Missionaries: Pressure from "home"

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

How about it? From your experience do you think that there is undue pressure from home to "perform" in a way that satisifies them?

Have you ever been tempted to "pad" prayer letters or reports to reflect what they want to hear?

 

[Mexdeaf]

'Perform'- no.

'Conform'- yes.

I think you will know what I mean.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Yes, better wording, thank you.

 

[TexasSky]

My Aunt and Uncle said, "Treat it like you do anything else. Ask if the source of the pressure is God or people."

They would come home on tour and speak to a large church, and get the general nonsense. They tried to keep a sense of humor about it:

Person A: "You didn't win very many people to Christ last year did you?"
My Uncle: {Smile} "I didn't win anyone to Christ. I'm not in the winning business, I'm in the farming business. I plant a seed. God harvests the seeds."

(I had a less godly spirit. I wanted to ask, "How many did you win last year?")

Person B: "You mean you still don't have a church building?"
My Uncle: "Its alright. I'm happy with the same kind of building that God gave the first disciples and Paul. You can pray in living rooms."

Person C: "But what will you do with that money? Will they know it came from our church?"
My Uncle: "Whatever God wants, and they'll know the money came from God."

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Wow Texas - I have heard A LOT from Person "B" in the last couple of years .

 

[John of Japan]

My problem is not pressure from the homeland, it is apathy. I have 50 supporting churches, and have only had two supporting pastors ever visit the field: my father and my uncle!!

 

[Mexdeaf]

Let me delve a little further into this issue.

I don't know about your respective 'groups', but our crowd has definitely become more schismatic. There is now less emphasis on getting the job done for God as there is on conforming to the preferences of one group or another.

For example, a fellow missionary recently received a 14-page questionnaire from one of his sending churches. The questions asked were such as these- 'Does your sending agency have a dress code for it's missionaries?', 'What is your conviction concerning CCM?', 'Do you use the KJV on your field?' and the like.

I told the brother, by my experience, when a church sends you a 14-page questionnaire, they have usually already decided to drop you. I don't usually fill out questionnaires. #1 it is a huge waste of time. #2 When they took me on for support, they knew who I was and what I believe, and I haven't changed. #3 In my opinion, the questionnaire should be sent to my sending pastor because I am here under the authority of my home church. (Funny thing, I have yet to be dropped by a church for not returning a questionnaire.)

And just so you know, I have certain standards and preferences in my life, the same ones I graduated from Bible College with in 1982.

Yes, I get pressure to conform. To many pastors today that is more important than the performance.

Sad, Jesus got the same pressure to conform from the Pharisees when he was on this earth. They just didn't get it, like many pastors today don't.

 

[gb93433]

Many years ago the SBC decided not to support a pastor who wanted to go to Mexico. So several churches decided to pool their money and send him. They knew him as an excellent SBC pastor. The man has done an excellent job in Mexico for about the last 30 years.

A friend of mine from another country wanted to go as a medical missionary to his country and the SBC told him that had a rule against that. So he went with another organization. That organization saw that as a great opportunity and a much cheaper way to send a missionary. It is considerabley less and more effective to support local missionaries than to send foreigners as missionaries.

Years ago when I met with several staff from FBC, Modesto, CA they were doing that same exact thing at that time. They sent one foreigner to get things started and then eventually supported a local in the country once things got established. It cost much less and was more effective.

 

[gb93433]

Mexdeaf

I have heard that same story from many I have known who have gone with denominations. But I have not heard that from those who have gone with mission organizations such as Wycliffe, etc.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Originally posted by gb93433:
Many years ago the SBC decided not to support a pastor who wanted to go to Mexico. So several churches decided to pool their money and send him. They knew him as an excellent SBC pastor. The man has done an excellent job in Mexico for about the last 30 years.

A friend of mine from another country wanted to go as a medical missionary to his country and the SBC told him that had a rule against that. So he went with another organization. That organization saw that as a great opportunity and a much cheaper way to send a missionary. It is considerabley less and more effective to support local missionaries than to send foreigners as missionaries.

Years ago when I met with several staff from FBC, Modesto, CA they were doing that same exact thing at that time. They sent one foreigner to get things started and then eventually supported a local in the country once things got established. It cost much less and was more effective.

The topic if this thread is not the rightness of wrongness of having missionaries, that is for each church or individual to decide.

Some of us are already here, the topic at hand is pressure to conform to expectations from "home" or to perform to their standards. We can debate whether or not we should even be here in another thread.

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Originally posted by John of Japan:
My problem is not pressure from the homeland, it is apathy. I have 50 supporting churches, and have only had two supporting pastors ever visit the field: my father and my uncle!!

Yup - can see that point as well.

However I think it is combined with pressure. Few really care about how things are going, but many want to be sure that we are in conformity to them on so many minor issues as MexDeaf pointed out in the post following yours.

 

[DHK]

Do we have a KJV Bible to conform to? No--they don't speak English.
What about music? Do they play traditional hymns? Traditional for them, but not for us.
Well is it like rock? CCM? What is it like?
If you mean do they use a drum--yes, they do.
Is it like rock or most CCM--No.
It is different, but not wrong.

How can a person sit in judgement if they have never been there?

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

Excellent question and good points all along.

 

[DHK]

Originally posted by DHK:

How can a person sit in judgement if they have never been there?

Just to clariy for others, I am not in Canada.
I am presently in a third world country which I do not wish to disclose the location thereof. If my answers (and/or questions) seem strange, that may be the reason why.

 

[John of Japan]

Originally posted by DHK:
What about music? Do they play traditional hymns? Traditional for them, but not for us.
Well is it like rock? CCM? What is it like?
If you mean do they use a drum--yes, they do.
Is it like rock or most CCM--No.
It is different, but not wrong.

How can a person sit in judgement if they have never been there?

Yeah, the CCM thing. There are so few Christians here (1/2 of 1% evangelical) that any Christian music MUST be non-profit. And that leaves out a lot of CCM, because it is FOR profit.

Years ago, when CCM was becoming popular in the States, a seminary prof came to Japan and did a seminar for us missionaries on what was wrong with CCM. At the Q & A time I raised my little pinky and in my shy, unassuming way said, "What is CCM? We don't have it here." (We didn't at the time.) Evidently he'd never been asked for a definition. He fumbled around and said, "Ah..., umm, it's kind of light, happy music with, um, syncopation...?"

 

[MikeinGhana]

If we saw some kind of pressure from home it would at least mean they are watching what we are doing. Most of the time the missionary labors in obscurity with very few even aware of what is going on. I have read in other threads where some missionaries arrive at a supporting church only to not even be recogniozed "after" they introduce themselves! Bet that church is praying for them!

My problem is not that I feel pressure but rather try to pressure them to get involved with my work. I write prayer letters via snail mail. I send out almost weekly emails. I have a web site. What more can I do to involve my churches?

 

[bapmom]

Im just having this thought right now, but could something like a penpal club work? Have some of your church members on your field correspond with some people in your supporting churches?

I think it might make the work you do come more alive if there was some personal contact with your converts. I just read the other thread about having people travel to the USA, and a letter writing thing would do basically the same thing without your people be motivated to try to get to, and stay in, America.

Even if its only kids......parents get involved with whats real to their kids.

 

[MikeinGhana]

bapmom

I think the idea of church folks writing to one another is a good one. I do not think it will satisfy those who desire to get to America. Most of our people would love to travel abroad. Most never will. Most do not covet it in a wrong sense. Many do however. With all that said, what do we do with those whose desire to get there interferes with their spiritual walk with God?

 

[bapmom]

MikeinGhana,

isn't that something that has to be dealt with through preaching and individual counselling? I mean here in the States we have all sorts of desires that interfere with our spiritual walk with God, and it has to be dealt with through preaching....right?

Actually, I assume you knew that already and that was a rhetorical question.

I wouldn't presume to be telling you your business.

 

[John of Japan]

Originally posted by bapmom:
Im just having this thought right now, but could something like a penpal club work? Have some of your church members on your field correspond with some people in your supporting churches?

I think it might make the work you do come more alive if there was some personal contact with your converts. I just read the other thread about having people travel to the USA, and a letter writing thing would do basically the same thing without your people be motivated to try to get to, and stay in, America.

Even if its only kids......parents get involved with whats real to their kids.

As long as I don't have to take time to translate those letters!

We do have one lady in our church who could correspond in English.