I've been saving this post for last to cap off the Upstream Collective's Jet Set Tour to Asia because I like it so much. One of the last videos posted was an interview with Caleb Crider about the missionary aspect of the church:



This is an important piece to the puzzle and I'm glad it came out. One of the mission aspects that has been overlooked for many years is the idea of goers and senders contributing to the mission of the church. For too long, missionaries went and churches stayed. Missionaries were the professionals and churches were the bankers. Missionaries spread the kingdom and churches were content to let them do it. What has changed in my mind and what I'm sensing in the conversation is the rediscovery of partnership missions. Paul understood it in his relationship with the Philippians:

“I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it...
Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need.” - Philippians 4:10-16

John Piper has also stated and written this clearly, “There are three types of people; the goers, the senders, and the disobedient.” In other words, what I’ve come to understand is that missions is a partnership between two sets of missionaries, those that go and those that send. There is no middle ground.

Ultimately, I think that this is a healthy idea and one that will carry the gospel further and deeper into the hearts of all involved. Which are you, a goer or a sender?

Tags: Missionary Life, Missions

Portugal today went to the polls to elect a new Prime Minister and form a new parliamentary coalition. Jose Socrates is expected to narrowly win out which will dissolve his absolute majority in the parliament but will maintain his socialist control over Portuguese government. May God be praised and exalted and the gospel spread no matter who wins!




http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4728316,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
http://www.euronews.net/2009/09/27/portuguese-elections-voting-underway/
http://www.euronews.net/2009/09/27/portugal-goes-to-polls/

"Due to the country’s serious budget deficit, public spending cuts or tax hikes are on the agenda no matter who wins. Job creation is another major challenge. Unemployment has soared to its highest level since the 1980s." - Euronews.net

Tags: Portugal

Caleb posted an interview between Ed Stetzer and Marshall Dallas in Taipei discussing some cultural similarities between East and West. One of the things Marshall mentioned was his discovery of "nominalism," the cultural practice that subsequent generations take up their parents "faith" in practice only. Interestingly, that is exactly what we dealt with in Ireland and what we'll be facing in Portugal. You can watch the interview below:



Nominalism is a real challenge because it gives the appearance of faithfulness without the heart change that the gospel creates and demands. Ed pointed this out as an opportunity and a challenge. I agree. One thing that we've noticed personally is the difficulty nominalism creates in support raising. The impression of faith permeates the process especially when trying to raise support for Western Europe. We actually had someone tell us not to bother with our previous ministry in Ireland because "they were a Catholic country and knew about Jesus already." That couldn't have been further from the truth.

Yet another aspect of our job as missionaries is to educate our supporters about the realities of the locations we're working in and lift the lid on nominalism. This is another reason why exploratory trips and mission prep are so important.

Tags: Missions

Ray Ortland posted a tidbit on worship from Genisis 4 so profound I just had to pass it on. Click here to read the whole thing.

Cain did not worship God with the psychology of faith. His gift was safe: "Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground" (Genesis 4:3). He worshiped God out of his income from past labors.

Abel worshiped God with the psychology of faith. His gift was risky: "Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions" (Genesis 4:4). He gave to the Lord from his breeding stock and from their best parts. He worshiped God out of his chances for the future, out of his capital.

Tags: Worship

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Not in missions.

We in the West are conditioned to the idea that first impressions are everything. First impressions twitterpate our love lives, where we work, where we go to church, what car we buy and what we wear. Unfortunately, relying on first impressions when starting out in missions jeopardizes our ministry and turns culture shock from a temporary irritation into a debilitating condition. That's why I have a new rule: "You never get a second chance to make a fourth impression." Fourth impressions will make or break your ministry.

The reason why I'm such a big proponent of fourth impressions is because it gives us time to open our eyes to both the good and the bad of the place we've chosen to serve. "But, the Holy Spirit will guide me through the tough times and people are people, right?" Wrong. Did you know that in Portugal people don't normally spend a lot of time in each others homes? That relationship is reserved for families and very close friends. So why would anyone invision a house church ministry bringing together relative strangers? Unfortunately, they are and they're failing. Did you know that many Portuguese people look down on Brazilian Portuguese speakers? Bias? Yes. Important to know, absolutely. So don't bother investing in Brazilian Portuguese language courses if you're going to work in Portugal.

Most missionaries slide from overly optimistic to drearily pessimistic; the challenge is to land and remain somewhere in the middle. While not starry-eyed dreamers (most of us...) we're pretty unrealistic at first, especially those right out of bible school/seminary. We overlook the cultural quicksand because in our minds we're going to change it through the gospel anyway! Fourth impressions through mission prep trips, culture study, reading history, talking to locals about their frustrations, and multiple visits before committing opens our eyes to the underbelly of the culture and gives us a more realistic impression of a place. That's why we've been slow to commit to Portugal and why despite multiple visits to the country, we decided to take one more.

The guys at upstream are doing just that this week. For those of you interested in Asia I strongly recommend you follow along with their cultural exploration as a means to your own and do not go until you've reached that fourth impression:
http://blog.theupstreamcollective.org/2009/09/24/the-spiritual-state-of-taiwan/
http://larrymccrary.blogspot.com/2009/09/taxis-and-temples.html
http://larrymccrary.blogspot.com/2009/09/last-night-we-went-to-completely.html
http://larrymccrary.blogspot.com/2009/09/hungry-ghosts.html
http://missionalspace.com/?p=398

Fourth impressions; cherish them, they will bless your ministry.

Tags: Missions

As most of you know already, we’ve been in Portugal this week exploring mission opportunities for our future ministry plans. These strategy sessions along with nationalization processes have made the last three days tiring. We’ve been going from 8AM through 10 or 11PM every night since arriving which as I mentioned last week deflates any sense of a “vacation” mentality. This type of mission prep is challenging but having an opportunity to meet with national Christian leaders, listening to their stories and their needs, and strategizing about ways to plant, grow, and multiply healthy churches has been a wonderful experience. Below are 3 short observations from along the way:

• We didn’t know it, but we were on everyone’s meeting list. We came with the intention of meeting a handful of people for very pointed discussions. We’ve had a chance to do that... on top of meeting the other 100 people that weren’t on the list. In a small evangelical community word seems to travel quickly that we’re here, creating lots of extra meetings and more opportunities to meet people.
  
  

• The need is greater than we even imagined. The spiritual needs in Portugal are staggering and if we weren’t Christians they would be downright overwhelming. In Portugal, there are 44 counties with no New Testament, born-again, Christian church. None, nada, zip. There are cities/suburbs in and around Lisbon (the capital) with hundreds of thousands of residents with no church presence at all. Not even a prayer meeting or small group bible study. We discovered from Missâo 2015 that only .08% of the population is a non-Roman catholic/evangelical of any flavor. There is just a monstrous need.
  
  

• The fact that we are experienced missionaries with a few years under our belts makes us “chum” in the missionary water. Everyone want’s to talk to us and explain their needs. Everyone wants to request our help. We wish we could listen and we want to help but it’s just not possible to help everyone. I remember feeling that way about experienced missionary possibilities considering our (former) ministry field. Every time someone with experience and smarts walked in we put a letter of intent in their hands and talked their ears off before they left. The fact is, no mission field ever has enough workers (national or foreign), they’re all struggling.
  

This week guys from the Upstream Collective will be doing something similar to us. I’ll try to add some thoughts to theirs as the come in. If you want to follow along simply click the Upstream Ticket on the left. Here’s to the work, and the conversation.

Tags: Missionary Life, Missions

It's Monday night and I'm at home after a long day at work. In two days I'll be on a plane with my wife, mother-in-law, and mission director flying to Lisbon, Portugal. Under normal circumstances, traveling to Portugal is one of our highlights but this trip is different, it's all about business. Don't get me wrong, this is not a whingy blog post about the trip looking for sympathy about having to travel to one of the most beautiful places on earth. But this trip unlike others is not for pleasure, it's for mission prep.

There is a misconception among American christians that missionary work is a permanent vacation. In fact many workers in global missions present their work as permanent vacations unintentionally. Always presenting our work as wonderful, always highlighting the good stuff, always showing the beautiful pictures and the smiling faces... who wouldn't wonder if it's actually Margaritaville behind the missions curtain? Not everyone does this but too many do. The truth is that mission work is hard, not every day is a good day, and sometimes people aren't smiling, the sun isn't shining, and no one wants to hear about Jesus.

Trips like the one we're taking are a part of the harder, necessary side of missionary life. We're changing time zones for three days of meetings, trying to get citizenship paperwork done in one, while trying to meet people who we hope to meld our lives with for the Gospel. My mother-in-law has donated her time, our mission director has donated his, and we're taking no-pay time off from work and paying our own way to get this stuff done. (Not to mention the people we’re meeting with who have taken time out of their schedules.) And none of what I've said is for our glory or fame! Here’s the problem, speaking this way can be interpreted as whining or arrogance so many missionaries don’t even bother. Why tell people how difficult things are when it’s turned back on you as being weak, complaining, or pride? Because they need to know. Our people need to hear this stuff because it’s the truth and it’s what adds to the satisfaction of both goers and senders. Most importantly, it makes missions real and shows that we’re serious about Jesus.

Mission work: Not always easy but always satisfying.

Tags: Missionary Life, Missions

If you read my post entitled “Speaking Missionese” last week you will know that I believe the modern idea of feeling “called” to missions or “being led to mission work” in-spite of wisdom’s direction or giftedness and opportunity is foreign to the bible. For instance, I would seriously challenge someone’s missional calling to the jungles of Sri Lanka who is married with 3 children and taking care of their invalid mother in Ohio. However I also know that to deny the Holy Spirit’s involvement altogether would be foolish. John Piper had some thoughts on this very issue a few years ago. If you have any sense of a growing desire for mission work read his thoughts.

Is God Calling You to Give Your Life for His Sake and the Gospel in Missions?

Tags: Missionary Life, Missions

Being around the mission-sphere awhile means that sooner or later you’re exposed to a new way of talking and expression. The “missionese” spoken by and about missionaries is a derivative of “christianese” spoken by millions of Christian adherents especially those of an evangelical stripe. A few years ago Bel Air Drama Department posted a parody on learning to speak Christianese:



Unfortunately, B.A.D.D didn’t go far enough to teach us “missionese,” that strain can only be acquired through language immersion. The problem with “missionese” is that it is perpetuated by normal, well-meaning Christians who through their flowery descriptions paint mission work in celestial phrases. We missionaries are guilty of accepting this praise and then turning it around to describe our own work. Phrases like:

• “feeling called”
• “being led”
• “God laid mission work on my heart”
• “having a burden for...”
• “received a confirmation” and
• “the Spirit opened a door”

perpetuate the misunderstanding that missional ministry is something you must feel. J. Hudson Taylor once said, “The great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed” and I read elsewhere (although I couldn’t find the reference) “who needs a calling when we have a command?” I believe that there is a mentality within Christianity influenced by “missionese” that needs to be corrected. Not every missionary needs to be “led” or “called” only obedient. Not every decision requires confirmation, only opportunity and wisdom. Sometimes missionaries walk through doors that appear to be closed and stay put when doors appear to be opened. Missionaries and those that support them need not be super-spiritual people, simply obedient, humble servants obeying the command to go. So the next time you find yourself “feeling led” to do something for Jesus remember, Jesus “didn’t give you a burden,” he gave you a command.

Tags: Missionary Life, Missions

Should a church planter be bi-vocational? Depends on who you ask...the answer over on 9Marks might surprise you.

It is never easy when a missionary and his family leave, sometimes it’s downright painful. C. Holland over at Missionary Confidential wrote about losing missionary #20 today. We missionaries and ministers need your prayers because ministry isn’t easy.

If you’ve ever used an NIV, you might find this interview with Douglas Moo regarding the announcement of the NIV 2011 interesting.

If Portugal is to make it into next year’s World Cup they’ll need a solid win against Denmark. Here’s hoping that Portugal can pull it out against the Danes.

"There's not much to say. We have to win. That's it," Portugal playmaker Deco said. "We'd have liked to have been in a more comfortable position at this point, but we can still do it and we have to win these upcoming matches."

Tags: Jots

Sometimes I wonder if posting reason after reason for Missions in Europe is actually productive? Of course, much of what is written in the news in America could be used as cannon fodder for why ministry ought to be done in one place or another. But the sheer amount of short-sightedness on European affairs forces my hand. So many people I meet simply don’t have a clue about what’s going on in Europe (or any other part of the world for that matter). Some of that is caused by a lack of information here in the U.S. Watch and compare any news report from another part of the world to our so called “news” and the difference is obvious. Our media congloms simply don’t report the happenings elsewhere in the world, they’re too busy running another 15 minutes of ED ads featuring two people sitting outside in a tub!

For the 3 of you that do care, there was a report posted on drudgereport.com tonight about health care practices in Britain that seemed to illustrate the utter bankruptcy of the naturalistic mindset. Patients in Britain nearing what their doctors claim to be their “final hours” are monitored by a team of doctors in order to determine when it is time to for them to die.

“Developed by Marie Curie, the cancer charity, in a Liverpool hospice it was initially developed for cancer patients but now includes other life threatening conditions. It was recommended as a model by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the Government’s health scrutiny body, in 2004.

It has been gradually adopted nationwide and more than 300 hospitals, 130 hospices and 560 care homes in England currently use the system. Under the guidelines the decision to diagnose that a patient is close to death is made by the entire medical team treating them, including a senior doctor. They look for signs that a patient is approaching their final hours, which can include if patients have lost consciousness or whether they are having difficulty swallowing medication.

However, doctors warn that these signs can point to other medical problems. Patients can become semi-conscious and confused as a side effect of pain-killing drugs such as morphine if they are also dehydrated, for instance.”

There is a huge catastrophe brewing in Europe as naturalism and secular humanism mature. No longer relegated to debate in institutions of higher learning, these humanist philosophies have turned up in governmental policies. Under a naturalistic worldview, people have no intrinsic worth. They are a product of chance who’s survival is determined by their relative strength. Hence, the scandal that a weak, infirm, or sick individual’s survival is actually up for discussion by a team of physicians! This isn’t a policy issue this is a moral issue.

By contrast Jesus taught that every single person possesses intrinsic moral worth as a man or woman made in the image of God. We die when we die, and until that time comes we do everything in our power to serve our fellow God reflections including the ill and infirm. Europe needs Jesus because it isn’t simply a policy that needs changing but a shift in worldview.

Tags: Europe, Missions