Missions

I should be in the car as this post is released. We’re on our way to the World Missions Summit 2, a gathering of Chi Alpha college students who are being challenged to give a year to missions and pray about a lifetime. With this possible influx of new missionaries it just so happens that, serendipitously, Jim Cottrill, a fellow Mexico Missionary at Missionary-Blogs.com is asking us to give our best advice to up and coming missionaries. So in anticipation of the event, which begins the 30th I’ll weigh in with what I feel to be the best advice that I have received as a missionary: “Attempt to be a cross-cultural servant.”

We who come from developed countries have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to share with those who have been less fortunate. We have access to the best information, the most knowledgeable scholars and the latest in high technology gadgets. Still, we find that in many situations we fail to make a significant impact in areas where we feel that our advantages could most readily be put into service. Furthermore, in many parts of the world, those of us who call ourselves Americans are more readily cursed than we are welcomed. Why is that?

Some could say it is a case of sour grapes, that other countries are frustrated that Americans have received so much while others have had so little. Still, I feel that there is something more. I feel that it comes more from what we convey than what it is that we have.

In his recent book, Cross Cultural Servanthood Duane Elmer remarks that many of us, and Christian Missionaries probably more often than others convey attitudes that “inadvertently communicate superiority, paternalism, imperialism, and ignorance. While never our intention, our ethnocentrism leads us to behave in a way that tells our host culture (the people of the country where we live and work) that we are the experts. We are there to give out of the vast knowledge that we have, while they submissively receive. This attitude immediately creates an “us and them” mentality where the host culture is frequently evaluated and usually denigrated by our accepted American “standard.”

To illustrate, Elmer uses the story of a monkey, watching a fish struggle against that current. Moved by his plight, the monkey, at some risk to himself, climbs a tree and swings out to an branch that overhangs the river. Extending his hand, he grabs the fish, and climbing down from his precarious perch, he places the fish gently on solid ground. Joy comes over him as, after a momentary struggle, the fish enters into a peaceful state of rest there on the bank.

Now of course, we all know that the did not help the fish at all, but from the monkey’s point of view, he did him a great service. Our problem is that we often behave like the monkey–offering our help while failing to fully evaluate and understand the situation, and while we may accomplish certain goals we may be at best tolerated and at worst isolated, while gains are usually only short lived.

What Elmer suggests is that we learn to become true servants–entering into the culture, finding guides to learn from and then inviting them to work together with us to reach sustainable goals. This requires more than simply learning the language, although it starts there. It requires an openness to change and a suspension of judgement on the part of the missionary that needs to occur on an ongoing basis. If we can convey this attitude, we will go far in identifying with our host culture and opening new bridges for collaboration, the key to make real progress on the mission field.

So as we make our way to Cincinnati to share with the students assembled there, I’m preparing myself. If anyone asks, I’ll ready with a copy of Duane Elmer’s book and the best advice that I’ve ever received: “Be a cross-cultural servant.”

Have you seen cross-cultural servanthood in action? What did it look like? What were the results?

The amazing scientific mind, Sir Issac Newton, is quoted to have said, “If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” Here in the Yucatan, if we have had any impact is because great men and women of God have forged the way before us.

Friday evening we had the privilege of hosting one such giant here in our home. Nancy Cave, along with her daughter Cristiana, came through Mérida on their way to Campeche where she ministered along with her husband, Dave, for 10 years.

Nancy and Dave, responding to the need that Superintendent Alfonso de los Reyes presented to them, made the Yucatan their home and had a tremendous impact. They were involved first in evangelism, but their servant’s heart never said “no” to a need. Dave was involved in construction, everything from furniture to entire Bible Schools. As a couple they received teams, sometimes three at a time. They ministered in campaigns, at times in the Maya language, and their work reached out to all ages.

Dave recently passed away from a prolonged battle with cancer. You can read his memorial at our fellowship’s website. His ultimate months were spent in the States receiving treatment, but his heart was always in the work. His dream was to return, but it was not to be. However, days before he went on to his reward, a Mexican pastor, who had heard of his condition, sought him out in his hospice room. When Dave saw him, his face brightened and he immediately entered into an animated conversation in Spanish about Mexico and the progress of the work. Nancy told us, “He couldn’t return to Mexico, so Mexico came to him.”

As we left Nancy and her daughter at the bus station in Mérida, bound one more time for Campeche, I thought about our work as missionaries. Ours is a relational ministry. The work that we do and the attitude that we convey leaves a lasting impression on the national church. What we do now will determine in large part the effectiveness of those who follow us. We’ve been blessed to have the wonderful foundation that the Caves laid on which to work. Therefore, as Newton said, if we have seen farther, or have have made a difference here in the Yucatán, it’s because we’ve stood on the shoulders of giants–because we’ve been given the privilege to continue the work that the Caves had started.