So, Why Did You Come Here?

A few years ago I interviewed one of our church’s key national partners from East Asia.  At one point, I asked her to explain what types of foreign missionaries are most helpful to the house church movements in her area.  This led to a very lively and informative conversation that was educational to us all in moving forward together with greater understanding.

Her basic question for missionaries, particularly Americans, was, “why did you come here?”  Then, her explanation was broken down into residential missionaries and temporary missionaries.  The basic positives and negatives had to do with purpose, resolve and effectiveness.  Her concerns and advice were not hers alone but shared by many others in her location.  Here is a sampling of the commentary.

The Straight-Talk

As an evangelist and church planter at heart, her frustration with residential missionaries was that many she knew didn’t seem to really do a whole lot to advance the overall mission.  Some were so fearful of losing visa status that they rarely did the work of a missionary, at best providing quality of life services from a Christian perspective, which was okay but not highly strategic.  Others seemed to be just living out the American dream in another culture and inadvertently drawing young national believers into the largely timid and pragmatic American Christianity and out from the rigorous work of the mission.  

When it came to temporary teams, she was most unimpressed with those who would come and do anything and everything but share the Gospel and plant churches.  “Why else come over here?!”  It is a lot of effort to expend just to get a cross-cultural experience, or share a skill or a seminar already possessed by the host country.  And even when doing evangelism, often places would be selected where the national church was already making significant inroads and foreigners simply slowed down the work.  

What she saw as most helpful were those missionaries, residential and non-residential, who sought to understand the context and were willing to do whatever it would take to move the mission forward.  Sometimes this might involve ministering together, or sharing resources; at other times it might involve training or coaching.  The real list could be quite lengthy and costly.  But it would always involve a genuine relationship and partnering together in prayer and long-term strategic thinking together about what could best be done together.

The Even Better Future

That was an eye-opening evening hearing straight talk from someone we loved and whom we knew loved us.  And it was also helpful for her to hear our perspective, Gospel hopes and commitment to grow and learn together as we moved forward in ministry together.  

Making such conversations part of planning with our partners will lead to greater effectiveness and the development of longer-lasting partnerships with purpose.

It is all about gaining a better understanding of what would be most helpful in a specific ministry environment at any given time.  We need teams that move the ball down the field.  We need to fit into the vision.  We need to move with purpose.  We need to live with intention.  We need to measure effectiveness.  We need to get honest input from national partners for improvements.  My friend was right, it really does all boil down to the question, “why did you come here?”  

May we continue to think, plan and work strategically in terms of more powerful helpfulness to the mission and service to our friends and partners.