Short-Term Missions: Valuable or a Waste?

A few years ago, before I ventured out on my own short-term mission trip, I knew of someone who went on a short-term trip. He declared it, upon his return, a waste of time and money. At the time I became concerned as I was actively fundraising for my own upcoming trip. The reasons he gave for his disappointment in the trip didn’t seem to ring true but what did I know? I had never gone before.



Then I went on my trip. And it became clear to me. He didn’t get “it”. Maybe he didn’t want to or maybe something blocked him from getting “it” but he didn’t. Years later I look back, after having gone on a second trip and wanting to go other places, and I realize that what he really didn’t get was God’s heart. He didn’t operate with God’s heart, God’s eyes, God’s hands, God’s feet. He had to have been operating with his flesh and his own expectations and opinions. (Sounds judgemental of me right?  I know but keep reading and hopefully you'll see my heart.)  In The Message Matthew 5:8 says, "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” We can’t be the hands and feet of Jesus until we are right with God in our own hearts and minds about the works of God. This means we can’t go anywhere, even within our own cities, to do God’s work if we have ideas of our own. We will declare it a waste of time and money in the end.


When we go on a mission that is God ordained but we go in our own flesh then we will come back from it declaring it to be a waste of time and money. When we go on a mission that is God ordained and go indwelt by the Holy Spirit then we will come back from it declaring that God’s people are valuable and worth our time and money.


I’ve firmly set up camp on the side that short-term missions is valuable, perhaps I would go as far as to say vital, to the life of a believer. Why? What’s the big deal? Shouldn’t we be concerned about the people across the street from us? Let me answer those questions starting with the last one first.


Yes, we should be concerned about the person across the street but be honest. Are you? Or do you like throwing that out there as a reason to not think about the heart of God? See, I think the majority of church goers like to use their own streets, cities, states, and country as their handy excuse to not really become God’s hands and feet. Why would I say something so…so harsh?! Because actions, or lack thereof, speak way louder than words my friends. If you were really concerned about your street, your city, your state, and your country you would be doing something to show it. You would be extending yourself in some way to put action to your words. Just sayin’.


What’s the big deal? Well, the “least of these” holds a big part of God’s heart. And he invites us to interact with them and be him to them. (Try saying that fast three times!) This usually leads to a sub-question: If God cares so much about people in poverty situations then why does he allow it to go on? God has never made it a secret that there would always be poverty among us. (Deuteronomy 15) And God’s definition of poverty is a complete definition whereas ours is incomplete. Poverty in God’s dictionary is defined as not just a material lack but a spiritual, emotional, and mental lack as well. So even if material poverty was eradicated there would still be some other kind of poverty to address. God cares about the whole of a person and he invites us to care about the whole of people as well. It’s a big deal.


Why? Why do I see short-term missions as vital to the life of a believer? Because I look around the Church and I see a lack. A lack of compassion, a lack of submission, a lack of availability, a lack of trust, a lack of grace, a lack of mercy, a lack of genuine love, a lack of depth, a lack of understanding, a lack of relationship. Well. Am I saying there isn’t anything good in the Church? Noooo…not exactly. But in America there is a famine in the Church. We have allowed the world to suck us dry of God’s heart. Think I’m being too harsh? Take an honest look around on Sunday morning at your place of worship. And before you look at others around you take a good honest look at yourself. Ask yourself: What do I really value? Where am I extending myself and considering others before me? Do I pray to God about me, me, me or him? Is my church’s focus on entertainment or God’s standards? Does the Holy Spirit get preference or do the egos of the people in the congregation?


Still think I’m being too harsh?


Short-term missions to a third world country, and/or to a culture (I’m thinking of Indian Reservations here in America and Canada) that doesn’t contain the luxuries we think are necessities begins to highlight the lacks I mentioned above and begins to open the eyes of the heart to God’s standards rather than our own. See, we have tried to make our standards sound like they are God’s. We may be able to get away with that with each other but God doesn’t allow anyone to get away with it. So when God takes us out of our comfort zone and places us in a country or culture that highlights the lacks of our own hearts it’s as if we suddenly can see what he’s talking about in his word. Oh sure, we know what he means, in theory, when he says something like, “Give a cup of water in my name” but do we know what it means to actually DO that? A short-term mission puts us out there, lets us see that we can no longer just talk about it – it means more to do it. Short-term missions show us that to have real impact we must shut our mouths and start moving our feet and extending our hands. We talk too much. We sit around in small groups, focus groups, leadership groups, and many other kinds of groups and we talk. We talk about what to do, how to do, when to do, is it convenient to do, is it realistic to do, and by the time we get to the actual doing the opportunity is gone. It has either been taken care of by someone else who got it or the need disappeared. We miss blessing God because we are too busy trying to figure out if it is convenient. Newsflash: The work God asks us to do on his behalf will NEVER be convenient for us. Never. Want to know why? Because usually it is something that interrupts our lives. Usually it is something that makes us feel uncomfortable. Usually it is something that highlights our need for his power and we don’t like feeling powerless. Usually it is something that cannot take place unless we rely solely on the Holy Spirit. And let’s face it. We don’t want to have to rely on God; we like to rely on him when we choose to, not when we have to. I’m just being honest here. If you feel offended by that then check yourself. I mean really check yourself and see if what I have said bears any truth in your own heart. I don’t need a report back; this is about you and God.


How do you want to stand before God? With a comfortable faith that sat in a pew for years or with a faith that was refined and tested through putting yourself out there to be the hands and feet of the One you claimed faith in? “But Beth. Not everyone can do that. I mean physically not everyone is able to be the hands and feet of Jesus.” Really? What about Joni Erickson Tada? What about Nick Vujicic? Just to name a few. :)  Gotcha didn’t I? (Trust me. It got me long before it made it here to this post.) God didn’t call us to the pews. He, in fact, calls us out of the pews. What are the pews for? To get equipped to get out of them! “Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) See that last line? Just in case you missed it, here it is again. “THROUGH THE WORD WE ARE PUT TOGETHER AND SHAPED UP FOR THE TASKS GOD HAS FOR US.” Well, I’m pretty sure the tasks he has for us don’t stop at sitting in a pew. If someone like Nick Vujicic, who literally has no hands and feet, can and does go out into the world to be hands and feet for Jesus then surely the majority of us who have hands and feet can go out as well. Don’t you think? “But Beth. My Doctor told me to not be on a plane for more than 4 hours because of XYZ problems I have.” Okay. Can you drive down the road to your local soup kitchen or homeless shelter or pregnancy center or you fill in the blank and serve there? The point is this – GET OUT OF THE PEW. :)


Let me put to rest another argument about going to third world countries or other cultures that I have heard recently. Many church-going people like to use the need evident in our own country as an excuse to not engage in the world’s poverty. Okay. I’ll give them points on recognizing that we have poverty issues here in the USA as well. But. (Ha, you totally knew that was coming right?) Here’s what we have that third world countries don’t. We have programs (food stamps, welfare), we have soup kitchens, we have shelters, we have resources. Simply put we have ways to meet the needs that nobody else does. And I think that this excuse that church-going people use belongs in the same category as the excuse mentioned above about neighbors across the street. And why are church-going people who seem to read their bibles at least once a week even trying to cop out with that excuse? I can think of several reasons why. Laziness, apathy, fear, ignorance. I probably don’t need to continue do I?


I know.


It’s irritating that I am talking about this…this…this topic! (I mean, don’t I know how uncomfortable it makes us to talk about *lower voice* poor people?!)


It’s frustrating that I am shining light on the secret thoughts all of us have entertained at least once in our lives.


It’s maddening that I am telling us to take a risk.


I mean, I cannot believe I said what I did about churches talking too much! Can I say that?


You bet. And I’ll say it again and again and again. As long as God compels me to. You know why? Because he has asked us to extend a cup of water (and more) in his name and we can’t be sitting in a pew and doing it. We have to engage in this world and in the work God is doing in this world.


Valuable = Walking in obedience and faith to the mandates of God, allowing our faith to be refined however God sees fit.


Waste = Padding ourselves with comfortable pews and nice sanctuaries and growth groups, all of which serve as replacements for the abundant life God wants for us. (Oh I totally offended some of you just now. I know I did! But I can’t apologize for it. We don’t have to agree on all things so if you can still love me despite my offense that I just dealt you then cool. If not, well I’ll understand. It’s hard stuff to hear, process, and accept.)


Because I care about you, because I want to see you have a vibrant and abundant life in God would you do something?  Would you ask God today how you can be his hands and feet?  And then would you be open to his answer (even if it seems scary or unrealistic to you)?  And then would you actually pursue fulfilling his desire for you? Thanks.  The people who you are going to touch with Jesus thank you.  It'll be worth it to get out of the pew.  I promise. 

Anoint

Oil. It’s used for many things. Cooking, moisturizing, lubricating, and anointing. I’m sure there are other uses but those are the ones that come immediately to mind. What I’ve been thinking about lately though is the kind of oil used for anointing purposes. Here in America, or in the circles I run around in at least, we use oil as more of a symbolism. A tiny dab on the forehead and a prayer whispered for healing or consecration. The dab is pretty much dry by the time the prayer has been uttered and the person returns to their seat.





But I got to see firsthand oil used in a greater capacity than just a tiny dab.


Our first Sunday in Mathare Valley (June 2009) found us sitting with our Kenyan brothers and sisters worshipping together as one, each of us in our own language. It was a great service, an especially meaningful time of worshipping the Creator as one Body. This was also the Sunday that Pastor Karau decided to anoint two other Pastors into service for the Body at large, for the people of Mathare Worship Center and the surrounding slum community. In this anointing he asked our Pastor, Al Pittman, to participate and to be the one who prayed over these Pastors.


{Now let me just depart Kenya for a moment and return to America and its practices. I have seen Pastors ordained and it’s this 2 minute thing on a Sunday morning during announcements and the Senior Pastor lays hands on the newly ordained Pastor and his wife and prays over them and everyone claps politely and we go about our nice service. Right? In the majority of evangelical churches this is how it’s done. There will be a few that depart from that formula but they are the exception not the rule. Okay, so that’s the norm for our experiences in Pastors being ordained. That being made clear let’s return to Kenyan experience.}

Pastor Karau called up the one of the two Pastors being anointed, or ordained, that day. The wife came with her husband, the Pastor. Because if one is called then they are both called. They knelt down in front of Pastor Karau, and for this occasion Pastor Al as well. A towel was placed around their shoulders to protect their clothing. This should have been a huge clue to me yet I still didn’t “get” it. The oil was brought forth and began to flow over the heads of both the Pastor and his wife. I’m not talking dabs here, I’m talking a steady flow pouring over the tops of their heads and running down over their faces, down their necks and soaking into the towels. While the oil is flowing Pastor Karau starts praying over the couple. Loudly. With affection, exhortation, affirmation, challenge, and consecration. This was a serious moment, a moment that was not to be taken lightly or without reverence. The congregation responded in appropriate manner, with an understanding that “this” was serious. “This” being the business of consecrating someone for the sacred work of God. I’m not sure that at first any of us Americans knew what to think. But by the time Pastor Al started praying over the first couple we had gotten over the “looksies” and the discomfort of the differences and had bowed our heads in response to this moment that we were being privileged to bear witness to. It was…powerful. Consecration is nothing to play around with. Setting yourself aside for the sake of a cause or a creed is saying that you recognize that the universe doesn’t circle around you. After the first couple was thoroughly prayed over and for they called up the second couple and did the same thing. People, this was NOT some 2 minute thing during announcements. This was the service after the service! This was recognition that these four people were making a choice to dedicate their lives, their very selves to the work and Kingdom of God. And we got to witness this covenant occasion because it was a covenant agreement that they entered into. The next Sunday saw us bear witness to Round Two! We traveled about 4 hours outside of Nairobi to Weru and again watched our American and Kenyan Pastors anoint into service another Pastor.

These ceremonies had a profound impact on each of us. I feel pretty certain that none of us had ever realized the seriousness of such a commission, the sacredness of the call, the value in the anointing. Oh we say we do but do we? Do we really get “it”? No. I’ll be honest for the majority. No, we don’t get “it”. How can I know that? Because if we really got “it” we would give it more than 2 minutes during Sunday morning announcements. We would be okay with it being the service rather than the schedule we have been following for years. I’ll be honest. I would have been good with the consecration ceremony; we could have foregone the actual “real” service that day because that consecration was real enough for me! Sometimes we should throw schedules out the door (GASP! A “Type A” that thinks that? Says that?) and go with the lead of the Spirit. And we say we do but we don’t really. We don’t. It’s time to start being real about this stuff.


I wonder about my Kenyan family when they come here to America and attend our churches. Do they feel stifled? Do they feel constrained by the schedule, oh I’m sorry, the “order of service”? I may sound sarcastic here and there is a bit of that tingeing my words but I’m also being very serious. I think we may have taken the directive from God to keep everything orderly a bit too far. Seems to me we have taken it so far that now there is no room for movement of the Holy Spirit. What if worship is movin’ and groovin’ and there is a heavy presence of God but oh, 20 minutes is up so we have to stop the movement of the Spirit so we can keep to our “order of service”. Wow. I’m pretty certain that God didn’t mean that we should be keeping things THAT orderly. Experiencing worship at Mathare Worship Center has filled me, while there, with deep satisfaction that I worshipped God. Experiencing worship, while here in the United States, has filled me with a deep hunger to worship without “order of service” dictating the worship. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying anything negative about my church or the American church necessarily. It sounds like it, I know. But I’m really not. I’m just experiencing a shift in my expression of worship and my experiences in Kenya have played a huge role in the shifting. I have found myself longing for my Kenyan church more and more as this shift happens within me. The amazing thing is that my American church and my Kenyan church are intertwined, partnering with each other and so both feel like home. My Pastors are solid teachers of the Word and the worship leaders at both churches are amazing but in America we have an order of service that we strictly adhere to and in Kenya there’s an order of service but there is also room for change, for a different direction if necessary. In any American church that I have ever attended that has not been the case.


I went off on a small rabbit trail so I’ll veer back on course. :) 


Anointing. In the Old Testament it is a ceremony mostly reserved for Priests and consecrating of God’s chosen for positions of royalty. But in the New Testament it becomes something for all because the temple curtain tore in two from top to bottom and gave us access to God like had never been available before. (Matthew 27:50-51) In fact, Paul in 2 Corinthians affirms that we are all anointed by God when we accept him, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (1:21-22) Other versions point to anointing as a commissioning. This keeps in line with what the purpose of anointing is. It is to commission one to act on behalf of the Commissioner. And because of what Jesus did on the cross on behalf of the Father for us (Get it? He was anointed to do that work, i.e. commissioned – Isaiah 61:1-3), we are anointed by God when we accept the gift of salvation offered through Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. And notice what comes along with that anointing…the Spirit. So as it turns out perhaps my rabbit trail wasn’t really one at all. We cannot live in our anointing without the Holy Spirit. They are a package deal, so to speak. If we forget to rely on the Holy Spirit then our anointing becomes ineffective. Ever get a whiff of oil that has gone rancid? ICK. That’s what happens to us when we forget to let the Holy Spirit direct our comings and goings. Our anointing can get rancid and then we become ineffective.


All this points to the seriousness, the sacredness, and the value of the anointing of God. Where God and His Spirit are involved there should be a reverence of that moment. Not all of us are going to have a ceremony where oil is literally poured over our heads but that doesn’t mean that the anointing we have received from God is any less significant. Figuratively he has poured oil over our heads and it has trickled down our faces, over our shoulders and covered our hearts. It is a sign of his seal on our lives, and it is the symbol of the Holy Spirit directing our personal and spiritual actions.


The Pastors that we witnessed entering into covenant agreement with God through the anointing they received from Pastor Al and Pastor Karau?  They haven't allowed the oil to go rancid.  They consistently and continually rely on the direction of the Holy Spirit as they minister to the church Body and to the slum community around them.  If the Spirit interrupts their plans for His plans they go with the flow.  Because of their willingness to be led by the Spirit there has been great increase in Mathare Valley and Weru.  It has been a blessing to watch the Lord's work get accomplished through these couples who so publicly, and privately, consecrated themselves to a work so much bigger than them knowing that the Spirit would lead them where they need to go.  It has served to be an example for me to look to as I consider my anointing from God and the directions the Spirit is pointing me in.  Once again the Lord has used my experiences in Kenya in ways I never anticipated but am so grateful for!