Nine Ways To Make Gospel Slaves

I have heard many painful stories from dear national partners these past few years about unhealthy cross-cultural mission partnerships.  They want to work with the friendly and confident foreign missionaries, but so often over time it has led to loss of effectiveness and severe disappointment.  

One national partner friend of mine recently described her and her colleagues situation as being “gospel slaves” for the foreign missionaries.  This means doing the ministry work for the full time missionaries according to their vision, strategies and methods without input, recognition, respect or rest.

A Blueprint for Serfdom

• Focus on rapid growth at the expense of health and depth in Scripture and doctrine.
• Give gifts and manipulate the local culture to serve your measurable goals.
• Export your own organizational culture and call it “Christian,” even add Bible verses.
• Work the people hard and praise them without remuneration for services rendered.
• Shame them into doing even more to earn God’s and your favor.
• Avoid becoming close friends and sharing your lives intimately; this is too dangerous.
• Never stop to listen very long to their vision, passions and struggles; just nod.
• Don’t allow them to organize on their own, but keep yourself at the center.
• Repress the joy you might feel at their success so you can get even more out of them.

Redeeming the Tragedy

If we run our programs with our heads down in the host culture we will continue to make such sad unnecessary mistakes and many others.  And it can happen to any one of us.  Our poor missiological practices must be challenged and corrected, for the sake of everyone and the sake of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  

When we are newly entering into these difficult situations it will take extra effort to be trusted.  We must seek to help all involved, because even those who make such grave mistakes are often sincere Christians seeking to serve the Lord with all their might.

In order to reverse such situations certain mission agencies need to make changes to their training for field strategies and methods.  It might require some of us to have the courage to change our personal approach, and maybe even for whom we work.  There are times when we need to reconsider how to re-engage and regain trust. 

At minimum, our goal should include the basic desire of empowering our national partners for greater ministry.  And most likely this will offer significant involvement for everyone from every background.  And then together we will accomplish more than anyone of us could do by ourselves, to the glory and praise of God our Father!

Rediscover More Pleasant Sentiments

Philippians 1:3–7 ESV “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.”