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Been There. Done That. Now What?

Mission Opportunities for People Who Used to Go Places

By Marti Wade

It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Schools are out or soon will be. And many in the mission world are pulling out their suitcases for a journey overseas, perhaps with others from their church, a short-term team in tow, or an important mission to complete.

That’s not me. My passport expired a while back. When I was young and single, I went abroad about once a year. And I was single a lot longer than many of you. Now, though, I have less energy and fewer opportunities come my way. I’ve been there, done that, and even if I’d like to go again, I don’t see how I can justify taking the place of someone who may have more to give and not had such privileges in the past. So, I stay home and just read about other cultures.

Yet, this choice brings on some troubling trends. My skills and confidence for navigating actual, in-person, cross-cultural situations have atrophied like unused muscles. Living through a pandemic and working from home for years have also taken a toll. What to do?

Maybe some of you are in the same boat. Or perhaps you know others whose hands-on cross-cultural ministry experience is becoming ancient history, something they used to do, maybe before mortgages, gardens, and grandkids. I think our churches have more than a few like this.

How can we find and offer the middle-aged a way back into more active roles? I’ve got a few thoughts. Some might also work for those who are new to missions. What would you add? If enough of you send me more ideas, I’ll shape them into a part two.

Thanks for reading.

Three Ways to Reengage in Missions

1. Visit a friend

If you used to do missions, you probably know someone in another country, someone you’d love to see in person again, encourage and learn from. What about a visit? Maybe they’ve said, never expecting a response, “You should come see us sometime!” Reach out. Bring it up. Explore how that could work. Maybe they have a job for you to do, but perhaps they just need a friend. If you have numerous missionary contacts or friends in other places, contact several and see who responds. Then, make a plan. Renew that passport and save up money or frequent-flier miles.

If you’re a church mission leader, think about who in your church could get on a plane and be a blessing to a worker or ministry you support. Talk to them about going, maybe with some help and direction from the church.

Read The Special Role of a Missionary Friend or In-Person Care (Catalyst Services).

2. Be a more active advocate.

Maybe you can’t make that international trip, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit on your hands at home. Buy a go-er a coffee and ask how you can be a bigger help and part of what they’re doing. Pray with and encourage them. Brainstorm about a problem they need to solve. Offer to host or organize a gathering or represent their needs when they are gone.

You may also have relevant experience or connections to share. Perhaps you can help missionaries-in-the-making grow in practical skills. See, from our archives, What World Travelers Should Know Before They Go. Church mission leaders, as you get to know candidates, look for ways to encourage such connections.

To make a stronger contribution, link arms with others. Read Revisiting Advocate Teams (Catalyst Services).

3. Invite the world in.

Many middle-aged missionaries will tell you they first got interested because they heard a missionary speak at church or met missionary families Mom and Dad invited to their house for dinner. Both may be less common in today’s culture. So, be counter-cultural. Find out when a missionary will be in town and send them a note about getting together. Do they need a place to stay? Offer them hospitality.

And what about hosting a neighbor from another culture, like having an international student or an immigrant family join you for a holiday? Contact local cross-cultural ministries or student exchange programs or talk to your church about needs and opportunities.

You might start small. But ask the Lord to show you if you could play a long-term role as a “welcomer” through sponsoring refugees, teaching English, or hosting an exchange student. Church leaders, share opportunities like that with people in your congregation. You might be surprised who responds.

See befriending the bewildered (Pioneers) or learn how to become a friendship partner to an international student (ISI).

Conclusion

You may have many more ideas or stories from your own experience. I hope you do. I’d love to hear them.

To get the creative juices flowing, you might check out an article I found deep in the Missions Catalyst archives: 21 Easy Ways to Introduce Your Friends to the Nations or read Adopt an International Restaurant (Pioneers-USA).

Header image: Paul Nelham/Flikr

Cabbages in the desert | a mission shared in Lebanon

In this edition:

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Kenya: How God Transformed a Devout Muslim

Source: Mission Frontiers, May/August 2024

Aila Tasse began attending the mosque at an early age. Raised in a strong Muslim family in northern Kenya, he took his Islamic studies seriously and avoided Christians. At around the age of nine, he developed a deep desire to know more about his Islamic faith. He started spending time with the elders after each day’s afternoon prayers, listening to them discuss the Qur’an and other issues. But a question gnawed at Aila’s heart: Who is Allah?

Through unexpected and terrifying circumstances, God opened Aila’s heart to receive the gospel and Christ’s forgiveness. Aila describes the details of this radical transformation in Cabbages in the Desert: How God Transformed a Devout Muslim and Catalyzed Disciple Making Movements Among Unreached Peoples.

Read more (excerpts adapted from the book). Want more? The book will launch Friday, May 3. Currently, you can purchase the Kindle edition for just US$2.99, though the prices will likely go up on Monday according to collaborator Dave Coles.

This edition of Mission Frontiers features a variety of articles about the Perspectives movement. Take a look.

Lebanon: Movement Day Unites Lebanese Christians

Source: Mission Network News, April 17, 2024

Lebanon is poised to be a strategic spiritual influence in the Middle East. Approximately one-third of the country identifies as Christian, and the laws safeguard religious freedom and equality. Many Christian groups in Lebanon have made progress sharing the gospel among local Lebanese, Syrian refugees, and Palestinians.

But so far, they have worked independently. The country’s first-ever Movement Day recently mobilized Christian leaders for greater impact together.

Hunter Williamson of Thimar-LSESD says, “This was a one-day conference that brought together more than 100 local Christian leaders from various sectors, including business media, NGOs, and churches. The idea behind the event was to create a venue for local leaders to meet and collaborate in order to promote the gospel throughout Lebanon. And it was also aimed at fostering unity.”

Movement Day is an initiative that has traveled around the world to connect local Christian leaders and help them start gospel movements in their area. The conference in Beirut was organized by Thimar-LSESD, Heart For Lebanon, and other ministries. The Supreme Council of Evangelical Community in Syria and Lebanon helped facilitate the event.

During the day, representatives from more than 20 Christian NGOs met together for the first time and began planning how to better support each other moving forward. Watch a five-minute video summary.

Read the full story or learn more about the Movement Day strategy.

Also from Lebanon, read Grape Leaves and Frozen Kibbe (World Venture).

Sudan: A Left-Behind Bible Leads to Churches

Source: God Reports, April 29, 2024

Nuraldaim Hassan was raised as a Muslim in a Muslim area of Sudan, at some distance from any Christian influences.

One day, a man traveling from Gofa stopped at his home along the roadside during a rainstorm. Nuraldaim’s family welcomed the man into their home to rest. After the traveler moved on, Nuraldain noticed the man had left behind a Bible.

Curious, Nuraldain began to read the Bible over the next several days. Later, Nuraldaim’s father saw him reading and asked who gave him “that book.” Nuraldaim told him the traveler left it behind. The father took the Bible and forbade his son to read it again.

However, one of Nuraldaim’s friends happened to be a Christian and told him more about Christ.

Later, Nuraldaim visited a church with his friend. A leader at the church told him that there was an opportunity to go to Bible school. Nuraldaim and some of his friends agreed to attend even though he still had not accepted Christ. It was not until after he was at Bible school that Nuraldaim accepted Jesus as His Savior and was baptized.

Nuraldaim still does not know who left the Bible in his home but knows it was God’s amazing way to reach him. Now, he is a leader in the Blue Nile Community Churches.

The full story includes more context about Sudan.

Sudan’s civil war is now in its second year, and 25 million people, nearly half the population, require humanitarian assistance, according to aid agencies (Catholic Information Service for Africa).

Myanmar: Baptist Pastor Re-arrested the Day He Was Released from Prison

Source: International Christian Concern, April 23, 2024

To mark the Buddhist New Year festival of Thingyan, officials in Myanmar released 3,300 people from prison. Authorities re-arrested one of them, a Baptist pastor, later that night.

The Rev. Hkalam Samson is a well-known and respected church leader and former chair of the Kachin Baptist Convention. He is also an outspoken advocate and defender of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities in Myanmar. The U.S. Department of State has called for his release.

Samson was released in the afternoon on April 17. At 10 p.m. that night, security officials detained him at his home. The reverend, who was originally detained on false charges of unlawful association, inciting opposition to the regime, and terrorism, was sentenced in April 2023 to six years in prison. Initially detained in December 2022, Samson had served 16 months of his sentence at the time of his release.

After being welcomed by friends and family the afternoon of his release, a relative who spoke on the condition of anonymity shared that authorities took Samson, his wife Zung Nyaw, and a member of the Kachin-based Peace-talk Creation Group to Myitkyina prison, where Samson had previously served time, claiming it was for their safety.

About 6 percent of Myanmar’s 54 million people are Christian. However, Kachin state, the country’s northernmost state that borders China and India, has a significant Christian population that is frequently harassed and persecuted. About 35% of the state’s 1.7 million people are Christians.
The full story includes a picture of the pastor and his wife. Also read a related story with additional details and links (AP, via Religion News Service).

Note that Myanmar neighbors the Indian state of Manipur (and several others). The border has long been porous, but India wants to change that. Read India Says It Has a Border Crisis. Christians Say the Solution Will Divide Them (Christianity Today).

India: Violence Returns to Troubled Manipur State

Source: The Christian Post, April 22, 2024

Two tribal Christians guarding their village have been killed in attacks that involved gunfire and mortars in the northeast Indian state of Manipur, as per allegations by a local Kuki-Zo tribal organization. The attacks were reportedly carried out by central forces and Hindu Meitei insurgents, who then engaged in acts of dragging, mutilating and stomping on the bodies.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) has accused the central forces, which are deployed to ensure peace, of collaborating with Meitei militants in the attacks that led to the deaths of 23-year-old Kamminlal Lupheng and 25-year-old Kamlengsat Lunkim in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district last week. The men were part of a civilian guard, a necessity borne out of the persistent ethnic conflict that has gripped the state since May 2023.

According to ITLF, a combined force of militants from the Arambai Tenggol and the insurgent group United National Liberation Front began attacking tribal areas last Friday and openly boasted about their exploits on social media platforms.

This resurgence of violence reflects a deep-rooted conflict that has plagued Manipur since May 2023, leading to over 200 deaths and displacing more than 75,000 people.

Read the full story.

A PBS Newswire story reports, “As ethnic violence rages on in Manipur, Indian government accused of looking the other way” (seven-minute video; worth watching).

India: Christian Leaders Attacked by Sikhs With Swords

Source: Morning Star News, April 22, 2024

A group belonging to a Sikh warrior order last week attacked a pastor and another Christian with swords and knives in northern India’s Punjab state for leading church worship in their village.

Four Nihang Sikhs, who as members of the traditional warrior group are permitted to carry such weapons, attacked Pastor Gurjeet Singh, alias Gurjeet Rinku, and his younger brother Gurdeep Singh on Thursday (April 18) in Sultanwind village, Amritsar District, a relative said.

The assailants first told Gurdeep Singh and later Pastor Singh, “We have warned you earlier as well not to conduct church and not convert people, but you have not paid heed,” according to Daljit Kaur, the pastor’s wife and an eyewitness.

Read the full story.

Let’s keep praying for India, in the midst of elections, as tensions remain heightened.