A Veteran Missionary's Guide to Missions

And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world,
 and preach my Gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:15

Part One: Why We Must Do Missions

Evangelism is a focal part of the Christian faith.  Sharing our faith with the lost is something that Christ expects from each of his followers. It is not a suggestion or a request; it is a mandate from God. Evangelism is the natural by-product of a mature and growing faith.  For the majority of Christians, evangelism takes place on the local level.  We witness to our family members, neighbors, co-workers, and (sometimes) even complete strangers. 

A part of evangelism is missions.  The word "missions" was coined by Jesuit monks to describe those who were "sent" to minister in foreign lands. They rightly believed that this special calling, with its greater dangers and sacrifices, was set apart from regular evangelism and deserved (at the least) a new classification.  Unlike many Christians today, who believe that "we are all missionaries," the early Church understood that leaving your family, your culture, and your heart language behind so that you could pour out your life in a strange land was not the same as spending twenty minutes telling your neighbor what Christ has done in your life.

During the early era of international missions, the crate that carried your possessions to the field often doubled as your coffin.  The average life expectancy for those early missionaries was less than five years. Fortunately, medical breakthroughs and advances in transportation has significantly improved the survival rate of missionaries.   However, the sacrifices they make are still very real.  Ask anyone who has spent more than a month overseas; it is not easy to live in a different country.

Obviously, Christians do not do missions because it is easy.  They do it because it is right.  The Great Commission was not limited to local evangelism.  Jesus commanded them to go "unto the uttermost part of the earth."  To me, that phrase always conjured up images of those places that I would LEAST like to visit- and that may very well be what He was saying.  Missions requires us to reach a greater level of commitment in our service to Christ because we often end up going to places that we never wanted to go to and doing things that are completely outside our comfort zone.

So, you may be asking yourself, "What is she trying to do, scare me from ever doing a mission trip?" No, that isn't my intent at all.  Instead, what I'm trying to say is that the missions experience will take your faith to a higher level because it is HARD.  Have you ever talked to someone who has just returned from a mission trip?   They go on and on and on about how incredible it was and how it changed their life.  The number one response that I've heard from first-time mission trippers is something like this: "I went, thinking that I might be a blessing to others, but I ended up being the one who was blessed."

Going on a mission trip is a lot like riding a roller coaster for the first time.  There is a lot of anxiety and trepidation before you head out, then you are overwhelmed with new sensations and experiences, and finally you are dropped back at the start feeling exhilarated and you can hardly wait to do it again. Face it, missions gives you a rush like nothing else, but (like the roller coaster) it can be a bumpy ride; whether it is your first mission trip or your fiftieth, you just never know what might happen.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to be writing on what you can do to make your next mission trip a little easier.  If you've never gone on a mission trip, I hope that these blogs will spark a desire in you to stretch your faith enough to be willing to reach the lost overseas.  At the very least, I hope that it will give you the knowledge of how you can better pray for those in your church who will soon be taking mission trips and for the career missionaries who have committed their whole lives to reaching the uttermost ends of the earth.

Apples of Gold

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Proverbs 25:11

 

 

 

This blog is a continuation of last week's blog, The Power of Words. I challenged my readers to see how many of the phrases that I listed had originated in the Bible.  Below, you can check your answers to see how well you did.

 

1. A sorry sight   (Shakespeare's MacBeth)

2. Apple of his eye   (Psalm 17:8)

3. To pine away   (Ezekiel 33:10)

4. A fool's paradise   (Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet)

5. Skin of his teeth   (Job 19:20)

6. All of a sudden   (Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew)

7. Blind leading the blind   (Luke 6:39)

8. As dead as a doornail   (Shakespeare's King Henry VI)

9. As pure as the driven snow   (combines two of Shakespeare's phrases from MacBeth and The Winter's Tale.

10. The eleventh hour   (Matthew 20:6)

11. Beside himself   (Mark 3:21)

12. His head on a plate   (Mark 6:28)

13. Dash to pieces   (appeared in Shakespeare's The Tempest in 1610 and the KJV in 1611)

14. A stone's throw   (Luke 22:41)

15. Eaten out of house and home   (Shakespeare's Henry IV)

16. Heart's content   (Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice)

17. Sharper than a serpent's tooth   (Shakespeare's King Lear)

18. Hold my tongue   (Esther 7:4)

19. Safe and sound   (Luke 15:27)

20. The crack of doom (Shakespeare's MacBeth)

 

There is a poetic beauty to the language of the King James Bible. It was a product of the Elizabethan era; a time when the English language reached its zenith. We see this, not only in the KJV Bible, but also in the writings of William Shakespeare- another product of this time period. The powerful influence of the Bible has impacted our language in an immeasurable way, however, the REAL power of the Word is its ability to change our lives.

 



The Power of the Tongue

Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Proverbs 18:21



We've all heard at least a dozen sermons on the damage that the tongue can do. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the tongue can also bring life. We can curse or we can bless with our tongues. We can bring grief or we can bring joy with what we say.

Even language itself can bring joy.  Though Satan may do all he can to pervert language, there can also be great beauty in it- though we seem to have forgotten that in this nation.  If you need reminding, just read the poems of Emily Dickinson or Ralph Waldo Emerson. Or, if you are really daring, read something from William Shakespeare.

Unfortunately, in this time of texts and tweets, our emphasis is on brevity rather than quality of writing. It is easy for us to forget that, at the time that our Bible was translated into English and made available to the common man, the English language was at its zenith. From that early King James Bible have come verses that we have known since childhood:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."  John 3:16

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Eph. 2:8

In fact, that early translation of the Bible has become such a part of our day-to-day language that we are no longer aware of it. To emphasize the impact that the Bible has had on the English language, I thought that I would provide a fun, little quiz to show how frequently we use phrases from the Bible without even knowing the source. 

See which of the following phrases you think originated from the Bible and then check back next week to see how well you did.

1. A sorry sight
2. Apple of his eye
3. To pine away
4. A fool's paradise
5. The skin of his teeth
6. All of a sudden
7. The blind leading the blind
8. As dead as a doornail
9. As pure as the driven snow
10. The eleventh hour
11. Beside himself
12. His head on a plate
13. Dash to pieces
14. A stone's throw
15. Eaten out of house and home
16. Heart's content
17. Sharper than a serpent's tooth
18. Hold my tongue
19. Safe and sound
20. The crack of doom

Mind Games

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;

male and female created he them.

Genesis 1:27

 

The way that we think will ultimately affect our decision making. Men are primarily linear thinkers.  You can visualize that style of thinking by picturing points on a straight line. Let's look at an example of how linear thinking works in making a decision:

At soccer practice on Friday, Jimmy asks his dad if he can spend the night with his friend, Tommy.  His dad reasons that since there is no school tomorrow and the family has no plans until Saturday night, it would be fine for Jimmy to spend the night with Tommy.

Women, on the other hand, are concentric thinkers.  Think of points along an infinite number of concentric circles. For those who hate math, think of it as a pebble dropped into a pond, producing ever extending circles that radiate outwardly from the center. 

At soccer practice on Friday, Jimmy asks his mom if he can spend the night with his friend, Tommy.  Mom's first circle of thinking deals with scheduling. Like Dad, she reasons that there is no school tomorrow and nothing on the family calendar until Saturday night, but unlike Dad, her thoughts continue to circle.  Jimmy has a science project due on Monday, which he has continued to put off. What with the stay at Tommy's house, the family event on Saturday night, and church on Sunday; that only leaves Sunday afternoon to finish the project.  Besides, with so many extra-curricular activities, the family has had precious little time together.  Then, there is the whole subject of Tommy and his family.  Tommy's parents hardly ever attend church and their ideas of suitable movies are not at all what Mom approves off.  She really thinks that Tommy is a bad influence on Jimmy and would prefer to discourage that friendship.  In the end, Mom decides that it wouldn't be a good idea for Jimmy to spend the night.

These very diverse ways of thinking can often cause a lot of difficulty in a marriage when it comes to communicating. When dealing with an issue, the husband sees the problem, determines a goal, and then outlines the steps needed to reach that goal.  The wife, however, must cycle the problem through each of her concentric circles.  She must verbalize how she feels about the problem, what she thinks the consequences of the problem might be (both now and in the future), how the problem might affect their children, how it has impacted her in the past, and even whether the problem is really the real problem. Because she thinks concentrically, she may jump from one circle to the other throughout the conversation. 

To the husband, it is like watching a circus performer spinning plates.  You seem to be running from plate to plate and, just when you get one really going, you run over to another plate and start all over again.  In his mind, it is confusing and chaotic and, like the whole spinning plate performance, he just doesn't see the point of it.

As wives, we wonder how a man can be so successful in his job and so totally clueless at home.  I've even had wives confide to me that, at times, they wonder if their husbands have suffered from a blow to their head that has left them brain damaged.

The reality is that it has nothing to do with intellect and everything to do with the differences in the way that men and women think. Fortunately, just as we are capable of learning a foreign language, it is possible for us to learn to understand the language of the opposite sex.  By learning more about the differences in our way of thinking, you have taken the first step in breaking the language barrier.

Next week, I'll be looking at more differences in the way that we think and how a better understanding of our husband's brain will help us to have a better relationship.