressful about a person receiving and sharing the vision God has given them to become a missionary?

• Is there anything uniquely challenging or stressful about having to trust that God will provide the money to fulfill the vision to be a missionary through churches or brothers and sisters in Jesus that they may or may not have relationship with?

• Is there anything uniquely challenging or stressful about liquidating pretty much every one of their belongings in order to fulfill the vision that God gave them?

• Is there anything uniquely challenging or stressful about disconnecting themselves, their wives and their children from anything or anyone that is familiar and resettling them in a foreign country?

• Is there anything uniquely challenging or stressful about the reality that once they begin living in this other country that if they or their family members need things like medical care or dental care, it is difficult to obtain and is probably of a different quality than what they’ve had access to in the U.S.?

And finally….

• Is there anything uniquely challenging or stressful about learning to live in a completely new culture/environment and a new language at the same time, while they’re trying to help their family adjust, AND engaging in the “ministry” that they’re convinced God called them to?

PASTORING CONTRASTED WITH BEING A MISSIONARY

Here’s where I’m going with this: If we understand our need for pastor-specific ministry and resources because of the unique challenges and stresses we experience, and we justifiably spend time and finances to obtain or receive them, it shouldn’t be too difficult for us to understand the need for missionary-specific ministry and resources, and then to encourage and assist missionaries to receive them.

Having been both a missionary AND a senior pastor at the same time overseas, and a senior pastor of two different churches in the United States, I can tell you by experience that the unique challenges and stresses of being a senior pastor in America, as real as they are, do not compare with the multitude of unique challenges and stresses of living and ministering in a cross-cultural environment outside of this country!

If you’re tracking with what I’m saying–and even if you’re not–-I challenge you to consider doing these things:

1. Begin viewing the missionaries you know with the same level of regard for their unique challenges and stresses as you do your own unique challenges and stresses as a pastor.

2. Increase your personal inventory of understanding of what missionaries experience by doing some specific reading about the subject and pray about having your church leadership do the same.

3. Whenever possible, set up a meeting with someone who is living or has lived on the foreign mission field and ask them to share with you the unique challenges and stresses they faced or are facing.

4. Encourage, and possibly even pay for your missionaries or other missionaries you know to attend missions conferences.

5. Even more importantly, encourage or pay for a missionary to receive the gift of debriefing and to attend one of the many specialized missionary retreats that take place in various parts of our country and around the world.

I could go on and on with things to consider, but I’ll leave it alone for now.

The bottom line is that if we unashamedly recognize the unique challenges and stresses involved with being a pastor, and we seize what’s available to assist and encourage ourselves, shouldn’t we seriously consider encouraging and empowering missionaries to do the same?”

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19 have been the call to missions throughout the history of the Church. It was this verse that captured the heart and mind of a humble English shoemaker named William Carey in 1786 when he first proposed the formation of a missionary society at a meeting of local ministers. Compelled by Jesus’ words, Carey would go on to spearhead the great missionary movement of the 19th Century.

Carey was born in 1761 in a small English village and lived a life of poverty as a shoemaker.

After marrying at age 20, he also opened a school to support his growing family. He led such a life of obscurity that we would never have heard of him were it not for God moving on his heart!

Once William had accepted Christ, his interests began to expand. In his mid-to-late twenties, he started preaching and was named pastor of a small Baptist congregation. He also began to study various academic disciplines, excelling particularly in languages.

After reading about Captain Cook’s exploration of the Pacific, Carey was inspired to research foreign lands and peoples. As he filtered this information through his relationship with God, he realized that these countries represented multitudes of people who were perishing without the knowledge of the Gospel. This so grieved him that he would often break down and cry! Naturally, Carey’s vision expanded as he felt the Lord impress upon his heart the urgent need for foreign missions. He saw explicitly in the Bible God’s desire to make Himself known to all people, and so he confidently set forth to share this vision with the church.

At this time in English church history, it was commonly believed that the call to missions was an apostolic calling that did not apply to the church any longer. When it came to godless nations, God in His sovereignty would save souls in His own way; therefore Christians were free from any responsibility in this regard.

Thus when Carey proposed a missionary enterprise at that meeting in 1786, he was sharply reprimanded with the words, “Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine!” This may shock us as Christians today, but this view persisted for years until Carey published An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use means for the Conversion of the Heathens. In this historic and revolutionary pamphlet, he addressed and confronted major concerns and excuses for not engaging in missions.

By the time the next ministers’ meeting rolled around in May 1792, Carey’s fellow ministers had at last become open to the idea.

Carey delivered a message at this meeting in which he made a famous statement: “EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD. ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD.”

And at last these ministers responded! Not to be overlooked is what a great step of faith this was; these men were poor, slightly educated, humble country ministers with no experience choosing to embark on what was then a virtually unknown venture!

Incredibly, the missionary society established by these humble men became the model for 19th Century missions’ organizations and essentially transformed 19th Century Christianity! Within a few years, all major denominations were inspired to form their own societies.

No wonder it has been said that this missionary venture “restored the Gospel to its central place in Christianity!”

As the Apostle Paul noted in 1 Corinthians 1, God truly has chosen the foolish, the weak, the base things of this world to show His power and glory, and these men in rural England are a beautiful example of this!

Not surprisingly, William Carey eagerly volunteered to be the first missionary sent out, and eventually he and his family departed for India with a man who had lived there previously, Dr. John Thomas. The group set sail on June 13, 1793, and arrived November 19 of that year.

From the start, Carey encountered obstacles, some of which would plague him for years. The East India Company, which monopolized the trade and occupation of India as a British colony, was hostile to “Christianization” and therefore to people like William Carey. The Careys were also ravaged by disease, and some of their children died. Dr. Thomas also proved to be a burden; although he was the mission’s financial manager, he had a habit of overspending and incurring debt, so that within a year he ran the Careys into bankruptcy!

To make matters worse, Carey’s wife began to manifest signs of mental illness following the death of their five-year-old son, Peter, spending the last 12 years of her life totally insane; she maligned William’s character and even chased him with a knife on more than one occasion. Toward the end of her life she had to be restrained in her bed, ranting and raving while Carey attempted to work and study in the next room. It is a testimony to the faithfulness and selfless care of her husband that she was able to stay at home and not be placed in an asylum. Through it all, William persevered in his work; amazingly, he chose never to speak ill of either Dr. Thomas or his wife, but to cast his burdens on the Lord.

What a powerful example of self-control!

Eventually his family moved to Serampore and was joined by new missionary families from back home in England. It was from Serampore that the ministry began to flourish. Together with William Ward and Joshua Marshman, Carey created a hub for Baptist missionary activity in India and became known as one of the greatest missionary teams in history.

Evangelism and preaching the Bible were the priority of the Mission; however, Carey’s first Indian convert did not profess faith until the end of 1800 (after seven years of ministry!). This was largely due to the pervasiveness of the caste system of Hinduism at that time. And yet beginning with this first convert and his household, one by one the Lord added to their numbers as many were emboldened by their fellow Indians to confess Christ. After 25 years of ministry in Serampore, there were about 600 converts with thousands attending services. What’s more, numerous mission stations in various districts of India were established.

As part of propagating the Gospel, Carey was driven by a firm belief in the need to translate the Scriptures into the vernacular of the people. He rightly concluded that once the Gospel transformed individual lives, it would in turn transform the culture as a whole.

For example, Carey’s translation work blew open the doors for written literature in India’s languages. Before he came on the scene, the language of Bengali had no printed literature, so this was a major improvement! Carey even printed secular literature and started the first newspaper ever printed in an oriental language. He thus paved the way for Bengali to become one of India’s primary languages. During his 35 years in Serampore, Carey made three translations of the entire Bible as well as multiple partial translations into a variety of languages and dialects.

By 1801 the British authorities discovered Carey’s translation work.

When they saw that he was not a political threat, they asked him to become the Professor of Oriental Languages at Fort William College in Calcutta, now Kolkota. Rather lofty for a self-educated shoemaker! Carey contributed greatly to secular and religious literature translation at Fort William. He also founded many schools throughout the country, including Serampore College in 1819, which trained up Indian nationals in evangelism and church planting. What’s more, his schools were some of the first in India to educate girls.

Although Carey loved and respected the Indian culture, he also worked to have horrific superstitious practices abolished, including sacrificing children to the gods, burning widows alive with their dead husbands, and burying widows alive. Carey petitioned the British government repeatedly for the abolition of such rituals, but it took at least 30 years for any legislation to be enacted! Yet when the final edict passed, the British Governor asked Carey to translate it! Undoubtedly, Carey found a way to bring the influence of the Gospel into every area, even when it came to science! Because he knew that astrology had a powerful grip on the Indian people, he introduced astronomy in his schools to demonstrate that the stars did not dictate human life, but were created by God and could be used for purposes such as navigation. As an avid botanist, Carey became the first person in India to develop forestry conservation as well as much of India’s agriculture and horticulture; there are even plant species named after him! By showing the nobility of God’s creation, he was able to help free people from superstition regarding reincarnation, which taught that some creatures were “souls in bondage,” and point them instead to their Creator.

As we can see through his contributions to India’s literature, education, legislation, and science, William Carey’s Christianity affected all areas of Indian culture.

Because he brought the Lord into everything he did, it affected everything he did!

He had a heart to see entire nations changed by the Gospel holistically—and it happened! He thus served as a model for future generations. Significantly, Peter Hammond noted of 19th Century missionaries “how comprehensively they sought to fulfill the Great Commission by ministering to body, mind and spirit. Their aim was nothing less than the total transformation of all areas of life in obedience to the Lordship of Christ.”¹

William Carey is indeed a powerful example of perseverance and confidence in the power of the Gospel. In times of great difficulty and little fruit, when many would give up or be counted a failure, he chose to cast every burden on the Lord and plod along with his eyes fixed on Jesus and His Great Commission. Although he has fittingly been named the “Father of Modern Missions,” at the end of his life he said, “Though I am of little use, I feel a pleasure in doing the little that I can. When I’m gone, say nothing about Dr. Carey—speak about Dr. Carey’s Savior.”

Enjoy the first article in this missionary biography series entitled, “How We Know Our God Determines How We Live Our Lives”.

¹ Peter Hammond, The Greatest Century of Missions

Looking back at Luke 9:1-17, I want to focus on the flow of the ministry of Jesus in the region of Galilee. His public ministry there started when He went to two sets of brothers who were engaged in a profitable fishing business on the Sea of Galilee. He went to Peter and Andrew — and then James and John. He told them to leave their nets and follow Him. So with those four guys He went about Galilee, preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God, working miracles and delivering people from demonic oppression and possession. As a result of that first season of preaching, a huge number of people started to follow Jesus. At the end of that first season, we remember how Jesus went up into a high place to pray — and when He came down, He chose from that large number of people eight more men to be with Him so that He might send them. Remember the title He gave to them? “Apostles” — which means “sent ones.”

In the second season of Galilean ministry, He brought those 12 guys with Him everywhere! They watched Jesus and learned from Jesus in every single context of life. Imagine what that was like! Watching His every move — listening to everything He said — how He said it — how He communicated — who He said it to. They watched everything He did — who He did it for — how He did it.

The disciples came to know the ebb and flow of the life of God incarnate.

They came to know what things His heart beat after because Jesus said — “You guys come and live with Me, eat with Me, talk with Me — observe everything about My life!”

TWO THINGS in all of that:
1. THAT is how WE become disciples of Jesus. “Take My yoke upon you and LEARN OF ME.” Obviously — we can’t observe Jesus like those guys did. But the Holy Spirit inspired some of those men to record what they saw Jesus do and heard Jesus say. We learn of Jesus in the pages in the Gospel. THAT is why we place such an emphasis on the teaching and the study of the Word of God.
2. Jesus is the ULTIMATE teacher — and if we want to be faithful and fruitful in the Great Commission to, “go into all the world and make disciples of all men” — THAT is how it’s done. Many Christians think of discipleship as a packet of information to be deposited into new believers — as a curriculum to study — finish the curriculum, and you are an official disciple of Jesus. I’m not saying information and curriculum have no role in that process. But I believe that Jesus demonstrated that the best way to make disciples is to open up our lives to men and women. Parents — raising children is the ultimate discipleship opportunity! They are watching your every single move.

But here in Luke 9 we come to the third season of Galilean ministry, and it starts with Jesus calling those 12 and sending THEM out.

Matthew tells us in his account of the life and mission of Jesus that, “When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities”(Matthew 11:1). It appears that the 12 didn’t go to their own hometowns and that while the 12 were going into these other towns and villages, Jesus went to their hometowns. After the 12 returned to Jesus, they’re were to debrief and take a trip to a deserted area where Jesus performed a miracle and fed the 5,000 — and then — a little further on in the Gospel of Luke — Jesus took a team of 72 disciples and sent them out two by two to proclaim the Gospel.

I don’t want us to miss this: Jesus was very intentional — very strategic. Round 1: Jesus started with four guys. Round 2: Jesus added eight —taught them. Round 3 (which is the last year ministry before Jesus dies on the cross for the sins of the world): Jesus gives the 12 hands-on experiences. Jesus had a plan within the plan of the cross and resurrection.
“Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.” –– C.S. Lewis

He trained those men for the day that He would return to heaven and send the Holy Spirit upon them, in which He would continue His work on earth through THEM — through US!

He prepared them for the time when they could no longer watch Jesus go and proclaim the Gospel and heal the sick. He prepared them for the time when Jesus would go through them. The church (you and me) is the Body of Jesus on earth —and through the members of His body He brings men and women to saving faith in Him! “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.”

Jesus gave to them POWER — the ability to do and AUTHORITY —the PERMISSION to do. This is so absolutely amazing. When we think of this batch of men, it is shocking that Jesus would give them anything, let alone power and authority.

It begs the question: WHY would Jesus do that?

FIRST — Gospel work is God work. It is beyond the power of man to convict a person of sin and cause them to be saved. Such work requires the power of God!

SECOND — He did that so we would be left with absolutely no doubt about what He has to work with. It is amazing that Jesus would give ME or give YOU power and His authority! This mission moment is the living illustration of how God deposits His power and authority in jars of clay!

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

It’s not about the vessel — it’s about the power of God and the message the vessel contains. Jesus gave them AUTHORITY — the permission to do — the specific work He was sending them to do. After the Cross and resurrection, and before He ascended into heaven, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples…”(Matthew 28:18-19).

In other words — the authority that we have to do what we do when we gather as the church to worship Jesus and study the Bible — the authority that we have to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples — is not from Washington D.C. or Sacramento, CA, or even from our downtown Civic Center. It is permission given from Jesus to exercise the divine enabling to proclaim the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God.

Name: Sarah Yardley
Family: I am the oldest of 7, and adore my siblings. My parents came to know Christ before I was born and raised me in faith.
Years Born-again: 32 years
Years in Ministry: 16 years
Ministry Experience: Servant, women’s ministry, children’s ministry, missions/outreach, events coordination, administration, resource production and distribution, volunteer coordinator.
Current Ministry Role & Location of Local Church: Festival Coordinator, Creation Fest. Local church is Tubestation in Polzeath, Cornwall, England.
Church Website & Social Media Contact Information: Twitter: @yardleysarah Facebook: Facebook.com/sarahyardley, Instagram @sarahyardley

What is the greatest life lesson the Lord has taught you recently?

This past year has been one of tremendous personal and spiritual growth. It’s difficult to choose just one lesson. Perhaps the most significant is the one He teaches me over and over, my whole life long:

I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

There are and always will be places where I fail, fall, learn, repent. By the grace of God, my actions will never change His love for me. His redemption is daily at work in my life, not just to redeem my soul, but even to redeem every moment of every day. The work of redemption is greater than I ever realized before.

What is the greatest ministry lesson the Lord has taught you recently?

It’s not about the moment. It’s about our lives.

Our tendency is always to focus on the moment. Social media has only amplified this tendency. We capture a snapshot, apply a filter, write a witty caption, share it with others, and we can tangibly measure how much people like that moment.

It’s fairly easy to take a nice picture and filter what we share. But the reality is: no picture can capture the beauty of long-term faithfulness. No photo can reflect sacrificial love. Our calling is to live for an eternal kingdom. Our moments should be a reflection, the echo, of a lifelong character.

What are you looking forward to most at the CC Missions Conference?

I love the conversations at these conferences. I’m thankful for the teaching, the worship, the coffee shop, the resources, but I love most the individual, life-shaping conversations. I remember so many ways this conference shaped my own life and calling to missions. I am deeply honored to share a bit of my story this year. I pray that it can be used to speak of the love and grace of Jesus to this generation of missionaries.

What topic are you teaching on at the conference?

The Gospel
Of the Kingdom
Must be proclaimed
As a testimony
To all nations
And then the end will come.

Handily, it’s the theme. My message, summed up in a sentence: Let all we do begin with a great love for Jesus (because He loves us).

Words are powerful. They give meaning and value and relay a variety of information and ideas to the listener. Words are the building blocks of language and carry the potential to enhance or dampen human relationships. Without the use of words vibrating off of our tongues and sending our conceptual thoughts into the air and then landing on an open ear-way, life as we know it would end up being more shallow, suspect, and overall, silenced, wouldn’t you say? Wait! You need words to answer that!

The Bible teaches, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Col. 4:6 NKJV).

As a church planter, pastor, and evangelist, I certainly love to jump on any opportunity to share the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. I am convinced that words carry great influence to change lives and bring people together, unless, of course, a language barrier gets in the way.

It has been said that the message given is not always the message received. Without a common language, our words may mean something very different to those we are speaking. Thus, words conceived still need to be received. You understand? Comprende? Capisce? Comprenez vous?

Language barrier is not limited to people who speak different languages but includes those of the same language who come from two entirely different cultures. Diverse cultures create certain barriers that give way to the same words having different meanings and causing different reactions. In Isaiah 36:11, we see that the men representing King Hezekiah were concerned about the reaction of the people, so they asked the Assyrian commander to speak only in Aramaic instead of the Judean or Hebrew language.

After eight years of serving the Lord in Cambridge, England, I learned that the English and the Americans are separated by more than just a large body of water, but by a more complex river that fragments with a common language. It seems that new words and meanings are always floating to the surface. For example, I have learned to say “trousers” instead of “pants”, since pants refer to undergarments to the English. I often say “mate” as an affectionate term instead of “bro” or “buddy,” which I had grown up with. I have also learned to use the Queen’s English when writing and to adjust my ways of communicating by lowering my volume, being more selective in my language, and sometimes even ending my statements with the British proverbial question, “Isn’t it?”

In order to adapt to the culture we live in, we must turn barriers into evangelistic opportunities. When a Brit hears my accent, I am often asked what brought me over to England. This serves as a great open door for any foreigner to share their faith and to connect people with the real Jesus that religious facades often misrepresent. Thus, my intention is not to interfere with daily life but to influence daily life with the authentic reality of Christ.

Regardless of our cultural background, we must fully embrace our new identity in Christ and replace our former ways of thinking. We must learn to adjust our background, beliefs, and behaviors to what the Bible says, and not the other way around. Since Jesus came to the earth as the servant of all (although He was a true citizen of heaven), we must follow His example and take the lowliest position to reach people from every walk of life.

The apostle Paul understood this well when he wrote, “Although I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant of all, that I might win the more” (1 Cor. 9:19). I had to learn to be like the “Brit” to win the “Brit”. If we are to win souls in cross-cultural situations, we need to distinguish what the Bible actually teaches from what our cultural lens sometimes assumes the Bible is teaching.

When sharing Christ in foreign countries, I have learned to speak more slowly, simply, and clearly for my message to properly translate. When Christ’s love and cultural alertness are joined together, we are able to bridge the gap of any cultural divide.

Here are a few essential tips in overcoming language barriers.

1. LEARN, OBSERVE, AND LISTEN TO THE LANGUAGE OF THE CULTURE (LOL).

In order to avoid offending someone or causing someone to laugh out loud, try this version of LOL instead, and find out what people are saying, what they value, and the meaning behind unfamiliar words.

2. HONOR OTHERS AND “BEND” TO THEIR CULTURE.

As a foreigner, you will never be able to perfectly blend into the culture since your differences will always stand out to the locals. But you must learn to bend to the culture by intentionally respecting its values, even when people automatically stereotype you up as soon as you open your mouth. The Proverbs tell us that “before honor is humility” (Prov. 18:12 NKJV), so humbly seek to treat people the way you want to be treated and greeted––with respect and honor.

3. POINT PEOPLE TO YOUR CHRIST RATHER THAN YOUR COUNTRY.

Do not try to make people become more like you or the culture from which you came, but seek to make them more like the Jesus you worship. Your calling is to make them citizens of heaven, not your country on earth. So don’t draw additional attention to your cultural background and preferences.

4. ABOVE ALL, VALUE THEM AS THE OBJECTS OF CHRIST’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

As Romans 14:15 reminds us, “Do not destroy with your food [or whatever] the one for whom Christ died.” It is easy to get irritated by cultural differences, but we must see cross-cultural experiences as an opportunity for the love of Christ to supersede our own preferences and comfort zones. We must believe that “love bears all things” and “never fails” (1 Cor. 13:7-8). Isn’t this what Jesus modeled for us? He left His glorious throne in heaven to dwell among fallen sinners on earth to reconcile us to God so that we “through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).

The gospel truly breaks through every language barrier and rolls every stone away so that the living Christ can be seen and praised in every tribe, tongue and nation. The message of the cross is the only cross-cultural message that breaks the greatest of all barriers, which is sin, bringing eternal life to all who put their trust in Him.

Now that’s a word the whole world needs to hear!

Modern churches may question the necessity of international missions outreach. After all, isn’t it enough that we reach our local community for Christ? Is it important for every local church to reach beyond its neighborhood to bring the message of Christ to the world? These are good questions for discussion.

I believe missions are the life-blood of the church. Individual Christians and local churches alike will become stagnant without outreach. As God pours into us His riches (His Word, His Spirit, and His great love) we must pour out His goodness back into the lives of others or we will not be revitalized. When missions take a back seat in a church’s priorities and functions, it is because the heart of the church has drifted from the God-given purpose for its existence.

The mission (singular) of God.

What we normally think of as “missions” in the church could be more accurately referred to as simply the mission (singular) of God. The missional heart of God is seen in the example of the Father in sending Jesus. As Philippians chapter two instructs us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” who left the glory of heaven to come to this stinky earth to rescue people! The very nature of God leads his church to giving itself to a hurting world. The very nature of God is to seek and save the lost.

Jesus told us that His mission was to be lived out through His body, the church. He said in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, “you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Therefore, true missions take place not only in our backyard, but also to foreign peoples in distant lands. It is incredibly important for the pulse of every church to have the heart of a missionary. Worldwide mission is the very heartbeat of the gospel itself, to carry the good news of Christ to our neighbor and to the ends of the earth.

A gospel-centered church cannot be anything but a missions-centered church.

Every healthy church has a dynamic of outreach that we call missions. A gospel-centered church cannot be anything but a missions-centered church. A church that focuses only on meeting the needs of its local members has become more like a club. When we turn inward, we become ill with the disease of self-absorption. In economic downturns many churches cut missions budgets, but it is important to remember to stay true to the heart of a God-on-mission when we consider our church budgets.

Jesus’ remedy to those that find themselves having turned inward.

Jesus’ remedy to those that find themselves having turned inward is to “lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest” (John 4:35). He also says, “Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt 9:38). So let’s look and pray for missionaries in God’s fields.

Recently the world population exceeded seven billion people! Astonishingly, just less than 50% of the world’s largest people groups remain un-evangelized according to the World Christian Database. Obviously, the need is very great for churches to keep international missions at the core of their values. It’s important for church leaders, to prayerfully identify, send and support missionaries with as much conviction as anything else the church sees as relevant. In doing so, we model that single mission of God that has never wavered.