When you go on a mission trip

1. Leave your agenda at home. The work you are going to do is not about you. It is about others. It is also about making life simpler for the missionaries that live there full time. They should not have to serve you. You should go to serve them. Volunteers should have a goal of helping to make the missionaries more successful in the work of the kingdom.
2. Don’t expect everyone to focus on your needs. Take your servants heart out and get it polished up real good.
3. Don’t open your mouth until you know that what you are planning to say is scripturally and culturally correct, AND is under the authority of your team leader or the missionaries that have charge over you.
4. If you can’t live a few days “as one under authority” then stay home. You are not there to call the shots. The career missionaries are where you get your orders for each day, even if you are team leader, . Don't do anything without checking with them.
5. Leave your western experience and your “this is how it ought to be done” attitude at home. Step off the plane as a blank page, and give the pen to the Lord God. Expect the Lord to use someone who lives in the country to do the writing on the pages of your heart.
6. Don’t expect life to be like it is in the US. Realize that what we have in the US has spoiled us. Eating food you don’t particularly care for, or using a common bathroom in a third world hotel or an outdoor latrine may not be your preference but it certainly won’t kill you.
7. Do not complain in front of ANY native person about anything.
8. Most mission trips are about 2 -3 weeks. You can endure a little hardship for that period of time. Remember the career people on the field and the indigenous nationals live there all the time.
9. Don’t start throwing money around just because you see a need. You may not be looking at the situation correctly. Western people are easy targets for deception because the culture is so different and because they have generous hearts. Most western Christians make decisions through emotion rather than through revelation. We are need driven rather than Word driven. This opens us up to be used.
10. We need to empower third world-ers to use what resources they have. They need to learn to do for themselves.  Instead of teaching them to look at us as their financial source, they need to be taught to have a dependence on the Lord. We must teach them to use what they have,  not to wait for what they want.  There will a time when none of us will be available to them. Africa is a place where peace is a fleeting thing. History teaches us that our window of opportunity in any one place is a small one. If we teach Africans to rely on us, one dictator can totally shut down the work. However, if we teach them to rely on the Lord, not even Hell can prevail against those trusting the God of Heaven and Earth, the Lord Jesus.
11. Make sure you use all your allotted baggage space. There are many things that the missionaries could use if you will ask for a list of what they need. I heard of a volunteer group that packed light and went with just carry on luggage. What a waste! Ask people at home to help prepare the care packages.
12. Don't be tight or cheap about money. Demonstrate a generous heart. No matter what shape your finances are in at home, you are wealthy compared to the people in the countries you are going to and compared to the missionaries too. Don't let tropical foliage and flowers make you believe the missionaries are living in luxury. Pay your money for housing up front when you get there. Fuel is extra to pick you up. Vehicles must be rented to carry you around. If there are people that are working in the guest houses where you stay they are there to serve you and cost extra money.
13. Be careful about bargaining too much with local vendors. During my first Africa trip many years ago, I tried to bargain for some book markers that cost 800 shillings each. I wanted a price of 500 shillings and ended up making the vendor angry and got my blood pressure up too.  My wife pointed out that I was arguing for the US equivalent of a dime. I was so ashamed. I went back and just gave the vendor some money and apologized for being a bad witness to her. We ended up as friends and the Holy Spirit spoke to me pretty straight about valuing people and seeing them through HIS eyes instead of mine.

False Converts

Concerning spiritual Fruit in Africa

A snapshot for doing biblical evangelism as a volunteer ministering in a 3^rd world country.

Introduction – NO shallow water here!

I have been told that western evangelical missionaries are the best equipped teachers and church planters in the history of the church. This statement is true as long as a qualifier is added. We are the best equipped teachers and church planters as long as we are working in the west. My volunteer service includes several trips to Russia, the Philippines, Costa Rica, and nearly 9 years of long term work in East Africa. I have interviewed many indigenous pastors and the consensus opinion is this: Western pastors, evangelists and mission volunteers need to go as learners before they attempt to become teachers. When we try to teach third world-ers how to do worship and church planting the way we do back home there is a breach in the effectiveness of our message.  The wonderful writing and teaching of Rick Warren, Donald McGavern and other great churchmen must be adapted to fit the cultures we are working in. It is unrealistic and wrong to expect a third world culture to change to enable a tight fit with western methods. Many mission volunteers forget that we are the foreigners, not the people we are ministering to. The only conforming that God expects from any culture is to become like His son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Father God does not expect third world cultures to become like Deep South Baptists or New England Congregationalists as proof they finally got the Spirit. That kind of conformity expectation is anti-gospel and is over-all damaging to the cause of Christ. In fact, that kind of conformity is fueled by pride not passion.

How well equipped are we really to go? Do you really believe we are ready to do missions among unreached people groups in third world countries that are culturally far removed from the western evangelical mindset? I believe that saying we are naturally equipped to go into a third world cultures and take on the role of instructor is a misinformed and misguided position. It might interest you to know that I am not in the minority by taking this position.  

In a lot of ways I am just like you. I have never been a career missionary. I have a lot of training that has worked very well for a very long time (36 years) on this side of the big pond. It would be easy to develop an attitude that I needed to go teach these third world-ers how they should do church. I have enough “on paper” credentials in full time vocational church service that some probably think I really do know something, even though I know the truth about how much of a novice I really am. Therefore, I would be amiss to speak with authority to you without some collaborative testimony from the African side that my positions were actually grounded in facts that could at least be discussed. Rather than taking another “volunteers” word about volunteer mission efforts, please listen to the comments of an upper level evangelical “African” church leader.  This article came from a major mission’s publication last year.

Western Bible Teachers Hinder African Revival

A South African church leader has asked Western Bible teachers to stay home. He says they are hampering the spread of the gospel by exporting ideas that don't work. "Without offense, don't come," Danie Vermeulen appeals in "Dawn Report," the journal of the Dawn Ministries church planting movement. "Africa does not need your leadership style," he says. "We've always had leadership, even before the white man came. It is different, but it is not inferior to the rest of the world. It works in Africa." The co-director of DAWN Africa, which is promoting church planting initiatives across the continent, Vermeulen writes that he weeps every time rural African pastors are brought to the United States by one missionary he knows of to be trained "in a megachurch." "They come back trying to emulate the American pastor," he says. But "it's not the kind of church that will work in the black, rural areas of Africa. They have principles that they can learn from, which is wonderful, but they cannot duplicate the western model." Vermeulen tells of an African leader who "cringes" when some Western Bible teachers visit. "There is a depth of spirituality in the average African Christian that is missing in these well-meaning ministers," the man says. "Since we've grown up in poverty, we are not as hindered by the materialism of the Westerner. The African mind seems to have a greater consciousness for the spiritual realm and a more obedient desire and willingness to move in the supernatural of biblical experience with the Holy Spirit," he adds. "And with all due respect, I think that the Western mind is very scientific and wants to prove things whereas there is a greater emphasis on faith among Africans." Vermeulen reports that Africa could now well be "the most fertile whole continent" in the world. Since the turn of the last century, the number of evangelicals there has grown from 1.6 million to 116 million, he says. "There is a move of God in Africa; it's Africa's time...There is a hunger for the things of God that is unprecedented." Vermeulen says

That’s a pretty strong article isn’t it? Honestly I believe Brother Danie would state strongly that he was not making an indictment against missions, or mission trips. He certainly was not calling for a prohibition against helping third world pastors. Reaching Africa is going to take African pastors and African church planters with African methods that are fueled by African worshippers standing on the foundation of the Word of God. He was saying “stop taking them out of the gardens where God planted them to other gardens where God planted you.” Sometimes when people begin comparing gardens they get dis-satisfied with the one they are in.  They need to see the promise land as Africa, not the America’s or Europe. We need to train them in Africa to do African ministry the African way. We need to help develop an African strategy based on African culture not Western culture. They must learn how to live better in Africa, and how to minister more efficiently in Africa.

Now for those of us that sense a call to go and work: All gardens, whether in Africa, Mexico, China, or Argentina have something in common. Any third world teacher must be a third world student first. Before we suggest change we must find out what’s already working.  Avoid past mistakes by finding out the history of what’s been tried and did not succeed. Anytime we impose our culture, our dress, our worship style, our songs, and our value system on third world culture we are in danger of becoming an “ugly American” ministry.  If we walk in religious supermen our arrogance will negate any real ministry we could have done.

I took Danie Vermeulen’s article as a plea to rethink and retool our methodology and our attitudes. Western evangelicals have access to top notch bible schools and seminaries which teach methods that work well in western settings. We have access to funding most of the rest of the Christian world does not have access to.  Western evangelicals have God-sized burdens for the unreached people groups around the world. Western evangelicals are compassion and sacrificially generous. Most do what they do because of an incredible willingness to serve people and to serve the Lord. Every volunteer missionary as well as every career missionary must be committed to teaching Jesus not culture.  The next article was written this week by a Pentecostal pastor from Kampala Uganda.  Here is an article that appeared in a Ugandan newspaper yesterday. He has some amazing things to say. Africans write in a little different style so instead of editing the letter I felt you needed to read the whole letter in its original context.

 THE FOURTH DIMENSION| Pastor Joshua Mugabi

If Jesus were to return today, some ‘holy’ people would be shamed  

March 20 - 26, 2004 The Monitor News - The Palm Sunday story loses its power if we stick to a religious outlook. And it is possible to view it as one of those village dramas, with some guy posing as king by riding on a donkey in town and the idlers for fun's sake take their clothes and branches to praise their imaginary king.

After all, many had already been seeking for one who would emerge as king in their situation of bondage which they had resigned to as a changeless situation. But the procession surprisingly heads for the religious centre-the Temple courts instead of the Town Council building. For a man hailed as king to head for the temple seems to be a loss of direction. But as it is now, the temple courts wield power that needs to be recognized and many politicians seeking power in government go to the temples to try and woo voters to keep them in power. However the donkey rider was not seeking votes but a return to the fear of God.

So he overturned tables of those who had settled in the temple for business instead of worshipping God. This act has been indicated by some as a grave mistake that led to his crucifixion, a week later, but the Bible indicates this was deliberate because of the zeal for the house of God. Since He is the same Person who turned tables then, would He do the same this Palm Sunday in His zeal for the House of God?

If yes, what tables would He overturn today in His triumphant ride into town today? Considering His words against the business community in the temple and the rebuke of the religious leaders, I am inclined to believe this way:

I believe He would visit the lunch hour fellowships and turn over the pulpits that are used for fund raising instead of lifting up the name of Jesus. I suppose one of His quarrels would be; why promise people visas to Europe yet they have to tell lies in order for many of these prophecies to be fulfilled.

Why give the impression that the hope of the Ugandan Christian is in Europe? He would surely raise His voice against such teaching that comes from men's dreams other than the Bible. I suppose the teaching on deliverance would be questioned to account for its close similarity to witchcraft and African mysticism.

And while some have been delivered from demons they need to be delivered from, the preachers who have become a burden to the people they helped.
The tables would be overturned in the Cathedrals were many individuals do not return all their tithe to the Lord, thus making these places dens of thieves according to Malachi, who calls such people robbers.

The Lord would turn tables in those synagogues where the leading Prophet has been esteemed to the position of god such that his words cannot be questioned and the followers have been deceived to think that this mortal man is everywhere; sees and hears everything that goes on earth.

The tables of holy water and oil that are esteemed like charms instead of faith in the living God would not be left standing. And I wonder how many counseling centres would be left standing in the light of the fact that many of the counsel seekers are looking for sin endorsement other than life change to holiness.

And the pastors, due to lack of counseling skills and the burden of many seekers, do not have time to give them godly biblical counsel. So they simply resort to ‘fix it quick’ methods in the name of words of knowledge or prophecies.

And not many albums would survive as the musicians ceased from worshipping God to worshipping money. Though these questions definitely annoy many people because they touch things that are commonly esteemed, I believe they must be brought to the light of God if we desire to remain in His favour.

Otherwise we might find the prophetic words in Revelation 2:16 overtaking us today. Jesus visited the Temple first because that's where the national life of Israel was determined. When the church is in order, the nation will come to divine order.

Do you know what this African pastor is referring to? Here in America the TV prosperity guys promise Rolls Royce automobiles, Rolex watches and mansions in exchange for seed faith offerings. In Africa Rolls Royce autos don’t exist and Rolex watches have no practical value and mud hut mansions are impossible to build so the prosperity preachers in Africa promise plane tickets to go to Europe or the United States and healing from the HIV virus in exchange for seed faith offerings from people that may make 100 dollars US a year. This is prime example of men picking up a method or a doctrine that might preach well in the US but it just doesn’t work in Africa or the mountains of Chile! How do you preach healing is available to all that have enough faith to give a little money when 6 out of 10 people are HIV positive and 3 out of 10 are in the death those of full blown AIDS?

Practical responsibilities you need to be made aware of.  Pray about all of them to prepare for your trip.

Your Responsibility if you are a team member:

Pray that any evangelism which is done will not deviate from the biblical model.

Your Responsibility if you are a family member staying home:

Pray for the go-ers – Pray for each the mission volunteer that is attempting to share Jesus across the world.  

Pray for the hearers to be receivers -We are also responsible for praying that the spiritual soil will be prepared for planting, watering or cultivating the seed of the Gospel. Pray that Holy Spirit illuminates the heart of every lost person. Without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, no one can comprehend spiritual truth or even something as basic as being lost. Lost people without the illumination sense the emptiness of their hearts and will without spiritual direction attempt to fill the emptiness with any number of temporary things such as alcohol, drugs, sex, power, education, or material possessions.

Pray for a generous spirit - Be a sender – become a part of the financial cost each go-er incurs to take the message of Jesus around the world.

Your Responsibility if you are a mission volunteer:  

Be a learner, and a teacher, preacher or evangelist second! This may sound harsh! - The best thing you could do is to declare yourself a clean sheet of paper.  Third world missions are so different from ministry in the west.  Attempting to bring a plethora of ministry ideas that worked at home can be frustrating when they don't work, but sometimes they can be dangerous if they do work.  Implementing western methods into third world mission activity can be potentially dangerous theologically to the people you are trying to reach.

An Awareness of cultural information is more than important.  It is an imperative of conscience, if you have any desire for converts that will last!  I believe you are reading this because you DO want lasting fruit. I don't believe anyone wants to spend massive amounts of money and time for a mission trip that is a colossal ego trip. So, assuming pure motive in all of us, we must try to do it properly. We must try and insure that our efforts and investments will have lasting fruit. I have made 26 missions trips of over a month or more.  I have nearly 9 years in Uganda. All my mission experience has brought me to the conclusion that I really don’t know much of anything.  Would consider praying this little sentence commitment to the Lord right now?

Lord, I am a blank page for you to write on as you see fit!

If you will join me in this confession I believe the Spirit of God will write on our hearts the things which we will need to tell others about Him. When experiential arrogance is broken, Jesus can finally use us because He’s able to fill us.

Seek Understanding

    Preaching the gospel from a western mindset is evidence of a lack of cultural understanding and will confuse nationals about what real salvation is.

    Wrong cultural understanding will eventually produce evangelistic methods that are non- biblical.

Here is the problem!     

Numerically exciting and astounding reports are coming from mission efforts across the world. The more exciting the report the more stateside support can be generated. There is tremendous temptation to do what ever is necessary to make sure the report takes your breath away because of it miraculous nature. Many going are untrained. Many actually demonstrate a resistance to training. Let me ask you something. Would you try to tell a heart surgeon how to make the incision in someone’s chest unless you had been to medical school? Wouldn’t that be like saying I am qualified for surgery just because I can read a medical book? How is someone qualified to teach that has never trained. How can a part-time mission volunteer know more than full-time missionaries that have served in a country for most of their adult lives?

True Worship – True Evangelism

Evangelists, pastors, and laypeople of all shapes, sizes and colors are answering the call to “Go!” They are surrendering to work as cross – cultural short-time missionaries. The “Going” is good! The harvesting methods are sadly missing the mark. John 4 says that true worship involves 2 things, worshipping in Spirit and worshipping in Truth.  Right attitude and right doctrine! Evangelism is no different. Just being willing to go or having the right attitude is not enough. We need the right doctrine to plant, and cultivate spiritual soil. We need the right doctrine to properly harvest too! The story of Jesus is the right story. Telling people they can come to Jesus without renouncing their other gods or having any understanding of biblical repentance is wrong doctrine. Some are saying that salvation is just rehearsing a carefully worded prayer back to God. No commitment of life, no surrender to the control of Holy Spirit, and most importantly no change in their lives. In Africa men can not come to Jesus until they renounce the false gods of African ancestral and tribal religion. Africa is a polytheistic place. Add as many gods as you want. Mohammed? No problem! Jesus? No problem!

But the gospel of the Bible is plain. No other gods except Jesus. Period! No other position possible. If I tell an African to just pray a prayer he will. If I tell him to pray the salvation prayer without first teaching him nothing will happen unless he renounces all the other gods in his life I may cost him his soul.

 In fact, this practice will cost thousands their eternal souls if we give them false assurance by preaching false doctrine.   My eyebrows raise, and a small chill goes through my body each time I hear a report from a short-timer about a large number of souls that purportedly have been saved.  Yes, sadly I have become cynical in this area after seeing so much abuse by western preachers I know personally. 

Nothing is too hard for God!

I do not doubt that Father can save a million people.  I do not doubt that he wants to save a million people.  The issue is this!  Many of the glowing reports of eternal decisions turn out to be about fruit which didn’t last as long as it took the mission volunteer to fly home. The message delivery system is either suspect or down right wrong if huge percentages of picked fruit go bad quickly.

This is a huge point - Accountability - Right here is a good time to broach a question perhaps you are considering. Who does he think he is, to get so involved in scrutinizing other ministries? The answer is . . .  I am just a regular person, prone to error like anyone else.  However, we are all to be involved in testing the fruit we are picking, and testing the harvest tools that has been used to pick the fruit.  This is one of the reasons our methods must always have a clear verse behind the things we do and the things we preach. 

Iron sharpens Iron! In local church life or on the mission field we must live accountable to one another in an "iron sharpens iron" relationship. Biblical accountability will allow us to stay away from habitual error and accountability is a natural enemy to blindness caused by arrogance. We need each other to help us stay on the path.  We need each another to be "Jesus with skin on."

Ministry integrity should keep us mindful that we are not the only ones on the planet. God has not called any of us to be mavericks for His Kingdom. Jesus hasn't filled the seat on his right hand with anyone living or dead. Father God never intended us to walk through our lives without the checks and balances that could draw us back to Him when we stray. I look back at some of the bruises I have endured and realize I could have avoided lots of hurt if I had allowed people access to my heart when I was younger. We must get "fessed up" before we attempt to take the gospel to any street corner. Otherwise we will go powerless and become vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy in a way that Father never intended. Older does not necessarily mean wiser but age should mean we have learned something along the way. I want to be wiser tomorrow than I am today but I want to gain the wisdom from doing things right instead of learning through mistakes and failure. Now my ministry goal is to finish better than I started by getting the counsel of those that have already walked the path I am just beginning to walk. Does that make sense to your heart?

Methods are driven by Motives!

·         Numbers must be accompanied by good biblical method.

·         Sometimes good biblical method is ignored to accommodate the desire to give a good report to our church leadership and financial supporters back home.

Pastors and evangelists like me don’t typically spend large amounts of money just to travel on an exotic African vacation to look at animals. They genuinely want to rescue the perishing. However, sometimes we actually compound the problem by stepping into the fight prematurely, before we understand the rules of engagement. Many times we don’t have the proper weapons. Other times, we have the proper weapons, but have received no practical instruction of how to use them. 

  In the 1950’s Billy Graham put together an organization for doing "Crusade evangelism" that has no equal in the Evangelical world or in all of the past two thousand years for that matter.  One of the priorities during a Graham crusade is the follow-up ministry. This ministry invests a tremendous amount of time in each person which made a public profession of faith during the Graham crusade.  This is the greatest follow-up ministry in the history of the church.  Even with all that effort the percentages of people actually assimilated into local churches are less desirable percentages than they should be.  I consider Billy Graham to be the greatest evangelist in the last 100 years.  His organization and the men and women that work for him have the highest level of personal and corporate integrity of any ministry known to mankind. The point is this.  No matter what we do, more can always be done to help those making decisions to start brand-new lives, not just brand-new thoughts.

In Uganda getting a crowd is the easy part. Getting people to pray a prayer and raise a hand is pretty simple too. If an invitation is given to a crowd where the hearers are asked to pray a sinner’s prayer and then raise a hand indicating they have prayed to receive Christ the result will typically be about 7 out of 10 raising a hand. Here is a fact though. Most African nationals making "professions of faith" in western style crusades do not follow through and become mature participants in local churches.  If 700 out a 1000 pray a prayer and raise a hand then getting 25 to come for baptism and church membership will be an above average day. Question! Are they saved and headed for heaven because they prayed a prayer?  Dr Graham would say “no, they are not saved.”  In fact he has said, “70 plus percent of those professing Christians have never really come to saving faith in Jesus."  No matter how well we attempt to follow up there are still problems with the perception of what people are actually hearing when we preach. Secondarily it is a problem concerning what they actually do after they pray the sinner’s prayer.  

     Stay with me on this!  Western minds are difficult enough to reach where communication is not a problem. How much more difficult is the task of presenting the story with clarity  in a country with 58 languages like Uganda, or in the Muslim world where Christianities proof documents are in question, or in the Orient where polytheistic philosophy  and mysticism is second only to government mandated atheism. How difficult is it to generate reverence and authority for containing the Words of God in countries that cannot read? How difficult is the task of understanding the need for a savior in a country with no concept of sin.  How difficult is it to present a message which fills the heart, but not necessarily the stomach, in a country where physical needs take precedent over spiritual needs. Uganda alone has 1.5 MILLION kids living on the street out of a total population of 27 million. This cultural fact alone produces an environment of deceit. Third world people from across the world prepare to be compliant when a westerner is around. They have learned to say anything a white skinned visitor asks them to say as long as there is the possibility of food.  They will pray anything as long they don't have to give anything up that they already have. Even Muslims will pray a "sinner's" prayer if there is a remote chance they might be fed, or be given a Bible that might be bartered for medicine or be given a bicycle that could bring a good price in the market place. 

We know these things to be true. We know the potential cultural and spiritual problems which come from just asking them to say some words. My question is this!  If we know, then how can we intentionally go ahead and lead them in a catechistic prayer, tell them they are headed for heaven and then leave 10 days later to brag on our efforts, when there is "no fruit meet unto repentance" like Jesus talked about?

  A common scenario for a volunteer’s call, and preparation for a mission trip to Africa might happen this way. It’s Sunday. Your church is having a world mission’s conference.  A picture of people, which look totally different from you, catches your eye on the mission exhibit table in the hall, as you walk into the sanctuary.  God touches your heart through the message of the visiting missionary preaching that morning in the pulpit of your church. The missionary, now retired, is still pleading with ordinary folks like you, to consider mission work as your reasonable service.  That spiritual seed,  which was planted in a junior Sunday school class, or in a missions auxiliary chapter when you were young, receives water and begins to grow. Somehow in your heart of hearts the Holy Spirit whispers “Go!” with a spiritual voice straight from the mouth and heart of God.

And . . . you say, “I will go Lord!”    The church begins to pray for you. A saving plan is put in place to have the funds available when it’s time to go.  Nickels, dimes, quarters, and a check or two shows that God is faithful when he calls. Passports, visa’s, shots for yellow fever, cholera, typhoid, and a dozen others are finally completed projects. Your team is packing, or perhaps you are going alone. You hope to be met at the airport by a familiar face, or at least someone who knows your name. Boxes of old glasses, clothing, donated medicines, Velveeta cheese and double-stuffed Oreo’s for the missionaries, and “oh yeah!” “I almost forgot my Bible!” Airport security, check-in, security at the gate, airline food, jet lag, customs, layovers, new faces, new smells, and maybe even Pepto Bismol!

  Have Mercy, have mercy!!! This ain’t Kansas, Toto!  Excitement, fear, peace, and nervousness are all wrapped up in one box. You have arrived! More travel. The traffic is on the wrong side of the road. Cars, motorcycles, cattle, bicycles, buses, and large trucks are belching more oil smoke than you thought mechanically possible. They  are ALL headed for that one little opening in the press, the massive mess of mechanical madness. The largest pileup in third world history must be about to happen with you in the middle. Then, miraculously the disaster never transpires! No crash, no screams, no blood, not even a scrape. Everyone is on his or her way and you are thinking that you’ve already seen the appearance of God’s protective (probably a 1000 of them) angels.   Bicycle men are using their machines as beasts of burden. They push huge loads of produce down the road on wheels that you thought had been invented to have fun. Banana’s, bricks, grass, charcoal, sugar cane, wood, cans of milk are all common loads on the two wheelers of Africa.

Climate The climate is repressive, but you remind yourself that you get to go home in two weeks. You finally get to where you are sleeping a little bit. It’s hot and a  strange, deep tired is on you. What sleep you get is restless.

Food Breakfast is tea or coffee, toast, pineapple, boiled eggs, and maybe porridge (oatmeal). Dinner is fish, or chicken that tastes like wild game, or goat (intestines and all).

Ministry  The day begins! Bible Schools are started. The drums beat and hundreds of pitifully dressed children come, with the widest smiles you’ve seen in your life.  Later in the afternoon it is time for the evangelistic crusade. Loudspeakers are put out, and a generator is started to run the sound system. The people begin to arrive with a phrase of broken English “you are welcome!” as they shake your hand in 3 different ways before letting go. You notice the odor and are reminded that many of these people don’t have enough water to bathe everyday (actually every month), and so you try to ignore what would be so offensive in the West. 

Music   Drums, instead of a pipe organ begin to play again.  The crusade begins with singing, and “Oh no!” Dancing! “How un-Baptist!” You have no idea what the songs are saying, but the power is amazing, and you think, “Why can’t our people at home, sing with this kind of joy and participation.” The preacher preaches sentence by sentence with a pause in between for an interpreter to repeat sentence by sentence in Luganda, or Swahili, or Teso. 

Invitation   An invitation is offered for the listener’s to give their lives to Jesus. They are asked to pray a prayer to receive Jesus. Those that prayed with the preacher are instructed to raise their hand. A raised hand is to indicate they have received Jesus into their hearts. An amazing thing happens! Hundreds of raised hands shoot into the air, like a drowning man reaching for a lifeline. Your tired body quickens and rejuvenates. Your heart leaps in your chest. The joy you feel is almost indescribable.  All the time, effort, and money invested in this trip has just become the best investment you ever made. You can’t wait to call home or send an email. Hallelujah! So many saved! So many snatched from the jaws of Hell!

Or were they . . .?

  After the crusades are over and the volunteers have gone home to share glowing reports of great victories . . . career missionaries go back into the villages and city neighborhoods to follow-up the recorded decisions. Do you know what they usually find? They usually find very little evidence that the gospel has been there!

1.      In many cases, less than one percent of the new converts can be found continuing in the faith within 2 weeks of their supposed conversions.

2.    Career personnel also report that very few baptisms result from  large numbers of crusade decisions.

3.    Very few churches that are started through crusade evangelism are still operating within one year of their supposed plant.

4.    One of the exceptions to all of these statements is when nationals rather than visitors preach the crusades.

1.      The best method is to use men that look and talk like the people you are trying to reach. 

2.    Combining national preachers in crusade preaching and with house-to-house, one on one visitation causes the percentages of lasting converts to skyrocket.

  So . . . what is happening? During the last few weeks, I have visited with some real heroes of the faith. I interviewed nearly 20 full-time missionaries. These people are a cross-denominational group of missionaries that dearly love the African people. They have spent their lives trying to reach Africa for Christ. The shortest tenured missionary is 3.5 years. The longest tenure is over 35 years. Each missionary has an established, long-term evangelistic/teaching ministry in Uganda. They are imminently qualified to comment on this subject. A collaboration of the actual events of their ministry lives could produce an academy awarding winning screenplay, and probably an academy award for best picture. They and their families have been shot at with AK47 automatic rifles. Some have had their vehicles stoned. They have been lied about and mistreated. Some were exiled to other countries by bloodthirsty dictators. All have been threatened with demons and curses sent by witchdoctors, because they preach Jesus as Kabaka (Swahili for King) in opposition to the African tribal religions which practice idol worship, including human sacrifice.  They can all sit and talk for hours about dramatic deliverances in the face of trouble. They have all experienced the appearance of angels and the miracles of God. These situations would have been deadly without miraculous intervention. They endure strange diseases, bugs, reptiles, food, accommodations and climate with very little complaint. They have chosen to live where as American Christians; they are a spiritual minority (Christian vs. Muslim) and a social minority (white vs. black or even West vs. East). They live on salaries that are adequate for Africa, but would put them in a poverty bracket at home. Loved ones get married, grandchildren are born, parents and precious family get sick and die while they are still on the field, 15,000 miles away. They usually are unable to attend the life events most of us take for granted. During the last 3 weeks, 2 missionaries have lost immediate family members.  The funerals went on without them. Why? It’s all about their intense love for Him, the Lord Jesus. They came here knowing they could not go home, and quite possibly would pay great prices to stay.

  This group of missionaries has planted or been involved in over 100 church starts. They have built two of the finest theological seminaries in Africa. They are doing hunger relief/evangelism for nearly 500,000 people a year. They have generally proven their mettle by going through the fire of persecution and danger more times than they can count! Some have been in Africa most of their adult lives. Many couples have brought their own children into the world with African midwives and natural childbirth. These children were either born in their homes, or in hospitals that are more like cattle barns than sanitary birthing stations. These stories are like a re-enactment of the Hebrews 11 chapter in scripture, which is lovingly called “God’s Honor Roll.” They deserve our attention when they speak. Most of the information on the following pages was written after  listening to them talk about this subject!

  Here is a list of subjects you are about to see discussed.

1.     A lack of cultural education among volunteers.

2.     Poly-theism – the worship of many gods

3.     Money corrupts!

  A part of the problem is a lack of cultural education for stateside volunteers (particularly the ones actually doing the evangelism). Most International Mission Board (IMB) volunteers are given a cultural orientation more extensive than most independent missions sending groups. However, the IMB cultural education is still not enough, according to their own missions professionals on the field of the world.   Fulltime missionaries are more likely to have some cultural training before arriving on the field.  The main problem is the vast amount of volunteer labor that arrive with little or no cultural training at all.  IMB and  independent short-term volunteers may or may not even have access to the kind of cultural information they need.

Cultural understanding is necessary to do biblical evangelism in a third world country.

1.      Why is culture a necessary consideration? The answer is that it is not enough for the preacher to understand the call of Christ, the hearer must understand the length and breathe of the call too. In other words, we have to get them lost, before we can get them saved.  Muslims believe they are saved and we are lost.  Eastern mystics believe we are all in a process that will eventually  lead to salvation for all. Atheists believe that belief is folly.  Religionists believe in the morality of man and ignore the fact the lostness of his spirit.  Christianity is presupposed by positional truth that the resurrection of Jesus was more than just a nice story. We do what we do, because we believe the resurrection is an exclusive doorway which opens the path to real relationship with the creator God of the Universe.  If there is another way to God then we are the biggest fools of human history, then we have  needlessly wasted our resources  and our blood for 2 thousand years. 

OR NOT! If the resurrection is true then knowing Jesus takes on the most significant event a man can attempt to experience.  Culture can be a place in which a man can hide from the knowledge of the true God of heaven.  If you are to be an apologist then you must know the questions before you can offer the answers.

2.    Isn't the Gospel transcultural in it's scope and directive? Yes, it is transcultural in application, but not necessarily in reception.

1.      Languages, family custom, local religions, economics, local politics and even weather can impair the ability for the meaning of scripture  in the west to translate "apples to apples" in places outside the US and Great Britain.

2.    The gospel must be applied in the missiological setting in which it is preached!

3.    This is basic hermeneutical principal taught in the introductory preaching classes of the first year seminary student.

4.    A preacher  that exposits a scripture text properly must consider the author of the book, it’s historical background, the date it was written, and the intended recipients of a particular passage. 

5.    If proper background research is not done then the present day application may be completely off base. That is a cultural issue from beginning to end.

 Evangelistic preaching on mission field must be transcultural as well as scriptural to be powerful and righteous. 

·         Preaching without cultural understanding may not reach the heart.

·         Preaching without cultural understanding may only reach the head.

1.      Preaching without cultural understanding will give the hearers false hope.

1.      (Just pray these words and you can go to heaven!) Wrong! Jesus said, "We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart! Not Jesus plus Mohammed, plus Buddha, plus whatever.

2.    A definition for heresy. Jesus plus anything (church membership in certain denomination, tongues, personal religious works, baptism, certain skin color,) or minus anything (Jesus not totally man or not totally God) is heretical and will not produce saving faith.

2.    Preaching without cultural understanding will make evangelism MORE difficult the next time the sinner is confronted with the gospel.

1.      If we give people religion instead of presenting the biblical call of salvation, there will be a tendency for them to say something like this, "I have already tried that and it didn't work."  Satan tries very hard to give people a taste of religion to substitute for a real relationship with Jesus.

3.    Preaching without cultural understanding can make it nearly impossible to bring the sinner to a point of real conversion at a later time.

The overall consensus of the missionary interviews was pretty clear. An absence of cultural understanding of the African mind has made evangelism difficult. Lacking a simple understanding of Africa’s history and people has produced less than biblical evangelism and less than hoped for results in the long term.

  Now forgetting the opinions of men, including mine, , let’s consider what God says in his Word. The final authority on any subject is always the Word of our Father. Our opinions about the Word of God are not nearly so important as the Word of God itself. So . . . I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit if he is speaking.  Listen to these things with your heart. Pray over them before you take your seat on the plane.  Seek the discernment of the Spirit so that you can declare your passion about HIM in power and truth of his Word.  More responsibility awaits you when your trip is over. Pray over the results. Reflect on the methods in light of the scriptures.  It might be wise to hide the glowing reports about how many were saved on your trip in a safe place in your heart for a short time. Perhaps we should be patient and observe to see if the fruit we have harvested lasts at least as long as it takes for us to get home and recover from our jet lag.

Giving glory to God for the work of His Spirit is not wrong. Many times we don’t thank the Lord for what he does for us on a daily basis. We are usually lax at giving glory and praise to the Lord, as we should. However, there’s another side to the coin.  We should make sure the work of the Spirit has been done before we give the glory to anyone! Consider this? What can we say about a person that raises a hand at an African, or East Indian crusade and the next day is still praying at the Muslim mosque or at his Hindu Temple? Or what can we say about a person that raises a hand and refuses to be baptized, or come fellowship with other believers, or even exhibit some little change in their life to indicate the presence of Jesus? One of the indications of true salvation is written in great detail in 1 John.

  1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name

of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit, which he hath given us.

Baptism is really important! It has nothing to do with saving us, but it is a tremendous indicator that we are saved.  A person that prays a prayer and raises a hand, but refuses to be baptized in OBEDIENCE to the command of Jesus is not a Christian. Am I saying baptism is necessary to be saved? NO! However, if you are saved you will want to be baptized because Jesus demands it as an act of testimony that you belong to Him! Africans are perfectly willing to ADD a god, but they are reluctant to be baptized because they understand they are leaving their other religions. The Muslim that is baptized a Christian loses their family,  sometimes their property, or job, and sometimes even their lives. They understand they are renouncing all other gods and making Jesus the God of their heart . Tough stuff! Yet, that is what it takes to become a true believer. When we allow people through our methods or our ambition to "come to Jesus" in a way that is not biblical  then we do them more harm than good.

Fellowship – How can you say you LOVE someone and refuse to spend time in their presence? One of the indicators of biblical salvation is the desire to fellowship with other members of the family. Loving your brother is not referring to the demonic secular humanistic doctrine called “the Fatherhood of God - Brotherhood of Man.” “The Unconverted” are not part of the “Family of the Born Again.” If a man is not a believer, his father is the Devil. If a man is a Christian, his father is the Creator God of the Universe the Lord Jesus Christ. I John is not referring to loving the human race. It is referring to loving your new spiritual brothers and sisters that now abide in the Body of Christ the Church. A person that raises a hand and prays a prayer and yet refuses to fellowship with his new family is still lost. Is church attendance necessary to be saved? NO! But a refusal to fellowship in a church body with other believers is an indication of a lack of a real relationship with the Lord Jesus. When you love him, you will also love his family.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.   10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.   11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.   12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.

These verses are talking about our relationship to those in a church fellowship . The "Fatherhood of God/Brother hood of man" idea is not only humanistic, but totally heretical. God is NOT the father of those that are not believers. The Word plainly says our father is the Devil until we are saved and experience the new birth of Jesus. Therefore the person that says they are rightly related to the Lord but they are unwilling to spend time with their brothers and sisters in family meetings called worship are without a doubt probably false converts. 1 John 4:7 and 4:20 are not talking about some idea of us just "lovin' everybody. "Ivory and Ebony" or "We Are the World" or "Give Peace a Chance" are talking about the commonality of the human species not the specifics of being a part of the "Family of God"! If you don't the kids in the family then you are probably lost.

We know a person can be lost one minute and saved the next. But the question is this! Can a person be saved one minute, and be lost the next? I think not, and I base my words on the Word of God

 One of the reasons I am a Baptist is because of what Baptist’s believe the Word of God teaches concerning salvation.  We believe the scripture teaches that we are birthed into God's family for eternity.  We do not believe a person can genuinely be saved and fall away to some place where we are no longer a part of God's family.  Baptist's are virtually the only denomination that teach this doctrine. Those who teach you can be saved and lost again, also teach that you can move back and forth from death to life, and life to death. If you use any kind of consistent hermeneutical rules to interpret the scripture, then this doctrine of being saved and lost and getting saved again, is absolute heresy.  If you look at Hebrews 6 fairly, even if it is possible to be saved and somehow get lost again, you cannot be saved a second time. According to the Word it is impossible to be saved more than once. Let’s see it!

Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

  Declaring someone saved is dangerous business. Yet we are constantly coming home to give reports that time has not confirmed. I have done this and stand as guilty as the rest of you that read this article. I think we need to be more careful before we report on the harvest. Certainly we need to refrain from doing the Holy Spirit's job of assurance in people's lives. If someone is really a part of the family of God, the Holy Spirit himself tells them, because God wants his kids to know they belong to him. We need to let Holy Spirit do his job or we will end up telling someone they have something they may not have.  Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: I would say that is pretty plain spoken, wouldn't you?
 

  We may say a person is saved, but the only confirmation of real authority is the internal confirmation by the Holy Spirit.  Again I say be careful. Even here in the states I see pastors and parents that seem to think the job of assuring someone that they have life is their responsibility. When someone has life they will know it! When someone is vacillating back and forth as to whether they are really saved "BE CAREFUL!" Don't be guilty of assuring them of possessing something that only God can verify!

“Luke 6:43-45 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

  There are 2 possibilities, when fruit has apparently been picked and doesn’t last.

1.      Option One - You must be prepared to say a person can be saved more than once.  I can't scripturally say this because of Hebrews 6th chapter.

2.      Option Two is that they were never saved to begin with.

3.      If you choose the 2^nd option the Word of God makes a complex problem very simple.  When the fruit doesn’t last, it wasn’t a real work of God.

4.      Once a person is genuinely saved, our Father never loses a real sheep. He sees to it that the work he does in us continues to the end”

      The greatest follow-up program in the world in the keeping power of the Holy Spirit!

      How clear is Phil 1:6 on this subject? If they don’t last, they weren’t of HIM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

I had a man rebuke me years ago when he heard me preach on this subject. He grew up in a Southern Baptist missionary’s family in India & Africa. He had 6 brothers. They all made professions of faith at a young age. They lived their whole adolescent lives in India. One of his brothers met a young East Indian girl as an adult. They fell in love and were married.  The new groom, to please his wife, converted to Hinduism, and renounced his Christian faith in Jesus. The man said that his brother had prayed the sinners prayer when he was young and therefore was saved.  He told me that even though his dear brother serves the poly-theist gods of the Hindu faith, he is still saved and going to heaven on the coat-tails of the words he spoke as a child.  I agree with one thing he said. If he was ever saved then he is still saved. I think the problem is that the young brother was never saved or he would have been able to renounce Jesus!

Look at this phrase “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” The overflow or what is inside the heart is what will come out through the mouth. If there is still emptiness then nothing will come out. No confession. No testimony. In other words a refusal to declare Jesus openly is a virtual high percentage declaration that a person has not been born again yet, and is not a Christian.

  Compare the phrase above from Luke 6:45 to what Romans says about salvation.

“Rom 10:8-13  But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 

       Is this a confession to God? He already knows your heart. Why would he need to hear the words? God does not need to hear the words. Our confession is not to him. Our confession is about him. Our confession is to be made in the presence of those that already know him, as well as in the presence of those that still need him in their hearts too! The next verse proves that our confession is for those unable to see our hearts.  

Matt 10:32-39 "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever refuses to acknowledge me before men, I will refuse to acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 34 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- 36 a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'  37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.