Listen to the language of President Obama speaking with the troops in Afghanistan. Listen to the words spoken of heros awarded in recognition of their service. Listen to the farewells said to astronauts boarding their space vessel. The speeches, congratulations, and cheers all revolve around one predominant human emotion- sacrifice. Sacrifice is as much an emotion as it is an event. For instance, it’s possible to feel sacrificial even though you're not just as it's easy to be sacrificial and not feel like it. Taking two soldiers aside to ask them if they’ve sacrificed might produce this very reaction; one might feel sacrificial about his duty the other might not. I’ve been reflecting on this over the weekend as we’re packing up the remaining tidbits of personal items and making preparations for the movers to come on Wednesday. Even though we've done it once before it's still a strange feeling packing our things up for our new home in Europe. Above the din of emotions the thought that’s been rattling around in my head is “is this really a sacrifice?”

Part of me says yes, this is a sacrifice. To leave our land of birth and travel to a foreign country to serve those we’ve never met? To struggle with a language and culture of another people in an effort to share with them something that they might reject? To sell off our possessions (again) with no promise that we'll ever see their equivalent return?

The other part of me says no, this is not really a sacrifice. To be able to finally live in a part of the world I've been dreaming of for years? To do what I love in two arenas and get paid to do it? To live an amazing life that we'll look back on with satisfaction not regret? To live life right smack in the middle of God’s perfect will? To expand the kingdom of God so that more people get to know Jesus?

For fear of sounding hyper-spiritual, I have to confess that I don’t feel like we’re sacrificing anything. In fact the only way I would feel that way would be if I felt that we were losing more than we’re gaining. I wonder then if the feeling of sacrifice in ministry comes from the deep-seated fear of losing? Jim Elliot once said,

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Then there is this weighty quote from David Livingston,

“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa... Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”

I’ve heard the self-sacrificing attitude from my own lips and those of others. I’ve gladly accepted the congratulations and adulations of others and have seen my colleagues do the same. Yet, we’ve received a ministry so amazing so profound that we should be envied not pitied! Yet the thought remains, in light of all of the riches that are mine in Christ Jesus, in the midst of leaving much behind, is this really a sacrifice?

Tags: Missionary Life, life

No one is arrested for serving in the name of Jesus.

No one dies for preaching Jesus.

No one is ridiculed for holding fast to Jesus.

Believing that America is a reflection of the rest of the world leads to the belief that persecution doesn’t exist.

Tags: Why Europe, Missions, Culture

This weekend, the media was ablaze with revelations of Catholic priest cover-ups, back-room deals, and secret hush-hush reprimands. It’s alleged that thousands of children (perhaps more) were subject to mental, physical, and sexual abuse by Catholic priests and nuns and the Roman Catholic church and in some cases the evil covered up. Secret tribunals were held where high level insider meetings decided the fate of pedophile priests, not the law. Could the Pope (then as Joseph Ratzinger) have known about some of this abuse? Some seem to think so and are calling for his resignation. As a missionary deeply concerned for Catholic people in Western Europe, along with the coincidence of moving to Portugal the same month that Pope Benedict visits I’ve been following these stories with fascination.

My thought has been during this entire episode has been how markedly different the strands of Catholicism and Christianity! The Roman Catholic structure, pomp, secrecy, and institutionalization is no where to be found in the pages of the New Testament. The power wielded by the few and the ignorance of the many was not the way Jesus instituted His church nor is it the way his apostles served the church. With all the talk of evangelizing the “unreached” among mission circles I wonder if evangelizing the “lied-to” isn’t as important? Stopping this distortion of Jesus, the church, and scripture was just as important a command as was going into all the world and making disciples. In fact one shouldn’t be done without the other. Roman Catholics are dying without the Gospel and that means it’s time to contend for the Faith. From 2 Timothy 4:1-4:

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Jude 1:3:

“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.”

Philippians 1:27:

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel...”

Lastly from Acts 20:25-32:

“’Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.’‘Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.’”

Tags: Roman Catholic, Missions, Why Europe

Earlier in the week, a friend sent me a link to J.D. Payne’s blog “Missiologically Thinking” about the #1 critical issue facing North American church planters. Care to take a guess? Yep, money. In fact you could easily substitute North American church planters for missionaries, foreign ministers, foreign church planters, inner city workers, itinerant preachers or any other Gospel worker who isn’t serving a larger, established congregation. According to J.D.:

“Of all the leaders in the Kingdom who should receive compensation for their labors, missionaries rank at the top of the list. These church planters are on the front lines of Kingdom advancement, laboring in trenches where the enemy is the most ferocious. There is clear biblical support that speaks on matters related to supporting those doing such apostolic labors. Therefore, I want you to know that I fully believe that is good and proper to provide financial support to missionaries.”

As one currently raising financial support for foreign service I wholeheartedly agree with J.D.’s assessment. Last week I let my emotions get the best of me on another bloggers post forcing me to issue an apology on his blog and then write through it here. The tone might have been a bit whiney but the sentiment was correct. Something is wrong when many American preachers make a comfortable living and foreign servants facing the front lines have to take a vow of poverty to extend the kingdom. Yet, this week I was reminded of something that I had almost forgotten in the melee of emotion...from theartistfarm.com “What Truly Wealthy People Know About Money:

“In the deepest sense money isn’t real. It’s true. Intrinsically it has no real value. It’s just a fancy piece of paper. If you were to take our money to an alien world what could you use it for? Money is simply a mutually agreed upon token we use to exchange for things that provide REAL VALUE to us like food, community, comfort and shelter. It is the thing we buy with money or the thing people buy from us that has actual value.”

(I’m speaking mainly to my missionary colleagues here) Didn’t Jesus tell us not to worry? Didn’t Jesus say our heavenly father would provide? It is so easy to forget that money has no intrinsic value, only that it is used solely to barter for what people find valuable. If through our work we can extend what is truly valuable, what is priceless, that which money can’t buy we will never be without. Brothers, and fellow laborers, heed these words: “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” Luke 12:31

Instead of seeking money, seek to provide value in your preaching, in your counsel, in your friendships, in your care, and in your leadership. Trust that what you’re offering is so valuable that giving it away will always create provision. Seek the Kingdom first, and all else will be added to you.

Tags: Money, Missionary Life, Missions

On Saturday Angelina and I took our semi-regular walk down to a part of our larger neighborhood where there are several man-made lakes. When we take our walks during the week the lake area is usually silent and except for us and a few ducks, empty. However, because the sun was out with a blue sky and a gentle breeze the lake was buzzing with extra ducks and visitors. As we came around the bend we saw something we had never seen before, a group of older people all huddled at the shoreline. I couldn't quite make out what they were doing but they held something in their hands and they were all leaning out over the water intently staring at white floating things. At first I thought they were engaged in some weird duck ritual but as we got closer I discovered that they were racing miniature remote-controlled sail boats! The group was silent in concentration steering their racers through the course while a race announcer countdown played on a portable boombox behind them. No one said a word, the race was cut-throat until the man on the tape called “time.”

As we walked past it occurred to me how apt this event was in describing the American mindset of the “Golden Years.” Without casting aspersions upon our geriatric lake pirates I find it funny (or a little sad, depending on how you look at it) that for many people in the West that scene is the quintessential retirement life. If I was to take a poll, I wonder how many people would agree that this is what life is all about? Work hard, sacrifice, scrimp, save, play it safe, all until one day when your only care in the world is protecting your sail racer championship title near your little house on the man-made lake.

Reading Luke 12:13-21 I don’t get the impression that living life and storing up a fat chunk of change for the golden years is God’s design for our lives. Yet (I’ve posted this before) Francis Chan’s “Balance Beam” describes the mentality of many, many Christians.

• Are you really living or simply waiting for the Golden Years?
• Are you caught up in the adventure of living life with Jesus or working hard so that you can take it easy and retire?
• Are you running a hard race through the finish line or racing for the retirement payout to coast into your coffin?

Count me among those who will not give up, will not give in, and will not retire until God takes me home or Jesus returns. I was never promised ease or comfort in this life nor was I promised an easy retirement in my Golden Years. My Golden Years will come when this physical body lies 6 feet under and I rest with Jesus on the streets of gold for eternity. Until then there is an adventure to live, a wife to love, a church to minister to, a people to save, a King to be glorified, and a hurting world to serve. What about you?

Tags: life, Money, Missionary Life

One great thing about the internet is the instant collaboration and commenting that takes place except when what you say (write) comes out so fast that you can't take it back.

Yesterday Bill Streger posted a very intriguing blog post asking tough, critical questions of Acts 29 and the types of church planters they were recruiting. Bill is an Acts 29 planter, so he's an insider with insight that you and I don't have. His main contention with Acts 29 was that the recruits he was interviewing were all the same. In his words, “they all sound the same.” Apparently, they looked the same, talked the same, developed the same plans of action, and were all trying to reach the same hip, urban, sophisticated crowd. I thought his post was great and his point “that uncool people need Jesus too” was worth considering. So I commented...

Have you ever had that moment where you wish you could immediately hit unsend? As I was reading my comments right after I posted them, I wished I could’ve hit unsend. It wasn't the content of my comment but rather the tone of the comment. I sounded like a spoilt 11 year old girl.

"My wife and I have been working in Europe and concerned for Europe for the past 8 years. We’re moving back to Europe (to Portugal) in May which only has .08% born-again population according to the last sociology census. The sad/ironic thing is that we’re trying to scrape money together for our project and at the same time have been told that if we were considering planting in Las Vegas or Salt Lake that we would have an all expenses paid church planting career if we wanted it. I know a group that is pouring over 1 MILLION dollars into this project alone. There are more Christians in Mormon Salt Lake than in the entire country of Portugal and we can’t get $2000/month in support.

Am I missing something?"

The reason why I'm posting this here is two fold:

1) be careful not only of what you write on other people's blogs but how you write it. I think I gave the foreign mission crowd a black eye amongst the urban church planters by sniveling my way through that comment.

2) try to make your point when and where it will be heard. There's nothing wrong with my comment per-se. It's true. Why is it that if I wanted to plant somewhere in N.America I would have a $50,000 salary to do so today? Why are most church planting/missional orgs/congregations funneling MILLIONS of dollars into American cities and doing the same type of ministry as everyone else? Why do urban American church planters get money thrown at them but those of us wanting to plant and grow churches on foreign soil have to grovel on hands and knees? Not sure. But, having that kind of discussion is appropriate here, not on a blog post about Acts 29.

So here it is, the apology and warning. I’m sorry for sounding like a spoiled girl scout and next time I’ll be more careful with what I say or write.

Tags: Missionary Life, Why Europe, Money, Planting

There is a very interesting Time Magazine article this morning on the relevance of Europe in the 21st century. If your future is in Europe this article is well worth your time.

“It was supposed to be the moment Europe grew muscles. Last fall, after a decade of work to simplify policymaking and make the European Union more efficient at home and stronger abroad, the last few holdouts signed a 1,000-page document known as the Lisbon Treaty. In November, the E.U.'s first real President and Foreign Minister were chosen. Europhiles dusted off their familiar dream: of a newly emboldened world power stepping up to calm trouble spots, using aid and persuasion where it could, but prepared to send in troops when it had to. Brussels would lead the fight against climate change. And Europe's economies would prove to the ruthless free markets of North America and Asia that the social market still offers the best way out of an economic crunch.

The dream didn't last a month.”

Click here to read more

Tags: Europe

If you've been a missionary long you will have most likely encountered the "Someone else syndrome." If not, you will. Over the years I've met a lot of well meaning Christian people who are gung-ho about world evangelism, enthusiastic about going to the ends of the earth, sacrificial about reaching the world, as long as it's done by someone else. To my ears they ascribe to mission evangelism as a concept and laud it's importance in theory. "Yes, the church must be engaged in global missions because Jesus commanded it" I hear them say. But when asked who should go? "Someone else."

Jesus said in Luke 9:23 "If anyone would come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." Isn't it ironic that later in the same chapter Jesus called three individuals to follow him and each one had an excuse?

Before you pull out your pitchfork on me, let me state clearly that there are legitimate reasons for not pursuing foreign service and no one should feel guilty for not going overseas. Yet, would you agree that if everyone subscribed to the "someone else syndrome" then no one would hear the message of salvation?

--
For some of you this is a personal matter. You know God has asked you to go or called you to give yet you're making excuses wondering whether someone else can go do it instead. Others of you are struggling because your family members or friends are doubting your decision and hoping that someone else will go or give in your place. Maybe it's your job or bank account holding you back; maybe some illness or disability that seemingly disqualifies you; maybe it's the thought of grand kids or grandparents living far away; maybe the possibility of civil unrest or government oppression. Or maybe deep down you just don't care. These are all hints of the "someone else syndrome" and the only way to immunize it is to fight it.

But how?

There is only one antidote: The Gospel. Understanding that Jesus paid your debt and gifted you for something amazing; knowing that you're saved by grace through faith, not by anything you've done but what he has done; realizing that you owe God your very breath, is sufficient to fight this off.

So how do you know if you're sick with the syndrome? One simple question in light of the Gospel will do...

Is there anything, anything God can't ask of you?

Tags: Missionary Life, Support