4 Steps to Effective Support of Non US Based Churches and Pastors

Let's talk about missionary support.

Not the easy type that includes stuff like prayer and encouragement. We’re talking financial. Money. Dough. Greenbacks. Benjamins. Are you getting the picture?

With many people contemplating year end giving, I wanted to open up the whole discussion of support of both long-term and short-term missions. 

With more and more churches and groups opting to send people directly to the field, as opposed to through denominational systems, the time has come for some frank talk on how we can better fund our Great Commission work.

Rarely it seems does a day go by without some sort of financial appeal making its way into our mailboxes, be they electronic or that old standby in front of the house or on a post.  

But we before we go too far, we need to be honest about something... short-term mission [STM] is here to stay. Any discussion of funding ongoing mission work around the globe that does not deal with this reality cannot seriously address the issues. As such, it forms a central part of my thinking and suggestions.

Here are three areas I believe we need to consider:

• Direct regular support of national pastors and non US based churches.
• STM leadership and host receiver support.
• Goer-guest, short-term [STM] participant support.

Today, we will deal with in country national pastors their churches, their needs, and our ability to offer financial support. 

In my almost 30 years leading and hosting short term teams in Mexico I have been involved with many pastors and leaders across that country. Often these pastors have only one goal in life, to serve God with all of their heart, mind, body, and soul.

The decision to become a pastor in Mexico where I serve, and many other emerging countries around the world, is a decision to struggle financially. It can also be a decision to leave behind family and friends, and lead a life under constant examination by others.

Let’s look at the financial side of this and the impact of short-term mission. 

Here’s a picture of what being a church leader or pastor that might look like in another country. You decide whether it rings true to you or not.

A perspective pastor begins by sharing the Gospel to his family, friends, and people who live nearby. Soon he has a small group of 10 – 15 people gathering weekly for a time of worship and bible study. As the weeks go by, this newly organized group continues to grow and quickly multiplies to between 20 – 30 adults.

Through various means, a US church connects through short-term ministry and the two leadership teams dream about future ministry. At some point during the relationship, the US church expresses a desire to help support this fledgling ministry.

When the US group returns home, their leadership makes the case to the home church family that there is a vital Kingdom interest in helping this new church and their pastor financially.

Up to this point, every thing is good. However, this is where many US churches, all with good intentions, go off track. Because with big hearts, we respond without any guidelines. Guidelines that can make the difference between just throwing money at a problem, and being part of the solution to a very real issue.

Here are some guidelines that I believe can make a difference for you, your church or mission board, and that national church, or pastor you want to support.

1. Be generous. Give enough to make a difference. If your objective is to support a pastor or a church, make sure what you give can do the job. Often a US church decides on a token gift of $100.00 a month, without regard to whether this amount will actually be a help, or a hindrance.

Let me explain. 

A gift that only does part of the job leaves the church, and the pastor, in a place of constant need. With scant resources, it is nearly impossible to stay afloat. This leaves the pastor, or ministry without a real ability to move ahead. This leads to the frequent letters or e-mails sharing about a new urgent need. When you don’t make enough money to care for your family, or pay your bills, there are always new urgent needs.

Support and all its synonyms, words like undergird, bear, carry and hold up suggest something much more.  Perhaps a gift of $500.00 a month is a more realistic amount in light of local living expenses and church expectations. Think about that for a moment.

Would you spend $500.00 a month on a ministry in your own church if you knew that ministry would be serving between 20 – 30 people each week, many of them new believers? If the answer is yes, why not a Kingdom ministry elsewhere that also is making that kind of difference? The bottom line for me is this... if your desire is to support a local church, ministry or pastor, give enough to do the job.

Then whatever amount you can give, you will feel better about it if… 

2. You only give money to an established church. By established, I mean a church with a leadership team that makes the decisions, a level even a small mission church can reach. This ensures that there is accountability within the local body and that the members of the local church body you are supporting are aware of all outside support of the local ministry. 

A corollary within this, to protect both the pastor and his family from charges of abusing his position for financial gain, is that the treasurer of the church should not be related to the pastor or his family.  Now this can be a big hurdle in small churches, but you should hold firm on this, as it helps ensure accountability.

3. Do not designate your funds. Or, to put it another way, trust local leadership. This can be hard for US churches, but I believe it is vitally important. Let the local church leadership make the decision on where to spend the money. As people who are there 365 days a year, they know, better than us, where the needs are greatest. 

Years ago I was helping a church in Ensenada build their worship center.  A church that was not serving through Adventures in Life came to do some work. They had explained to their home congregation that they were going to pour a floor, even though at that point in the construction, we did not need a floor.

I tried as hard as I could to explain to them that it would be better to not pour the floor and allow us to use the funds as local leadership saw fit on another part of the project. They politely explained that their church had given money for a floor, not some other part of the church we were building and it would be dishonest and deceitful to their people to not use the money for a floor. Even if it that floor was not in the best interest of the local church.

On their last day the leader apologized to me explaining that he needed pictures of his group working on a floor.

If we trust a local church, and her leaders enough to serve along side their ministries, we should trust them enough to make good decisions with the resources God has provided, through us.

You will be amazed at what this simple step will do for your ministry partnership.

4. Have a clearly agreed upon exit plan. In the late 1980’s I was involved in a new church plant here is Las Vegas. As a small group there was no way we could support a pastor. So our denomination agreed to support us for a period of five years, with that support declining by 20% each year.

That was such a blessing for us. Their support told us they believed in what we were trying to do, but it also told us that at some point, we had to be self supporting.

Open ended outside support of national churches is the kind of support that encourages dependence. It does not lead to stronger church bodies and in fact tells the local members that they themselves do not have to sacrificially support their ongoing ministries.

A clear, agreed upon exit plan will help you avoid hard feelings in the future, and give the local church the time it needs to build a strong financial base.

Let me give a final note on your exit plan. 

There will be times when circumstances change. The global economic downturn of 2008 is a perfect example. That will demand that everyone involved be somewhat flexible. But please understand this. Those working on the field, and receiving outside support, have few, if any options to replace a sudden withdrawal of support.

If your church finds it necessary to eliminate, or substantially altar an agreed upon support amount, or plan, I believe you need to give that mission church at least one year notice to avoid a potential catastrophic situation.

So there you have it. 

Four guidelines that can help you become a better steward of the resources God has given you or your church when it comes to direct regular support of national churches and pastors.

Be generous, give to an established church, do not designate your funds, and have an exit plan.

Next up... STM Leadership and Host-Receiver Support

[This is a reworking of a previous post I wrote last year. It was well read and I thought I would update both this post and the original series... dave]

Long Term Missionaries... is the clock winding down while the church stands by?

Quick, when was the last time you heard someone in church encourage a young person, or anyone for that matter to consider spending their life as a cross cultural missionary?

I’ll wait.

Okay, time’s up.

It’s been awhile hasn’t it?

Years ago, that was a call we heard regularly from the pulpits of churches across America, especially on Mission Sundays and in the almost extinct Sunday evening services. The world, we were told, needed people to step up and boldly answer Jesus call to share his love on mission in some far off land.

Africa, Asia, South America… it didn’t matter. Jesus needed us and our spiritual leaders made sure we knew it. But they did more than that, they encouraged us to answer that call, get trained and go. For the sake of the Gospel.

It all seems so quaint now.

One of the by products of the short-term mission [STM] movement is that it has, in a sense, demystified missions and missionaries. That’s both good, and bad.

Here’s why…

The good has been our ability to open eyes. Missions is no longer seen as the providence of a few. 

Regular, everyday folks are as likely to get on a plane and serve overseas as those who study for years to prepare for professional ministry. There can be no doubt that the cross cultural exposure literally millions of people have as a result of short-term mission is changing the way people view and interact with the world. 

However, our current emphasis on short-term mission, and with it the sugar like rush people get from serving, is giving us a false belief that we truly can share Christ effectively in one week micro ministry bursts.

We can’t, and in fact, effective short-term mission relies on dedicated long-term missionaries in the field. 

The bad is that the current emphasis on STM in our churches is pushing long-term missionary recruitment to the back burner. Add in the current rage of programming every minute of our weekend services tightly around a specific theme, and we literally have no opportunities to share the need for people to go overseas full time.

Gone are most Mission Sundays, gone are services where missionaries share their stories, gone are the messages calling people to forsake the comforts of home, take up the cross and share about Jesus around the globe.

In our efforts to identify everyone as a missionary, we have robbed that term of its power to call. No longer is the overseas missionary seen as having potential for an individual or a young couple.

A few years back I was asked to say a few words at a local denominational missions conference. I was excited when, after I spoke, they announced they were commissioning a new couple to go to field. The new couple was in their mid 60’s. 

Now I am not saying people in the 60’s, and beyond cannot be effective. I’ll be there myself soon, but I was saddened that the new couple was not younger. The reality is that the clock is ticking towards retirement for an entire generation of long term in country missionaries and the church does not seem to have a Plan B in place for when those folks return home.

Cross cultural missions work is hard, heroic work. The Kingdom needs new blood in the field. In all of our ministries, be they youth, women’s, men’s or pulpit based, the church needs to once again take up the mantle of recruiting and sending not just short-term teams around the globe, but long term in country missionaries as well.

What say you?

Is Short-Term Mission Bad Stewardship? Not a Chance...

“Dave, don’t you think mission would be better off if we sent the money directly to ‘insert country name here’ rather than spend it all on transportation and inefficient workers?”

I have heard this question, or some variation of it every year since I started hosting short-term teams in Mexico and I was asked just the other day that very same question.  

The theory is this...by directly funding nationals already serving in our “target” country, we could greatly enhance the impact of our dollars in the field.  Why, people ask, should we spend so much money on transportation, preparation, lodging, meals etc., when that money could go directly into the work of the Gospel.

It’s a great idea but one that ignores a set of field and everyday realities that critics of short-term mission have so far failed to address.

The first reality ignored is how much short-term mission impacts the life of the goer.  Now I know the focus of our mission, at least from the viewpoint of the Standards of Excellence in Short-term Mission is primarily on the beneficiary of our mission, and with that I am in 100% agreement.  But, let’s be honest.  Mission is a two way street and the simple fact is that short-term participants, like anyone else in the Kingdom, grow in their faith when they serve others in Jesus’ name.  

Many people like to emphasize that participants in STM end up giving more money to mission during their lives.  Unfortunately, there is no data that conclusively supports this belief.  However, a singular focus on money misses the point.

Just as secular international travel changes people and gives them a greater awareness of the world, it cannot be denied that short-term mission travel and seeing the church “over there” wherever there is, increases awareness of God’s church among the nations.  It would be hard to credibly argue that this increased awareness does not impact the way the church prays for fellow believers around the world.

I would argue that this alone would be significant justification for continued short-term mission, but there is more.  Much more.

Noted missiologist Ralph Winter and the entire Perspectives Movement have built an argument for years that we need the whole church to take the Gospel to entire world. Inherent in this is a need for cross cultural workers in international missions.  There are just going to be times when the message, or ministry, must come from, or through outsiders.  

While this is obvious if we are talking about a pioneering work, often times we can see the same need in an area or country where there is already a long established work.  This can be especially evident in areas where cultural or tribal jealousies and customs hinder fellowship and an ecumenical Gospel spirit.

Much of my work is focused in Oaxaca, located in Southern Mexico.  Oaxaca is the heart of the indigenous culture of Mexico, boasting almost 200 distinct languages and dialects.

In the villages where I work, there is frequently only one evangelical church and if it has more than about 30 adult believers, I’d almost call it a mega-church!  It is an area where if a guy falls in love with a girl from another village, the elders of both villages literally are asked to give permission for the marriage to take place. Marriages are still arranged and many people to this day, live their lives never leaving a small 10 kilometer radius around their home.

In short, the culture in these areas does not allow a lot of cross village fellowship, pollination or brotherhood.  In a practical sense here is what that means.  Christians from a church in one village don’t socialize with Christians from another village.  You just can’t go and attend a church service in another village without raising suspicion.

As a leader, you also will not typically get together with leaders from other churches for fear of offending leaders from another village.  Even if one of the local pastors calls the churches together for a unity service solely to worship Jesus, centuries old patterns of non-association work against the desired outcome.  Because of this inability to get past what for many are a set of unwritten cultural rules, the church is essentially prohibited from gathering the nations in celebration.

Unless there is an outsider.  Many times a person from outside the culture can accomplish things within a culture that those from the culture are simply unable to do.  If I am, as the resident gringo outsider, the driving force behind the service, then there is no problem for anyone who wants to attend.

Since the event is not being sponsored by a church, or pastor, in one village, but instead by an outsider, no one feels the pressures of their culture and no church feels compelled to reciprocate the invitation, something they may be financially unable to do.  With me, they know they can come, there will be no future time or money requirements, no village has been favored over another and we’re all good.

The same is true in the short-term world.  Outsiders have an ability to draw visitors around the church in a way the local congregation may never be able to do.  It’s just different having visitors at your church and if the local mission church is properly prepared, a short-term presence can be a real blessing and give the local church a chance to connect with people they might otherwise not be able to reach.

But let’s get to the crux of the matter for many here in the US that advance this argument.  Money, and by extension, stewardship of the resources God has given us for mission.  Let me be blunt to those who advance this argument as a reason to avoid short-term mission... you’re living in a non-existent utopia, and here’s why.

According to DELTA Ministries, a widely respected STM training and sending organization, the average cost to send 10 people overseas on short-term mission is $20,000.  This amount includes transportation, food, lodging, training, materials, and even offerings to leave with local leaders.

It is then this 20K that becomes the basis for discussion for the Utopians.  In their perfect world, without anyone ever getting on a plane and incurring a dollar of expense, the local sending church would just send the 20K to the field.

Accept that is never going to happen.  Because the church is never going to have that 20K to send and more than likely, without the short-term team going, would be unable to raise it.  I’ve interacted with many who have advanced this argument and in the end, everyone has admitted that without a team going, they would never be able to raise that kind of money to send directly to the field.

Now, as a field guy, I’d love to have that 20K for what we are trying to accomplish.  It will go a lot farther in reaching people for the Gospel in a developing country that it will here in the US.  But let’s be more realistic.  If a team comes and their total cost is that 20 grand, by the time all expenses are paid and the group hosted, there might be between $4000 and $6000 left over.

That means that after a church raises their money, travels to one of my sites, gets housed and fed, works all week, leaves offerings with the local church and pays all of their expenses, about 25% of their money remains for our ongoing Gospel work.

I’ll take it!  And, here’s why.  If that team had not come, the reality is that not only would we never see the 20 grand, we’d never see the 4 to 6 grand, and we need that money for our work.

Additionally, the team, the sending church, and the church with whom they partnered “over there” would never get the benefit of what Nairobi Chapel Pastor Oscar Muriu, in his address to Urbana in 2006, calls the ministry of interdependence that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 12.  How do we put a dollar value on the ministry of encouragement to the entire body of Christ that comes through short-term mission?

In today’s world, with all it hyper-connectedness, people are going to give their time, talents and treasures to projects, causes and missions to which they are personally connected.  How better to introduce people to your needs than through short-term mission where you can see the ministry face to face?

That brings me to what I believe is the strongest argument for a church to spend that $20,000 and send their team.  So they can do a better job of supporting the resident missionaries and leaders in the field after the short-term team returns.

It is my belief that the future of the North American church to fund and send long-term in country missionaries lies in the success of short-term mission.  I’ll develop this more at a later date, but unless the church finds a way to leverage the hundreds of thousands of short-term mission participants, and turn them and those that sent them, into supporters of long-term mission, Christian pioneering and mission work will suffer.

So, to answer the question raised by my friend and so many others, No!  

Short-term mission, when used effectively in support of long-term work, is an essential part of God’s church, whether that church is located here in Las Vegas where I live, or half way around the world.  It is a sound investment in Kingdom ministry when done properly, just like any other expense of the church in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

Broken Windows, Kmart and the Church... does the small stuff matter to anyone?

I went to Kmart recently because I needed to pick up something and I knew, since it was early morning, that I could get it done quick.  Walking up to the doors, I wondered if I was there too early because they were not opening.  I was standing there like a fool waiting for them to slide open when it hit me.  This Kmart, and I’m guessing many like it, do not have automatic doors.

Kmart was a pretty popular shopping option in the 60’s and 70’s.  My dad loved the place because they had a little of everything and the prices were good.  I bought many a Christmas gift from them over the years, including more than a few fishing lures.

Then something happened.  

Kmart became passe and started having serious financial problems.  It was as if with the introduction of Target and the growth of Walmart, there was no need for Kmart.  I wonder though, if it was something else.  Maybe Kmart forgot about the small stuff.

Bill Bratton who was recently rehired to be the Commissioner of Police for New York City calls it the “broken windows theory.”  This theory, developed by James Wilson and George Kelling, and which Bratton used to knock down crime in NYC says that you need to address stuff like broken windows on abandoned buildings and crummy sidewalks as soon as you can, otherwise they “advertise” that the area is open to crime.  In a nutshell, if a neglected area continues to be neglected, serious crime and problems will follow.

I think what Bratton understood was that the small stuff matters.

We can neglect the seemingly small things, but if we do, perhaps, like Kmart, we are in danger of some serious issues coming forward. 

Recently I was in a church and someone brought a box of candy to share with the congregation.  It was a great gesture and I’m sure not many people thought much about it, but it struck me.  I think because the candy was my grandfathers favorite candy.  It was tasty and wonderful, but it was candy from another generation.  Actually, it was candy from a few generations ago.  Again, it was my grandfather’s favorite candy!

I bring this up because I think church and churches are in danger of becoming like Kmart, passe.  Sadly, I believe we are part of the problem.

For a variety of reasons, many in the church refuse to acknowledge that society is changing daily and with it, people’s felt needs for things physical, emotional and spiritual.  Much like Kmart and abandoned buildings, our churches are becoming monuments of manual open doors, broken windows and dated candies.  Worse, we wear this reality as a badge of honor, longing nostalgically for the old days when we believed life was simpler and you didn’t have to worry about this stuff.

Unless and until we adopt a Bill Bratton attitude that says the small stuff matters, the church is going to struggle to attract new blood.  Oh, we’ll still get the underchurched, an invented word used to describe those people that have sort of an inherited history with us, but the secularists or the non believers?  Those folks will move on, in a sense to do their shopping at gleaming new Targets with automatic open doors and places like Amazon where you get what you want in seconds without having to deal with nostalgia or dated candies.

There are no broken windows in their world.  Why do we tolerate them in ours?

Dear Santa... From Adventures in Life Ministry

Dear Santa, whatever you can do to make this list a reality for Adventures in Life Ministry would really be appreciated.  I know you're busy and everything, but who isn't these days.

Anyways, I've tried to be brief and give you some pictures to make it easier to understand.

1. A Few "More" Good Men... no, not the movie... we need a few more men for our Annual Oaxaca Men's Ministry, February 1 - 8, 2014.  We've got a roof to put up, a solar pump system to install, and a host of small electrical and plumbing projects to complete.  If you can help, and would like to join the bunch of guys pictured here, drop us a line ASAP!

2. An Eye Doctor in the House! Our Spring Medical Ministry, March 22 - 29 desperately needs an eye doctor or optician on the team.  Maybe you are the person that can help us round out this local church based ministry.  We pray with, treat, and really get to know the people we serve in the communities of San Pablo Guila, San Baltazar Guelavila, San Idelfonso Amatlan and San Pedro Amatlan.  Get in touch with us now to be part of this ministry.

3. A glass of fresh water... $100.00 will give a family a Sawyer Water Filter that will provide years of clean drinkable water.  This can literally be a life saver for a family that cannot afford to buy purified water.



4. Solar Panels for our ranch south of Oaxaca City... We need an additional four 245 watt panels [just like the ones in the picture] to install our solar pump for our well.  Your donation to this could make sure that AIL and Pastor Chable have the water available for our continued camp and agricultural ministries in this area.

5.  Send a kid to camp!  Want to make sure a child or teenager gets a chance to hear the Gospel at camp?  The cost is $100.00 for each person you want to send.  Want to sponsor the entire camp?  Only $7000.00 for between 50 and 100 kids.  Look at the faces below... you can help make it happen!

6. A new computer for AIL Ministry... here's the deal.  Our office computer is on its last legs.  It is from 2002, has a Celeron processor running XP and a paltry 1 gig of RAM.  Maybe you can bring us up to date.  We're looking at about $1500.00.

So Santa, that's about it this year.  Some big dreams, a few small ones and lots of ways to support our work and mission in Oaxaca, Ensenada and Guadalajara, Mexico. Here's a link to give directly to AIL online, or, if you want to mail a check, here's the address...

Adventures in Life Ministry

3243 East Warm Springs Road

Las Vegas, Nevada 89120

Merry Christmas to you and yours and have a blessed New Years!

Gospel, Mission and American Exceptionalism... can they co-exist?

Whenever I am around people talking about mission, my mind gets moving.  This week I am at STAND, the North American Mission Leaders event sponsored by Missio Nexus in Dallas, Texas.

Yesterday I was listening to Paul Borthwick, long a strong advocate for Christian mission and engagement in the world, particularly short-term mission.  One of the things he stressed was the need for missionaries, when we are working and serving in other countries to stop, listen to and accept the leadership of the national leaders.  But he went further, challenging us to not only listen to leaders, but to hear the words of the poor and the least of these when we go.

Over the last week or so, the concept of American Exceptionalism has been in the news a lot.  Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an Op-Ed peice in the New York Times saying Americans are not exceptional, people have been talking.  His peice even stirred Senator John McCain to fire off a response extolling the virtues of both America and our exceptionalism.

Exceptionalism is this belief that America, and by extension our citizenry, are unusually “different” from others countries and peoples.  In practice it gets interpreted as we are better than anyone else.  It's as if because of our history, our formation, our struggles and our values, we have a leg up on everyone else in the world.

This belief is rooted in the American Revolution, our support of Europe, and the sacrifices we made in helping win World War II.  It can perhaps best be expressed in what is known as our “can do” attitude.  It is a badge of honor many Americans, my self included frequently wear with pride.

And therein may lie the problem.

How can missionaries from America, long steeped in the tradition of American Exceptionism, set aside that pride, be it for a week, or years in the case of long-term missionaries, and really listen to leaders from other countries?

How can we, when we intrinsically believe at our core that we are better or know more, set those beliefs aside and become learner servants, seeking to hear God’s voice from others?

If we believe that we have the best program, the best building methods, the best access to mission philosophy, the best evangelism methods and materials, isn’t it going to be hard to listen to nationals from another country?

It is almost as if Borthwick is asking us to do something that we cannot do.  And you know what?  Apart from God, maybe he is.

The Apostle Paul in his great letter to the church of Philippi shows us the way. 

We read in one of the greatest calls to humility in the bible to be Christlike at an amazing level.  We are called to obedience, the cross, humility and love of others at such an incredible level it is hard to comprehend.

It is summed up best when Paul says we are to consider others better than ourselves.  Take that in for a moment.  Paul is saying to consider that not only is the guy with more education better than you, but to consider the same for the farmer, or the immigrant, the man living in a shack or the shaman in the village half way around the world. 

Paul, the jew of jews in the eyes of many...

“Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.”

Faultless.  Let that word sink in.  Without fault.  Perfect.  Righteous.  Justified.  That’s exceptionalism.

And Paul was willing to set it all aside for the sake of the Gospel, counting it all as loss in comparison to the Gospel. 

Borthwick was essentially challenging us, as North American Mission Leaders, and there are more than 1200 here in Dallas representing every facet of mission work, to set what we believe to be our exceptionalism aside and be like the Apostle when we go.

But you know what?  He stopped short.  I’ve seen Paul Borthwick speak many times and I admire him greatly, but he stopped short yesterday.  He stopped short because he only challenged us to live that call when we go “over there.”

One of the most frequent criticisms I hear about Christians in the US is that we believe we are better and have it all figured out.  What if we not only “considered others better than ourselves” when we are in another country, but here in our own country as well?

Would it be hard?  Of course it would.  But maybe that is why Paul in closing his Epistle chose this verse... “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Imagine the offering that we would be to God if we as a people,

in a country that sees itself as exceptional, set that belief aside for the sake of the Kingdom, became nothing, took the very nature of a servant, and nailed our exceptionalism and pride obediently on the cross.

That would indeed be a witness that just might say something about Jesus to the nations.

Wheelchairs, Love and an Essential Gospel in Mexico City

Pastor Chable, Dave and Rod Fry together in Mexico City with a wheelchair for someone in need

I’d like the introduce Rod Fry to the Adventures in Life family.  I’ve known of Rod for years since he has been a tremendous friend and mentor to frequent AIL Ministry participant, Brigam Ziehm.

In May I was privileged to be part of a conference that Rod and his circle of churches in Mexico City organized to encourage their people to respond to God’s missional call on our lives.  One practical blessing that came out of that conference was a stronger connection between the ministries of Adventures in Life and those of Rod through his sponsoring organization, Camino Global.

It is this relationship that is enabling AIL Ministry partner Pastor Chable to provide wheelchairs where we are working in Oaxaca, and it is these wheelchairs that are the inspiration for Rod’s post this week in our Monday Mission Moment.

The Essential Ingredient by Rod Fry

I found myself talking for a long while about all sorts of very good stuff yesterday, in a home I had only been to once before. My doctor friend was interested in helping distribute free wheelchairs to his neighborhood. I immediately understood one of his motivations the first time I visited his house. His sister-in-law, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was lying alone in the bottom of a bunk bed, covered with blankets. She smiled at me, waving her free hand as best she could. I greeted her with pleasure. The least of these always deserve special treatment.

I went back yesterday, loading up 4 more wheelchairs still in their boxes, bringing the total to 7 chairs now waiting at my doctor friend's house. His wife was there yesterday, and after the normal awkwardness of "what in the world is a gringo doing in my house," she opened up, and we talked about everything from the fact that Christians (the evangelical sort) don't believe in the Pope, and do not follow Catholic church doctrine that has been passed down through the centuries. "I don't confess to the priest," she confessed to me, "he's just a man. I talk straight to God."  Yes, He is our High Priest. No need for another mediator.

I was in a home, way up against the back side of the canal de la Compañía, the canal that, fortunately for my new friends, has always ruptured on the south side, the other side. Otherwise their house would have been completely covered with water. I gained entrance to their home, and in a remarkably rapid fashion, by doing such a simple thing...providing wheelchairs to needy people.

I do not mean to make church planting or evangelism sound too easy, but sometimes I think we make it too hard. I bet, I just bet that when I present a simple, gospel story tomorrow, people will be wide open to receiving it. And I can only imagine that if I would offer to teach a Bible study at that house every week, people would come to it. And people will come to the Savior.

In this case it was wheelchairs...what else can it be? A warm, apple pie, technical advice for one's computer, clean water, soccer equipment, English classes, homework help, construction or mechanical assistance, a strategically given financial gift, a hug, a hospital visit, an ongoing care visit, mowing someone's lawn. And the list goes on and on.

Paradoxically the methods that are perhaps the most effective in today's world do not fall into any religious category, no "churchiness" here. Just people, normal people with something increasingly rare and abnormal...and that special ingredient is LOVE. 

Rod's Blog...

Mezcal, Sin and Jesus... connecting the Gospel to the real world...

My friend Alberto and me walking in a maguey field in Oaxaca

The children all gathered around.

It was Christmas time and many of their parents, out of any real work for months, if not years, had few resources for food, let alone a few gifts of clothes.  The shoes and the jackets would keep some of the kids warm when the temperature dropped as the season moved deeper into winter.  Others might be lucky enough to find a new dress, shirt, or even a pair of pants to wear after school.

And thus it went for hours as Alberto and his team of friends and relatives tended to the needs of the people of his community.

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Today teams of kids are getting the opportunity to learn and play basketball because again, Alberto and his team, have decided to reach out to their community and tend to the needs of the people.  

Sponsoring an entire league, upwards of 50 children in the town where Alberto grew up are getting a chance to play organized basketball, complete with uniforms, coaches, rules, referees and for the winners, trophies.  Young boys with names like Jorge, Epifanio and Jesus are passing the ball around this citywide league, imagining one day they too may play for the Heat, the Bulls, or even the Lakers.

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She bent down, almost kneeling on the ground to talk with the old man outside the market.  He was selling herbs and a few chiles.  I was struck by the fact that she knew his name and was willing to get down to his level... saying in effect, she was no better than he was.  She bought all six of his chiles.

As we entered the market the chicken vendor called out to her by name and Pilar waved, stopped to chat and explained to us how good the the chickens at this market were.

And so it went through the entire tour.  Pilar knew the vendors, many by their names.  As we passed one stall, she asked the young boy where his mom was... running errands he replied.  “Tell her I said hello!”

This was Pilar’s community and like Alberto in his, she was determined to make a difference, to be part of the life of the community where God had planted her.

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About now you are probably waiting for me to tell you how Alberto and Pilar are part of one of the ministries with whom I work, and I wish I could.  Sadly however,  that is not possible because of what these two do for a living.  Alberto makes mezcal, the most popular type of alcohol in Oaxaca.  Pilar is a chef in Oaxaca and her restaurant sells, among other spirits, mezcal.  In the eyes of many evangelical pastors and leaders in Mexico, neither Alberto or Pilar can ever be Christian because of their work.  

Many of the ministries I know in Mexico, and in the US for that matter, have no real interest in building bridges into their communities and meeting people where they are at, especially if they work in certain businesses deemed almost super sinful, as the church views what both Alberto and Pilar are doing.  

It is this attitude that has many Christians and ministries today, in the name of purity, content to work on strengthening the body of Christ, almost exclusively for her own sake, refusing to engage the world.  It is as if we are building up spiritual muscle mass not for the hard work of engaging our communities with the redemptive life changing message of Jesus, but so that we can have better bible studies, better worship experiences and better balance sheets.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good bible study and believe a strong understanding of the scriptures is vital to the health and well being of a church.  But churches that pour a majority of their resources into Sunday services and bible study groups to such an extent that there is little or no organized church based community engagement will fail.  

They may grow and have hundreds of people in the seats, but they will become, in the words of one of my closest friends, “a cult of biblical knowledge” unwilling or unable to be the healing hands and feet of Jesus in a hurting and broken world.  What kind of mission is that?  

After a few days recently with a pastor in Mexico, he stopped me in mid sentence and said to me, somewhat exasperated, “Dave, it’s as if you believe that a church that is not working in the community is not a church!”  “No”, I told him, “that is not true.  I just do not believe it is a very good church and is not fulfilling its’ call to be gathered to go out. [ecclesia]”

Why, I asked, are people like Alberto and Pilar, people with whom the evangelical church in Mexico would normally never associate, more interested in helping their people and extending a loving hand than many Christians and their churches?

Why is it that many churches mourn over a few missing people at our Sunday worship time, yet do not take steps to alleviate pain, poverty and suffering in peoples lives that we see daily around our church buildings and facilities?

And why is it that the evangelical church looks scornfully at people like Alberto and Pilar when they serve their communities while at the same time refusing to lock arms with them in order to gain the credibility to share about Jesus and his redemptive story in those very communities?  

I am still waiting for the answers.