3 Jul 2017

Short term missions are not the race

by | posted in: Missions | 171,225

I am always amazed at the excitement and nervousness from those going on their first short-term mission trip, most of the time they don’t know enough to know what they need to be nervous about. There is an excitement in their eyes as they head into the unknown. They prepare testimonies and lessons, not knowing how God will use them or if they will be effective. They pack what is recommended and wonder if it will be enough. They comfort their parents and loved ones, and try to reassure them everything is going to be alright, while at the same time not knowing what the future holds. But through leading and prayer, the journey begins.

 

A lot of mission team members, especially those who have never been on mission before usually become broken spiritually sometime during the week of the trip. They discover a new outlook on sharing, faith, trust, and God. Why is this? It is simple, during the week they are constantly hearing the word of God either from others sharing or through the preaching or their own study. They also see the word of God come to life. That doesn’t mean that the bible gets up and starts walking around. But they see the Spirit of God begin to work in the lives of the people they come in contact with. They walk the streets with a single purpose, to find the person of peace with whom they can share the good news of the gospel. Some are hit with the hard truth that not all will accept the gospel, so they plant a seed not knowing the condition of the soil. Other times they begin to pour out water onto unknown soil, unaware that a seed exist and has been waiting for the moisture that God will use to bring it to life. They get excited and don’t know what to do when out of the ground springs forth life. A miracle, they get to see cold dead bones come to life. After that experience, they have a drive to share and no longer need to be pushed in front of people to share with. Oh what it would have been like in Acts to walk the streets and see God work, bringing people to life through the proclamation of the Gospel. But wait, could that still happen? And could it happen here?

After returning home and a couple weeks of rest, life returns to normal. The mission was accomplished, people were saved and now we are back comfortable, safe, fed, and loved. Or are we? There is always a sense of completion at the end of a mission trip. Not that that would be wrong in the short term, but there is a since of that was where we were on mission at, but now we are back and we have things to get done. Real stuff, school, work, friends, problems, and you know life. Right?

One of the greatest tragedies we have is short-term missions. I know you saw a bunch of people get saved, and God really “showed up”, but stay with me. There is a since of awe and wonder during the week of a mission trip. And we look forward to the next year when we can go and feel that same since of awe and wonder. But let’s compare it to a race shall we. Anyone who runs foot races understands that you have different splits. These are markers throughout the race to gauge your progress, and to ensure you are on pace. A short-term mission trip is sort of like a split. It is a time to see if you are where you need to be in your spiritual life, in your reading and study of the word, apologetics, doctrines, and if you can articulate them to the world around you. The shortness of the week gives you the opportunity to push yourself hard and to evaluate yourself. The tragedy is that the short-term is looked at, as the race itself. We return with a sense that we ran and will rest up to run again next year.

The race however is not over. In fact it is just beginning. When you return home, it is like passing the first mile marker. The street is no longer filled with cheering fans, the road narrows, and the reality of the race sets in. Here is where we must work our hardest. This is where we must pull from prayer and scripture, the strength to press on. Where most might sit and rest, we must run to win. We don’t just return to normal life, we return with a renewed sense of awe for what God has been doing and we must now trust even more so that He will continue His work. We saw on foreign soil God work in others lives. Now we must trust that He will work in ours for His glory and to reach those around us. We are home; this is where we must turn from our sins, where we must love God more than mother and father, more than friends and things. This is where we live out what we preach, if we believe that which we have taught. Did we believe it? Do we believe it? If so, then are we disciplined for the miles ahead? Paul tells the church at Corinth “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified”. Are we disqualified or are we still in the race?

There are no short-term missionaries; there are only missionaries in different context. When we return to our Jerusalem, let us seek the hope that is only found in Christ. Let us not lean on our own understanding, our own wisdom, which is foolishness. Let us not fall victim to busyness and the lure of shiny objects that promise fulfillment. Let our knees be worn out for those nearest to us. Let our time be determined by the cross and His call, trusting that He will provide the time for work, family, fun, and ministry, as we continue the race. We have found our greatest joy in walking by faith; let us not check our faith with Homeland Security as we return home. But let us be reminded daily where our ultimate security is found and where our joy is greatest. Wherever you woke up at, wherever you find yourself, wherever you stand today, then that is your mission field. Time to get running.

171225 Responses

  2. is get sight care legitimate
    | Reply

    Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this website.

    It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s challenging to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appearance.

    I must say you’ve done a amazing job with this. In addition, the blog loads very fast for me
    on Opera. Excellent Blog!

    Here is my blog post :: is get sight care legitimate

  3. indo porn
    | Reply

    Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues.
    When I look at your blog site in Ie, it looks fine but
    when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
    I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that,
    excellent blog!

  9. Set Meja Makan Jati
    | Reply

    An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who was
    conducting a little research on this. And he actually bought
    me lunch due to the fact that I stumbled upon it for him…
    lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
    But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about this topic here on your site.

  18. big black cock
    | Reply

    Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a completely different subject but it has pretty much the
    same layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!

  20. cannabis
    | Reply

    Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer
    for your blog. You have some really good articles and I think
    I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine.
    Please blast me an e-mail if interested. Thanks!

  29. heng36
    | Reply

    May 22 (Reuters) – Hong Kong stocks edged higher on Wednesday,
    but gains were capped by rising trade worries following reports that the United States could blacklist another Chinese tech firm.

    ** The Hang Seng index rose 0.2%, to 27,705.94 points, while the
    China Enterprises Index lost 0.3%, to 10,604.55 points.

    ** The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries
    that trade friction between the world’s top
    two economies could be further inflamed.

    ** That came after the U.S. Commerce Department blocked Huawei Technologies Co
    Ltd from buying U.S. goods last week.

    ** Beijing is ready to resume trade talks with Washington,
    China’s ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said, as
    a top U.S. business lobby in China said nearly half its members are seeing non-tariff barrier retaliation in China due to the trade war.

    ** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was
    firmer by 0.17%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.05%.

    ** The yuan was quoted at 6.906 per U.S. dollar at 08:18 GMT, 0.05% weaker than the
    previous close of 6.9028.

    ** The top gainers among H-shares were Huatai Securities Co
    Ltd, up 1.94%, followed by China Tower Corp Ltd ,
    gaining 1.69%, and China Telecom Corp Ltd, up by 0.77%.

    ** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Shenzhou International Group Holdings Ltd, which was down 1.83%, Hengan International Group Company Ltd, which fell
    1.7%, and China Communications Construction Co Ltd , down by 1.5%.

    ** About 1.76 billion Hang Seng index shares were traded,
    roughly 98.9% of the market’s 30-day moving average of 1.78
    billion shares a day. The volume traded in the previous trading
    session was 2.30 billion.

    ** At close, China’s A-shares were trading at a
    premium of 24.31% over Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
    (Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by
    Subhranshu Sahu)

  34. Jacques
    | Reply

    I was wondering if you ever considered changing the structure of your blog?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.

    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content
    so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images.
    Maybe you could space it out better?

  38. Child care resources Spokane
    | Reply

    hey there and thank you for your info – I have certainly picked up something new from right here.
    I did however expertise a few technical points using this website,
    as I experienced to reload the web site many
    times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK?
    Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will
    sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
    Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and can look out for a lot more of your respective exciting
    content. Ensure that you update this again soon.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *